1

FINDINGS


This school year (and my research project) began with the ambitious goal of creating an
environment for students that taught and inspired the more frequent use of deeper thinking
strategies. Through a culture of thinking I planned to encourage the development of the skills of
questioning and connecting and the will to employ these skills comfortably and without
prompting.

PART 1: What 5
th
Grade Thinking Looked Like to Start

Prior to implementing structures to encourage thinking, I designed a performance task to use
with the class to help me develop a baseline understanding of their current strategies for
considering a new topic or information. I asked students to think about a topic (hamsters) for 10
minutes and to write down everything that went through their minds around this topic during the
time allotted. I did not specify to ask questions or write down facts, but rather suggested they
simply put down whatever crossed their minds as they thought about the topic. I encouraged
them to use words or drawings to convey their thinking. (The topic was chosen because the class
just got a new pet hamster.)

In analyzing the students work, I noticed that there were certain strands of information, which
I was able to categorize into 5 groups: connections, opinions, descriptions (adjectives), facts (or
knowledge students were pretty sure they had on hamsters), questions, and free associations. Here
are 2 examples of each:

Connections: Our hamster is very small and likes to run on the wheel. Fernando has a pet
guinea pig, which is kind of like a hamster.

Opinions: Hamsters are adorable. Best pet ever!

Descriptions: fluffy; energetic

Facts: Like to run in a wheel; Nocturnal, but sometimes awake in the day

Questions: I wonder what they eat. Do hamsters like to live alone?

Free associations: Hamster soldier. Once a hamster was sitting on a couch



Figure 2. Student thinking on paper. These images show a representative sample of what students
wrote to communicate their thinking about hamsters.


Figure 3. Student thinking in pre-research activity. This figure demonstrates the ideas students
wrote down as they thought about hamsters.

At this point, I was glad to see a variety of ideas, but hopeful, that in time, I would see students
ask more questions and make more connections (since these often drive deeper thinking) rather
than just put down adjectives or promote more free associations or opinions.

Next, the class watched a 3 ! minute video on hamsters and hamster care. Following the
video, I gave my students a chance to update their thinking pages. They used pens (rather than
pencils) to add to the page so that new thinking could be discerned from initial thoughts. I
collected the students work and categorized the new writing, as well.



Table 1. Additional student thinking in pre-research activity. This table compares the types of
ideas students wrote down before and after watching a video about hamsters.

I found it interesting that more students did not generate questions after the video when the
video left a lot to still wonder about. For example, the video suggested that hamsters originated
from the Syrian Desert. Since all of my students are unfamiliar with this place, it would have made
sense for them to ask, Where is the Syrian desert? They all wondered this when I brought up
the question later, but had not thought to write it down. This caused me to consider perhaps they
did not write down questions because they were simply used to writing down information they
gather (because that is what teachers often ask for). I followed up on this hunch by asking a few
students what they felt a teacher wanted to see when they were told to write down things they
were thinking. They responded with, important facts, information that is on-topic and stuff
you know about the topic. Not one student mentioned questions.

I was pleased that many had facts they learned from the video (indicating they were listening),
but in addition to questions, I was hoping to see more connections arise after watching the video.
As Ive identified in previous sections of this work, questioning and connecting are two of the
important thinking strategies I want to develop in my students. Research suggests both are
important to deeper understanding. Asking students to make connections between new
information and what they already know or have experienced personalizes the content while
broadening it as each new connection adds dimension (Ritchhart et al., 2011, p. 140). Teaching
students to ask questions and encouraging them to practice this skill helps students push forward
to new intellectual boundaries as they break new ground in their own thinking (Rothstein &
Santana, 2012, p. 14). This pre-research activity proved what Ive seen in my eight years of
teaching students of this age. Fifth graders often lack skill or practice in the areas of questioning
and making connections. I hoped to strengthen these techniques in my students as we learned
together through the year.

Following the activity, we had a discussion. I asked, What did you feel about having to think
about the topic before learning about it? Here is a representative sample of comments from my
students.
"I had more interest in the video and the topic because I thought about it first."
"I was looking for answers to my questions in the video because I thought about questions
before watching the video."
"I was surprised by some things [in the video] because I didn't know them when I thought
about hamsters [before the video]."

What did you notice by writing before and after the video?
"I started with questions and ended with questions."
"I learned some things."
"I didn't realize I knew a lot about hamsters until I thought about it for a while."
"I was bored at first, but then the video was really interesting because it told me stuff I
hadn't even thought about so I had more to think about after it."

Getting started with this activity helped me see that students were not well-practiced in using
the strategies of questioning or connecting as part of their normal thinking routines. They tend to
associate thinking with recalling facts. Over the next few months, I put many structures in place to
encourage deeper thinking and to communicate to my students that facts are not the only
valuable results of thinking. I modeled thinking, established time for and reflected on thinking,
made thinking visible through the use of one of Harvards Project Zero Visible Thinking
Routines, and captured thinking in visual ways around the classroom (Figure 4).

































Figure 4. Visual displays of student thinking. These figures demonstrate various ways we
posted thinking around the room.


PART 2: Attempts at the Question Starts Routine & Reflection

The most striking findings from this research experience came about through the use of the
Visible Thinking Routine called Question Starts (Appendix A). Student participation in this
activity provoked the most change in student action and influenced their thinking, interest and
involvement in the classroom. As Dillon states, No event better portends learning, than a
question arising to the mind (1986, p. 1). I found that as students started asking more questions,
they were more engaged in learning.

Initial use of the Question Starts routine was pretty straightforward in my classroom. The
routine itself requires:
Listing questions around a new topic;
Discussing a few of these questions (with the intention of having students connect to a
topic and inspire thinking about the different parts of a topic to see complexity in it); and
Reflecting on new learning that was achieved through the discussion.

I began in September by using the routine with my fifth grade class as a whole. I asked my 26
students to brainstorm together a list of questions around the new topic of healthy living. Kids
raised their hands and I went around the room calling on them to share out their questions while
capturing each unique one on chart paper. About half of the class offered questionssome
students raising their hands two, three or four times to contribute. Students like Kenny, Marco,
and Maryann (students who comfortably and frequently share their voice in class) were eager to
speak up while others were hesitant and didnt share at all. Having seen this situation in the
classroom before, I was anticipating the same here. Although I encourage participation, my
experience has been that some students will hesitate to speak up until they are more comfortable
with the class community (something that comes with time and activities we do together to
develop that community). I tried to encourage full participation, but some students either claimed
their questions were already mentioned or simply did not choose to speak up. I recognized that
some students would possibly only be comfortable writing their questions and sharing them with a
partner, but not with the whole class (and I had anticipated doing this in the future, after first
demonstrating the routine with the whole class).

