Questions at the heart
We felt it is important that the Creative Partners are not seen as experts, teaching the children about history and culture, but that they show how they do research in their own creative work, inspire and guide the children to learn research skills, and help the children in turn to inspire others to do research. Questions are at the heart of this. We have looked at the learning models in Future Lab’s Enquiring Minds project, the British Library’s Learning programme and Philosophy for Children. We will use tactics like ‘Five Why’s’, asking children to ask five questions in turn rather than just one, for example. We could use the five Olympic rings as a device to help children record those five questions.
We felt it would be useful to keep our own question bank, a place to store all the questions we have. The children will also be keeping their own. The next post will be a Question Bank and we can keep adding questions to it.
More questioning strategies:
1) Another one that can use the visual device of 5 linked circles. When focusing attention on one source e.g. a building, an old photo, ask children to ask lots of questions, then record the five that they think are the most interesting questions for them. Or they could label each circle as: Easiest, silliest, hardest, impossible, my own question, and then think of questions that fit those categories.
2. Ask the grown up. The children could be asked to fire questions at the adult/teacher/artist. When the adult can’t answer, those questions are added to a question bank.
powerparties
February 1, 2008