After we had a large list of inquiries, I asked the class to turn to a partner to discuss one or two
of the most interesting questions they had heard. Since I directed students to only speak with one
another and gave them the chance to discuss any question even if they did not actually come up
with it themselves, all students demonstrated the confidence to participate in this part of the
activity.

Figure 5. Pair-share of questions. This photo captures students in a pair-share on the carpet of
the classroom.

Though I was pleased all students joined in on a pair-share, as I circled the room listening to
students I noticed very few discussions took place as I had envisioned. I was hoping to hear
students connect to questions other students hadeither with their own wonderings or with
experiences or knowledge they already had. Rather, many students turned slowly to their partners,
mentioned a few words about one of the questions and then, without engaging in a discussion
about the topic, began looking around as though they were waiting for the next instruction. When
I noticed this, I prodded some groups to talk more about their questions. I asked them to try to
make connections to someone elses wondering or to relate a question to something they already
knew about. Still, they were hesitant and did not offer much more for discussion. Several students
- those who had offered questionswere talking a lot and speaking quickly. Students like Mark and
Albert, boys who typically show great interest in every topic we discuss in the classroom, showed
enthusiasm for sharing their ideas around the questions they were intrigued by. I was pleased to
see that for some students, this process gave them time to have good conversations about simple
questions. The students who did carry on discussions about each others questions (rather than
just suggest answers) made connections and exposed different levels of a topic that they hadnt
thought about before. My concern was in getting other students to have similarly thoughtful
discussions.

The final part of this routine was reflecting on new ideas students had about the topic based on
their discussion of the questions. We did this together as a group. Unsurprisingly, the students
who had participated enthusiastically in conversation around the questions had new thoughts to
add about the topic. They spoke about things they hadnt thought about before, new questions
they had, and connections they made. Other students simply watched this debrief take place.

Reflection: Practice Needed
This hardly felt like a powerful start to inspiring deeper thinking in my classroom. I had hoped
to provoke thinking and inquiry around a new topic using this routine and instead only enlisted
the enthusiastic participation of about half the class. Even with prodding, many students refrained
from contributing questions to the list and then most of these students held limited discussions
with their partners when I asked them to explore the questions.

The exit cards following this activity (Figure 6) conveyed mixed reviews.



Figure 6. Exit card comments. This figure depicts direct quotes from student reflections.

The students who felt they didnt have anything to say about the topic struck me the most. It
seems my class can talk about anything when given the opportunity, yet when encouraged to just
talk on this topic, many fell silent. The students who had a hard time with this activity (either
formulating questions or discussing the questions) most intrigued me. I found it interesting that
they seemed to think they needed to be given more information in order to have a conversation
about a topic with which they already had some experience. They felt they needed to know
answers in order to engage in conversation. Had the topic been something brand-new to them, I
could understand the challenge in coming up with things to say, but healthy living is something
they definitely could discuss on some basic level. One student mentioned that its challenging to
devise questions for a new topic, but in this case, the topic was merely new to discussion in our
class, not an unfamiliar one to them altogether. For example, we havent learned about bicycles in
class, but introducing that topic with the Question Starts routine, I would anticipate that all
children could ask questions about it. Still, it seems for some students that because we havent
learned about the topic in a formal way, there was a hesitancy to identify questions around the
topic.

Rather than not being capable of asking questions or talking about the topic, I wondered if
students were just not used to doing this activity and were more comfortable with receiving
information and then, if need be, having discussions. Teachers frequently introduce new material
using the teacher-centered approach in which the teacher assumes primary responsibility for the
communication of information to students (Mascolo, 2009). Teachers lecture or provide materials
to deliver knowledge to the class. Many of my students are comfortable with this practice
passively receiving informationand seemingly uncomfortable (or unfamiliar) with the practice of
questioning or actively exploring new areas. A constructivist teaching pedagogy (in contrast to the
teacher-centered approach) suggests that new knowledge cannot be simply transmitted to
students, but is constructed based on existing knowledge and understanding (Mascolo, 2009). By
having students tap into what they already know about a topic, they are starting from their current
understanding and preparing to transform or enhance this knowledge base with future experiences
or encounters with relevant material. I was eager to push my class to engage in the Question Starts
routine again (and frequently) to increase their comfort level with tapping their curiosity and
background knowledge/experience to fuel their thinking and discussions. I wanted to help move
my passive learners to a space where they felt more comfortable being active thinkers.

Return to Action: Question Starts, Take 2
I implemented Question Starts slightly differently in my next attempt. This time, I gave the
class the topic of How our bodies work. With the hope of engaging the whole class in this
activity, I asked them to independently come up with lists of at least 12 questions around this
topic. The routine is actually designed to have students individually generate questions for
discussion, and it provides the time and space for students to develop their own connections or
wonderings prior to hearing other peoples ideas. In our initial attempt, I did not begin this way
because I wanted to demonstrate what I was looking for to the class and make it clear (with our
examples) that all questions are acceptable. However, the result was unequal participation. This
time I stuck to the routine to see if it would engage more students in generating questions to
share.


Figure 7. Students writing questions. This photo shows four students using the Question
Starts Routine.

Some students were hesitant to start writing questions and still needed confirmation that all
questions were okay. One student asked, Can we just write any questions? Anything we wonder
at all about the body? I tried to emphasize that no question was wrong or dumb; they just had to
think about things they wonder about the topic and write them down. I also posted a list of
prompts (which are part of the Question Starts routine instructions, Appendix A) to help them
formulate questions if they got stuck. After about fifteen minutes, many kids were looking around
trying to find inspiration to help them finish their lists. At this point, I suggested everyone try to
think of at least one more question before putting his or her pencil down. This activity produced
the following.


Figure 8. Question generation. This figure demonstrates the number of questions students
generated in their first experience with the Question Starts routine.

8 students wrote more than 12 questions; 16 wrote exactly 12 questions and 2 wrote less than
12 questions. The questions were incredibly varied:
Why do you need blood?
What makes disease in your body?
Who invented the intestines?
Why cant babies talk when theyre young?
How do bones grow?
What makes our eyes blink?
When I am upside-down, where does my blood go?
How come some people can hold their breath longer than others?


Figure 9. Sample list of student questions. This is an example of a student who easily wrote
more than 12 questions in the allotted time.

For the second part of the routine, I asked that students discuss a couple of their questions at
their tables of four students. This time, they were to each come up with one question and share it
with the group. Then they were tasked with talking about the questions shared. I sat with one
group for this and our conversation was really interesting. I observed students:
Make c onnec t i ons t o seemi ngl y unrel at ed areas (e.g., there are so many parts to the
body that do all different things; its kind of like all the people who work in a school have
different jobs so the school runs good),
Devel op new wonderi ngs (e.g., I wonder if we could substitute blood with another liquid;
would it still work inside the body?), and
Share personal experi enc es with the topic and questions mentioned (e.g., One time I
went with my dad when he was giving his blood or donating it or whatever and I watched
it collecting in a bag and it looked really dark, not really red, but almost black).

Meanwhile, I observed other groups in their discussions and realized that most of them were
sharing very little around the questions. They were talking off-topic, fooling around, or answering
the questions with what they thought would be the answers and shutting down conversation
around the questions quickly. An example of one of these situations went as follows:

Student 1: My question is Why do we sneeze?
Student 2: Stuff tickles our nose.
Student 3: Noits because were sick.
Student 4: One time, I sneezed when I was eating Lucky Charms and some came out my nose!
Student 1: Ewwww!
Student 3: My mom doesnt let me eat Lucky Charms.
Student 1: Yeah - my mom either.
Student 2: When is recess? Im hungry.
Then the students just sort of looked around. Student 1 started cleaning up her table. Student 2
& 4 started talking quietly about something else and Student 3 just scribbled on his paper.

When we debriefed after this (part 3 of the routine), only 2 students outside those who had sat
in my group shared new ideas they had about the topic.

Reflection: Questions are Generating, Discussion Needs Work
I was pleased with what I had seen from students for the first part of the routine in which they
generated questions; every student was engaged in thinking about the topic and trying to
formulate wonderings. I felt the exercise helped students immediately connect to the topic
because they were given the chance to write and talk about things that they found personally
interesting or perplexing.

The discussion piece could have been more productive in the groups of which I was not a part.
I thought about scaffolding this part by modeling it with a small group in front of the class (which
I provide details of in a future section).

Although the discussions had not measured up to my hopes, I still felt that the routine sparked
students to think about the new topic and connect to it in personal ways rather than just as
recipients of new information. As Bell Hooks (2010) states, The most exciting aspect of critical
thinking in the classroom is that it calls for initiative from everyone, actively inviting students to
think passionately and to share ideas in a passionate, open manner (p. 11). The routine was useful
in inciting deeper thinking. This had been my hope from the start, but seeing it in actionevery
student actively contemplating a theme and generating questions from their personal wonderings
about the themewas exciting!

Unfortunately, the students perception of the activity was different from mine based on a
survey following the activity. Many said they did not find value in the routine. The exit cards
responded to the following question:

Did the Question Starts routine get you thinking more or deeper about the body?

Definitely Somewhat Not Really Not At All
6 5 14 1

When I casually asked a couple of students who responded Not Really why they felt it wasnt
useful, one said, If you taught us about it or we watched a video or something then we learn
stuff. This was just a bunch of questions. Another student voiced that she felt her questions were
stupid because she didnt know about the topic and was just making up things to write.

A set of students seemed to dislike this activity or disregard it as useful because they had a
preconceived notion about thinking and learningthat the teacher or expert provides the
information and students take that in and work with it. I drew this conclusion from a couple of
students who mentioned that they were used to reading something or the teacher telling them
stuff about a topic instead of being asked to come up with ideas about a topic without learning
about it first. Again, this is probably due to their experiences in teacher-centered rather than
constructivist classrooms. I hoped that more experience with the Question Starts routine and class
discussions might help more students see the value I felt they were missing. I wanted them to
understand that asking questions and having conversations about a topic helps us connect to it,
connect it to things we already know, wonder more deeply about it and construct our own
learning around it.

PART 3: Honing the Routine & Wrestling With Questions

Attempting to Generate More Questions
I implemented the routine again a few days later with the topic of Farming. This time, more
students struggled to come up with 12 questions.


Figure 10. Next attempt at question generation. This figure demonstrates the number of
questions students generated in their third experience with the Question Starts routine.
















Figure 11. Samples of student questions. These images show student questions related to the
topic Farming.

Only 6 listed more than twelve questions, 6 listed twelve questions and the other 14 listed less
than twelve questions. It occurred to me that the topic was possibly too broad. I say that having
read/revisited excerpts of Make Just One Change: Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions (Rothstein
& Santana, 2012). This book suggests that a good question focus is brief, simply stated, and
sharply focused. Rothstein & Santana write, "Sometimes if the question focus is too broad or
vague students will have difficulty forming questions (2012, p. 30). In the following round of
Question Starts, I honed the topic to Farming Animals Sustainably in Tennessee and it seemed
to help students produce more questions. In following implementations of the routine, I used
narrowed topics and the number of questions remained steady (around 12) from each student.

Efforts to Improve the Discussion
In the round of Question Starts in which I honed the topic, I also modeled the discussion
piece. I had three students join me in a circle in the middle of the classroom to discuss their
questions, as they would have at their tables (with me helping to direct the conversation and keep
it movingaway from simple answers and toward exploring the topic of each question). I chose
students I hadn't worked with the prior time so that new children could benefit from practice
having a productive conversation around their questions. The rest of the students observed.
Throughout this, I noticed there was a lot of interest in the classroom toward our conversation.
Some students turned their chairs around to face the circle and remained focused on us
throughout the discussion. Others leaned forward showing interest. There were no side
conversations and nearly everyone's eyes remained on our group for the whole time we discussed
our questions (about 10 minutes). This is exactly how the routine should go, I thought. It seemed
students needed a facilitator or at least someone to keep them delving deeper rather than cutting
things short. After doing this, we debriefed it together and discussed the things the class saw
happening within our circle. Though I didnt capture all of the comments, here are some of the
reflections I quickly jotted down as the children spoke.

Everyone was paying attention.
Sometimes one person answered a question with another question.
People told stuff from their lives.
When you started talking about cows, Marco started going off on his own and telling a long
story about cows on big farms. Then everyone was talking about cows and kind of getting
off-task.
I have more things I want to know about.

I didnt respond to each reflection, but rather let the children sit with what they saw in
anticipation of doing this again and drawing connections between different discussions. I did
comment on the response about getting off-task. My students use this term a lot to label what
they feel is a negative behavior that happens when they work in groups or have small discussions
in the classroom. I asked what makes getting off-task a bad thing? One student responded, It
means were not talking about the thing were supposed to talk about. Others concurred. Then,
when I asked if there could be any benefits to this happening, one student suggested that we get to
hear about things we didnt know that are sort of related to the topic. Another student said that
we are sort of making connections even if they are a little all over the place. I acknowledged that
sometimes I feel getting off-task is okay if everyones still listening and theres a loose tie between
the main topic (farming) and the story, experience or information shared; this is how we
sometimes explore the complexity of a topic. In a later class discussion, one student went off-
topic a little and I allowed this to happen. I then followed up the students story with a quick
reflection to reiterate, in the moment, the benefit that sometimes comes from one person taking a
conversation a little off-topic.

Although the Question Starts discussion demonstration had gone well, I was still not
comfortable letting students carry this out independently. In the next three implementations of the
Question Starts routine, I modeled the discussion with different sets of students for the whole
class. Each of these times, we didnt take time for individual groups to discuss, but only had the
one small group modeling in the center of the class. Looking back, I may have tried giving the
class a chance to have their own discussions after our modeled conversation. However, in the
moment, I always felt pressed for time, so I just moved on. By the time we reached the third time
modeling, students from the rest of the class were jumping into the small group discussion, eager
to share their ideas and talk about the questions too. I thought this was a good time to start giving
students a chance to hold discussions themselves.

The discussions that followed this were greatly improved from earlier attempts. Though I did
not videotape these conversations, I walked around the classroom and observed different groups
to find that every group spent at least ten minutes discussing questions without my intervention. I
purposely refrained from stepping into discussions to see if students were able to participate in
this activity without me. Not all students were sharing their questions and making connections
with enthusiasm as I noticed a few students throughout the class who still sat quietly during this
time and needed to be drawn out by their peers to respond or share. Still, each group used the
time to stay on topic and to explore the questions that were brought up. My students participate in
Literature Circles (or book club meetings) throughout the school year that work similarly; I do not
participate (but rather observe) and they are in charge of sharing their ideas about their books and
ensuring that all students in their groups contribute. I had hoped to find that these question
discussions would run similarly from the start, but found that students were less comfortable
talking about questions than they were about books. After practicing with students while modeling
these conversations to the class, it looked like they had learned to carry out this activity with the
same success in which they participated in Literature Circles.

I continued to have concerns about those students who were less inclined to participate
without prodding, but I found these to be the same students who acted similarly in Literature
Circles. I believe that their hesitation to share had less to do with their discomfort with this
activity and more to do with the fact that they were still developing the confidence to participate
in groups of any kind. Exploring group dynamics is beyond the scope of this project, but I did
play with the groups a little to try to bring out more voices in the classroom. Once I placed five of
these quieter students in one group of their own to see if they would perhaps carry on a discussion
about their questions without leaders from the class taking over or pushing them to speak. In this
situation two of the students only spoke up when I lingered near their group, but the other three
students shared more confidently (though their conversation was shorter than the other groups). I
was glad to see at least the three students had the ability to share their ideas and respond to each
others questions, but recognized that getting every student in the class comfortable with doing so
would require more than just a developed comfort with performing the activity, but also more
team-building in the class to help students feel safe sharing their voices in small groups.


Figure 12. Student discussions. These photos depict students having conversations as part of
the Question Starts Routine.

Completing the Routine: Finally, We Get to Reflection
Each time I used the routine it was to get students thinking about a new area within the larger
topic we were exploring for our project. Since our 14-week project was all around food, the topics
for exploration were endless and included broad topics around farming, food processing, and
health and more specific ones around food additives, importation, and junk food. The first two
steps of the routine: generating questions and discussion of questions took a bit of time for us to
manage. Only after about seven experiences practicing the routine in the classroom did we give
thorough time to the third and final part of the routine, which is reflection. (We had done this part
briefly in the beginning few rounds, but then skipped it as we tried to hone the discussion piece).

We accomplished reflection with a whole-class share-out. Students volunteered to talk about
what they were thinking after talking about their questions. It was really interesting to hear
students share new thinking they had based on their discussions. One student pointed out that
"we didn't really go to a book or the Internet to answer anything, but I learned a lot of new stuff!"
A few students nodded their head in agreement with this statement. I interjected that, at times,
this activity is helpful to develop our thinking around a new topic and at times, well use the
questions weve generated to drive our project. (Indeed, this is what happened during the year.
Many times, students questions that came through from the practice of this routine directed the
learning in our project and students were given opportunities to pursue answers to their questions
or I brought in texts or experts to respond to common questions I heard voiced in these
discussions.)

Also in our reflection, several students identified new ideas they were thinking about due to the
questions and discussion. They were really excited about the fact that they "learned so much by
just thinking and talking." Though some students did not share their own reflections, it was
exciting to see the routine provoking deeper thinking in a majority of the class. When I asked
students who hadnt spoken to share their thoughts, some remained quiet, but a couple of others
said that the discussion was hard because they didnt know enough about the topic. Other kids
countered with comments like, you could just connect to something you do know, or thats
how I felt, but then I just asked more questions. I realized there were still students who were not
interested in or comfortable with the routine.


Things Are Changing: Questions Prime Students to Engage
Regardless of the fact that not all students shared in the reflection, at this point observations of
the class led me to feel more confident that ALL students were getting something from this
experienceeven if they were not yet seeing it for themselves. More students were participating in
conversations about new topics after using this routine to stimulate interest and initiate thinking.
More were looking for answers to their questions in follow-up activities. For example, after
watching a video clip students connected parts of the video to questions they had posed during
the routine. And because I was encouraging asking questions and talking about the value of
questions leading us to deeper exploration (meaning, more questions), I noticed students who
normally watched video clips or listened to experts or read articles passively, now actively thinking
during these activitiesasking questions they had during and following these activities. More were
connected to the topic from the beginning rather than waiting for the teacher or expert to tell
them information. One observation I made of this was when I read aloud a chapter of Omnivores
Dilemma (Pollan, 2009) to the class. Because the kids were primed to think about industrial farms
(having used the Question Starts routine around various topics of farming), when I read the book,
they were constantly raising their hands to comment on connections they made to wonderings
they had discussed previously and more questions they had during the reading. I ended up having
to stop reading more frequently than I usually do to give children a chance to share their
burgeoning thoughts with partners.

Since, in addition to using the Question Starts routine, I was highlighting my own questions
constantly (modeling questioning as part of every activity in which we participated), other students
started following my lead with more questions throughout the day, too. Some seemed encouraged
to ask questions during activities whereas before they would have not spoken up. I noticed
Fernando, a boy who typically listened, but didnt speak up without prompting, suddenly jump up
during a video clip in which the state of Pennsylvania was mentioned, ask where the state was and
then say, Never mind. He actually had the inclination to speak a question out, but then
hesitated. I asked him why he canceled his question and he said, Its not important. I
immediately followed this up with my contrary opinion, telling him and the class that his is exactly
the kind of questions we should pursuethose that pop into our heads and are true wonderings
that mean something to us individually. We then went to the map in the classroom and pointed
out Pennsylvania. Fernando (with a big smile on his face) seemed proud that his question wasnt
stupid, after all.

Kids Wrestling with Questions: Good vs. Bad
In an effort to quantify the progress of student thinking in regards to asking questions, initially
I thought to code their questions. This proved harder than I anticipated. I could not discern which
questions were actually better than others. It seemed some questions were more advanced
because they delved deeper into a topic, but I wondered if this was a virtue of the student asking
better questions or the student initially knowing more about a topic and therefore, having the
ability to question deeper about that topic. I chose to have the class reflect on this togetherto try
to determine if we felt coding the questions was a useful task. I structured an entire reflection
session on the topic of questions. We began as a class to discuss the varying levels of questions.
The discussion proved more fruitful in terms of helping all students understand the value of
questions than in determining a hierarchy of questions.

I began by asking the class to discuss in groups of 4 or 5 the following questions:
a) What do you think makes something a good question?
b) Are there different kinds of questions?
c) Why do we ask questions?

Then, we came together and shared out our thoughts. The responses to the first question
included the following:

A good question...
Asks for an explanation to something
Gets into details more
Is interesting because it can be answered with details
Is hard to answer
Is connected to a comment or connection like, "Every time I walk in the canyon I see lots
of bees near the entrance, why is that?"
Makes other people wonder
Is juicy or meaty, not skinny
Has multiple answers
Starts conversation

After we brainstormed this list, I asked students to come up with 'good' questions and 'not
good' questions. A student shared out a question and then the class decided if it was a good
question or not. For example, most students didn't think the question: "What happens to hamsters
in the summer?" was good because the answer was obvious (since everything heats up in the
summer). But, the student asking it explained that she knows hamsters originated in the Syrian
Desert so she was actually wondering, "How do hamsters, with so much fur, survive the hot
desert?" The class agreed that this was a good question. This discussion lasted for a while as
questions were offered and defenses were given for the questions being either good or not good.

Examples:
When will I die?
Not Good: because there's no answer
Good: because it makes us wonder; makes us think and possibly change our actions (maybe I'll do more fun
things today because I'll be thinking that I could die tomorrow)

Why are hamsters fluffy?
Not Good: the answer is too easy
Good: there are multiple answers (to keep their bodies warm; because they groom themselves often; etc.)

How does the government work?
Not Good: We can't get the full answer because some parts of the government (CIA/FBI) are secretive; it's not
very interesting
Good: some people wonder about this and want to understand more

How many stars are in the sky?
Not Good: there is no way to get the real answer
Good: it makes us wonder

At this point, we returned to the hamster question. I asked the class if the first question: "What
happens to hamsters in the summer?" would be considered a 'good question' if it was asked by my
2-year-old niece. They all agreed it would be. So then, I asked if other questions they had
mentioned could be 'good questions' and 'not good questions' depending on who was asking it
and how much they knew about a topic. Students started buzzing around the room showing
aggravation with the challenge of classifying questions as good or not good when a case could be
made for all questions being good. I pointed out to them that what I was hearing was that
questions cannot really be labeled "good" and "not good" because there's a purpose for all
questions.

I suggested then that perhaps there are just different types of questions. This was an 'aha'
moment for many kids in the class who seemed to now understand what my second discussion
question meant (Are there different kinds of questions?). Immediately, students started raising
their hands to suggest questions of different types. We came up with the following categories.


Opinion questions: What is your favorite ice-cream?
Simple, one-answer fact questions: What is 7x2? How many bones are in the human body?
Many-answer fact questions: Why do students go to school?
Detailed answer fact questions: How does the government work?
Wondering questions: What if I replaced the blood in my veins with fruit punch? How come animals are afraid
of humans, but humans are afraid of animals? What if the Civil War never happened?

I did not ask the class to rate the types of questions so I am not sure if they felt some had more
value than others. As they shouted out different types of questions, no one seemed to judge one
another for the type offered and one student even recognized aloud, It seems we have different
questions in different situations.

Next, we started to talk about what the PURPOSE of asking questions is. The class identified
several reasons we do this:

"To be confident of what you're saying in the future"
"To discover new things"
"Because we want to know stuff"
"We wonder about stuff"
"We want to learn more"
"To get answers or understand things better"
"To get more questions"

One student mentioned that sometimes he doesn't even get an answer to something and still he
learns. I asked if it was useful to ask questions even if we don't research for the answers, or if the
answers can never be found. The class debated for a while. Some kids immediately shouted out
that the purpose of asking questions is to find answers so it's pointless to just ask questions.
However a few students vehemently disagreed, waving their arms in the air eagerly begging to be
called on to defend their contrary view. These students suggested that simply asking questions
helps us learn to be better thinkers. They argued that asking questions is useful because it helps us:

a) Wonder more,
b) Extend our brain to reach into deeper places,
c) Identify parts of a topic we hadnt thought about before,
d) Learn how to wonder, and
e) Think more about a topic.

A couple of students recalled an activity I had done with them asking questions about cupcakes
(questions for which we never researched answers). They claimed this was a useful activity because
they thought about cupcakes in ways they never had before and considered different aspects of
cupcakes. I asked why they thought it was useful and they suggested that it made them better
thinkers because they were learning to consider things about a topic and in the future, they will be
able to ask good questions in other areas. They added that just thinking about a topic and asking
questions about it makes us see how meaty (i.e., complex) a simple topic or idea can be.

We decided to eliminate coding the questions and to rather continue using the routine to
practice asking questions to initiate thinking around a topic. The reflection that is part of the
Question Starts routine requires that students discuss how their thinking has changed or
developed after writing questions and discussing them. We chose to use those times to reflect
together and then throughout the following five months, occasionally reflected on how thinking
was changing (if at all) around questions and their utility in driving deeper thinking.

PART 4: Questions Have a New Purpose

After several more uses of the routine in class, I asked each student to describe the benefits of
asking questions.




Figure 13. Student samples of question benefits. These are images of what two students wrote
when asked to describe the benefits of questions.

! Quest i ons get us answers.
Within their responses, half of the class included what I expected to hear from them:
Questions help you know more. For years, children have asked questions and received answers in
return. I imagine they recognize that questions help us find answerswhich is very true and the
standard reason they've asked questions before.

The benefit of asking questions is to understand something more than you used to. -
Fernando
The benefits of asking questions is so you can get the answer to something. -Cayla
The benefits of asking questions are learning new stuff. -Isaac
The reason why its good to be curious is because if you ask a lot of questions you get the
answers and you will get very smart! -Jay

! Aski ng quest i ons l eads t o more quest i ons and hel ps you t hi nk about possi bi l i t i es,
make c onnec t i ons and push your t hi nki ng f art her.
In the Question Starts routine we discuss the questions rather than research answers. Through
the use of the routine, questions are useful for more than seeking answerswe use them to
uncover connections, new wonderings and complexities in a topic, as well as to incite interest in
learning about a new topic. About half of the class acknowledged these newly discovered purposes
for questioning.

Asking questions are good because now there are new wonders. -Bert
When you talk about one topic it could make a spark in your brain that could lead to more
questions. -Maryann
The benefits of asking questions is that when you ask you start wondering about other things
and you start to think more than normally and you talk about or answer those questions you had
and it makes you think of more questions -Rosette
It opens new doors. -Mark
Asking more questions means more connections, thinking goes farther and you think of more
questions. -Vanessa
I think asking questions and not even getting a single answers if good for us because we can
relate to other stuff and ask more questions. -John
When a person at my table asks a question that really good it leads to many other interesting
questions. -Kiki

! Quest i ons hel p you bec ome more i nt erest ed i n a t opi c .
A few students commented on the fact that questions motivate them to want to know more
about a topic.

The benefits of asking questions are it makes you think more and you get more interested. -
Jorge
I think it's good to ask questions because you're more interested in learning about something
new. -Natalia

! Aski ng quest i ons keeps you f rom maki ng mi st akes; i f you don t ask, you wi l l be
dumb.
Finally, a couple of students saw questions as a way to avoid ignorance.

If you didn't ask questions you will make mistakes and you would live your life not learning. -
Raphael
Without questions, the world would be full of stupidity. Cayla

Connecting to the Question Starts Routine
It seems that those students who enjoyed the Question Starts routine or at least those who
participated in it with some enthusiasm were those who recognized the multiple benefits of
questioning. Albert is a student who seems to have been a believer in the value of questions from
the start. His response was: I think asking questions helps you because every time you ask a
question it helps you understand something more and gives you something to think about. And
asking questions can also help spark up new ideas or other questions and this can just go on and
on.

Marco also touched on the many purposes of questioning, I think asking questions is helpful
because it makes you dig deeper. It is helpful because you really get your brain juices flowing. That
makes you think very hard and learn more. It's what makes you want to learn stuff and invent
stuff. It's what drives learning.

Diana was one of a few students who did not seem to like the Question Starts routine. Early
on, she claimed she wanted the teacher just to teach things instead of asking the students to come
up with questions about new topics. Her response to the benefit of questions was, I think asking
questions is good because when your questions are good you get the answer to it. Since she
believed that questions were for finding answers, it seems logical that she didnt find value in
asking questions when we didnt research the answers. Isaac was similar because he also thought
asking questions was to help you learn stuff and that asking people questions gets you
information. His value for questions was also limited to accessing answers. Since he did not see a
value for questions beyond this, the Question Starts routine seemed to frustrate him.

At this point half of the class still did not recognize (or at least comment on) the value in
questioning for developing wonderings, stimulating interest around topics, making connections, or
uncovering the complexity of topics. I specifically noticed some of these students actively thinking
about new topics during the Question Starts routine. Yet, many did not identify these benefits of
asking questions. They still seemed to believe that questions were most important for finding
answers. I hoped to help these students (through more reflection on action) begin to recognize the
broader ways that questioning was affecting their learning.

Enthusiasm for the Routine Spreads
After a couple more uses of the Question Starts routine, I was pleased to see that interest in the
discussion around questions was shared more equally throughout the class. I noticed groups more
enthusiastically discussing the questions rather than getting way off-topic (completely unrelated to
the questions) or shutting down discussion quickly.

When we explored the topic of diversity (a broad topic for Question Starts, but purposely
left open because we had just defined the term), I sat in on one of the table discussions. The
children were making great connections and extensions from comments they heard others say or
questions brought up around the topic.

Some of the initial questions generated for this topic included:
Why do we need diversity?
What would happen if everyone had the same background?
How does diversity happen?
What would change if our class didnt have that much diversity?
Do all schools have diversity?
Which job has the most diversity?
Can diversity be bad sometimes?
Does being Christian or Catholic have anything to do with diversity?


Figure 14. Student questions for diversity. This image shows one students questions on the
topic of diversity.

During discussion, one group of students began talking about the question, Why does
America have different diversity of people? This led to other students asking if other countries
were the same. Then a student started talking about what it means to be diverse suggesting, we
eat different foods and have different hobbies. The kids in the group started connecting with the
foods idea and someone said, We eat different foods because we grow different things on farms
and have different animals. That led to the question, Why do some places only have a few kinds
of food and we have diversity in food? Finally, when I left the table, one student was suggesting
that diversity was better and defending this position by describing the possible problems of having
just one kind of food growing in an area. This conversation was so rich!

In this instance and in others I saw the routine encouraging the class to engage with the topic
and actively think about it (rather than sit and just receive information about it). They were
interested and connecting new ideas to things they already knew about or understood.

In the reflection after the routine, several students in the class noted that they were making
connections through the use of the routine. They discussed how they were more intrigued to have
conversations about questions they have on a topic than to read simple information about the
topic. In the reflection I asked, "If I gave you a 1-page article to read about diversity instead of
asking you to think of questions about diversity and talk about those questions with your
classmates, would there have been a different result at the end?" Unanimously, the class said,
"Yes!" There were literally no dissenters.

Here are some comments that stood out for me:

This student touches on the fact that he more actively wonders when he questions and talks
about the questions:
"I think that when youre reading an article all youre doing is letting it sink in and youre just
like, oh, okay, I learned this but when you write questions and talk about it you actually wonder
about it and it sparks up more questions and you think about, Oh, I remember this. and can
make connections and all that stuff but when youre reading an article all youre doing is reading it
and letting it sink in." -Kiki
This comment struck me because it aligns with my thinking (that I hadnt shared with the
students) representing the difference between active and passive learners. Active learners
participate in constructing their own understanding. When younger students read they are not
well-practiced in asking questions of non-fiction text while taking in new material. Therefore,
reading about something becomes passivethey just fill their minds with the information.
Whereas, when they question first, they make connections and develop their own wonderings
around a topic. Reading becomes an activity that engages students to find information that relates
to what they want to know. The pre-reading strategy of asking questions and making connections
helps students get the most out of literacy experiences (Graves, Graves & Braaten, 1996). More
importantly, by questioning and providing literacy experiences in which students can pursue
learning related to their questions, students become agents of their own learning. In this situation
(common to constructivist learning environments), Honebein describes rather than a teacher
determining what students will learn, students play a strong role in identifying their issues and
directions, as well as their goals and objectives (as cited in Wilson, 1996, p. 12).

This student identifies that she remembers more because the conversation about the new topic
includes her own connections to the topic rather than just something she reads.
I think that reading the article, kind of like when you read it and its not very interesting to
you but you dont learn as much because it gets boring but when you get to write questions youre
kind of getting your own thoughts about it and then you get to share with other people and get
their thoughts and when you like read the article it kind of just like, youll just remember it for a
little bit, for like a day, but later, like, a week after that your teacher will ask what you learned and
then youll be like, Uh, I dont know. But when you talk about it you kind of like remember it
because it was kind of like your thoughts about it and then other peoples thoughts. -Cayla
Here again, I notice the distinction between passively receiving someone elses ideas versus
asking questions that articulate ones own ideas.

A couple of students concurred with the above statements. They also identified that they are
more involved when they talk about a topic and discuss their own questions rather than just read
about a topic. I realize (and the children are starting to see this also) that in the Question Starts
routine the discussion piece following the questions goes beyond tapping into personal thoughts
and provides an experience for exchanging ideas. This experience aligns with Vygotskys (1978)
interactional theory of development that highlights the value of social interactions in higher
mental functioning. Vygotsky suggests that with the assistance of others comes a new
development of thinking (Tharp, 1991). By giving students a chance to interact, they are pushing
each others thinking further. Rader (2011) also recommends conversation as a way to promote
learning. He proposes that self-directed, lifelong learners emerge when conversation replaces
presentation in classrooms. In our classroom, students were taking on active roles in their learning
by participating in discussions during the Question Starts routines.

Questioning Improves Unprompted!
My goal with this project was to help students learn how to think more skillfully and then apply
strategies to think in different situations without my prompting. To that end, I taught and
modeled questioning and making connections as specific strategies for active thinking.
Throughout the year I looked for evidence of students using these strategies, particularly speaking
up with their questions and connections in different situations.

When we began the school year, I noticed that students were hesitant to ask questions aloud.
Experts visited the class or we watched a video clip and when questions were solicited, the same 5
students frequently raised their hands to ask questions. In September, I videotaped one of these
classes and counted the number of hands raised during question time in response to a visitor
sharing information related to our project. Only 9 of 26 students raised their handseven when I
asked those who hadnt spoken up to push themselves to speak.

Five months into the school year we had another expert in the classroom and again, I
videotaped the session to observe how many students participated in the question and answer
segment. This time, every student asked at least one question and many had multiple questions!
Some were asking questions related to other questions students asked, so questions were inspiring
new questions. A couple of students made connections to things they already knew about the
topic being discussed. The visitor commented afterwards that he had never seen such an
inquisitive group of people (let alone 10-year-olds)!


Figure 15. Students asking questions of speaker. This photo shows students raising their hands
to ask questions after a classroom presentation.

More questions mean more engagement and more active thinking among students. Using the
Question Starts routine, I aimed to help students develop the habit of asking questionsnot to
merely impress others with the number of questions the class asks, but to encourage students to
be more engaged. When they ask questions or develop questions, it signifies that they are thinking
about the topic and making connections to it. Graesser, McMahen, and Johnson describe an active
learner as one who asks many questions demonstrating that they are inquisitive and curious (as
cited in Taboada & Guthrie, 2006, p. 1). I wanted all of my students to be active learners and
therefore, constantly encouraged them to be inquisitive and curious.

Another situation in which I noticed a change in student behavior related to questions was on
field trips. Throughout the first trimester of school, we took several field trips and during that
time, I also recognized an increase in the number of students who felt comfortable asking
questions and sharing their wonderings aloud. Early in the year we visited a farm and students
listened to the presenter respectfully (or at least sat quietly throughout the presentation). Then
when question time came, only about 5-10 students asked questions. About 2 months later, we
visited the Water Conservation Garden and in this situation, after listening to the presentation, a
majority of the students had questions for the speakers. The adults were astounded by the
engagement and curiosity expressed by the class. They mentioned being surprised that so many
different students raised their hands to ask questions. (I, too, was impressed!)

In the rest of the year, I hope to observe my students demonstrating active thinking (i.e.,
questioning and connecting) without prompting. In September, after we watched a news clip, only
one or two students would ask questions. Then everyone began chatting about topics unrelated to
the video. I never discouraged this behavior openly. Now I am pleased to see that the engagement
in this activity has changed such that in response to each news item we now watch, many students
have questions. Questions lead to more questions. The discussion often lasts longer than I
anticipate, and theres a lot of interest (regardless of the news item) and a lot of active
participation!

PART 5: Six Months Later Where Are We?

Student Reflections
As I wrapped up data collection for this project, I asked students to reflect on their experience
asking questions in the classroom. Almost all students had positive responses about either their
ability to ask questions, their confidence in sharing questions with others, or the value they now
have for asking questions to get deeper into a topic. Some common themes were exposed through
this reflection.

Students appreciated having more time to ask questions and the fact that questions (even silly
ones) were encouraged.
I think I was the person who really liked asking questions, but at school it wasn't really
allowed. Last year and at my old school it was like talk, talk, talk, talk [from the teacher]
and now we ask questions and Ive been learning a lot more. Maryann

Students who wouldnt ask questions at school felt more confident doing so now.
I was one of those kids who barely asked questions, I only asked like one or two. Now I
ask more questions than usual and after I ask the question, I get a little bit of answers
and I get more questions to learn about the topic. -John
Instead of having to share our questions with the whole class we got to discuss them at
our tables so I felt more comfortable asking my questions and that made me more
confident to speak up. -Alexa
It was easier to speak up because I just had to talk about questions. I didnt have to have
the right answers for a change. May

Students found strategies such as question starters and hearing other students questions
helped them learn to ask better questions.
I used to have to plan out questions in my head; as I started to hear more students talk
about questions, I started to be more interested and had more questions myself. Their
questions helped me come up with better questions. -Kiki
I love asking questions. I always loved asking questions because they get me in a
conversation and I like having conversations with other people about a topic; it
helps me want to learn more about the topic because I get everyone elses ideas and
get more questions. I like that we can do that in class! Leia

Students recognized that they got more interested in a topic by asking questions.
I didnt really talk in 4th and 3rd grade, and finally I got to talk and I got more
interested in the topic. By speaking up and asking questions I get more interested in
the topic. -Jay
I really enjoy asking questions and I think it really helps when you just talk about it
and not try to find the answer. Instead of just going on the Internet it makes you want
to find the answer experimenting and asking more questions related to that. - Albert

Many students admitted they were always enthusiastic questioners at home, but hesitated
asking questions at school. When I asked them why this was, students responded that:

They were concerned their questions would seem silly to other students.

They thought their questions didnt matter and deemed many of their questions
dumb.
I was one of those kids who would sometimes struggle with the questions;
sometimes I would think these are just dumb questions I shouldnt ask. Natalia

They believed school was a place to get information from teachers, not to ask questions.
Teachers usually tell, tell, tell instead of give kids a chance to ask their own
questions. Mark

They were afraid their questions would lead them off-topic and teachers often discourage
this.

One student, Mark, put it this way:
The only time I would ask questions was at my house. I would always ask questionseven
stupid questionsand my parents would get annoyed about it. Now I feel more confident about
asking questionsits sort of like my companion.

Students reflected that our discussions about questions helped them believe that all questions
were okay. Only two students admitted to still feeling nervous that kids would find their questions
dumb (even though they also admitted that students in this class had never laughed at other
students questions). The rest of the class concurred that being pushed to talk about questions and
write questions and ask questions and discuss the value of questions helped them view questions
differently, and even feel encouraged to speak up and ask questions more frequently.

Most students admitted that they asked questions more than they did before. Ive been pleased
to observe this in action. Not only are students asking questions more comfortably when we use
the Question Starts routine, they are inquisitive toward new subjects and ask questions eagerly of
speakers, teachers, and on trips outside the school.

End-of-Project Survey
Over the six months I conducted this research, I made observations that indicated students
were asking more questions over time and reshaping their perception of questions. The results of
a final student exit slip (as follows) confirmed my beliefs that my 26 students had a new
understanding of the utility of questions.


1) The main purpose of asking questions is to find answers.

Table 2. Survey question 1.


2) It's pointless to ask questions if you can't find the answer.

Table 3. Survey question 2.



3) The purpose of asking questions is to explore a topic and even to discover more
questions.

Table 4. Survey question 3.


4) Asking questions helps me think more, even if I don't find an answer.

Table 5. Survey question 4.


5) When I ask questions about a topic, I discover new things about it.

Table 6. Survey question 5.




6) Asking questions helps me make connections I hadn't thought about before.

Table 7. Survey question 6.


7) I feel comfortable asking questions in front of the class.

Table 8. Survey question 7.

Although I didnt give a similar survey at the beginning of the year, I am confident that
students thinking around questioning has evolved based on comparisons to earlier reflections.
One area in which I am still a little disappointed is the comfort level students have with asking
questions in front of the whole class. The six students who responded that they do not feel
comfortable asking questions in class are all either students who are shy in other situations (for
example, on the playground) or who demonstrate low confidence in their academic abilities. It did
not surprise me that they answered this way. I recall early in the year having a conversation with
the class regarding speaking up in front of each other and nearly half of the class admitted to
being nervous about doing so. They recalled moments from second or third grade when children
had laughed at them when they spoke up and this was creating their hesitation to speak up now, in
fifth grade. I was pleased to see that in this survey some of those same students who I know
began the year afraid to ask questions, now felt comfortable asking questions in class. Of the six
who responded that they still hesitate to ask questions aloud, when prompted, I notice four of
them will share their wonderings or connections with the class, while two are still hesitant to speak
up much at all. Those two admit to having very vivid recollections of students laughing at them in
years past. I am hopeful that further encouragement will finally bring out their voices in our
classroom before the years end.


Post-Research Performance Task
Similar to how I started the year, I ended this project with a performance task. I gave the class
a new topic (wild vs. domesticated animals) and asked them to think about it for 10 minutes and
to write down everything that went through their minds around this topic during the time
allotted. I encouraged them to use words or drawings to convey their thinking. (The topic was
chosen because the class was working on a pet project.)



Figure 16. Student thinking on paper. These images show a representative sample of what
students wrote to communicate their thinking about wild and domesticated animals.

I analyzed the students work using the same categories I used earlier in the year: connections,
opinions, descriptions (adjectives), facts (or knowledge students were pretty sure they had about
this topic), questions, and free associations. This time, no students wrote free associations. Here
are examples of each of the categories represented:

Connections: I remember I wanted to get a pet bearded dragon, but we didnt have what we
need to make sure he was happy and healthy.

Opinions: Let animals go wild because wild is natural!

Descriptions: playful; aggressive

Facts: Wild animals can carry lots of diseases that are dangerous to humans.

Questions: Are wild animals afraid of humans? How many generations of breeding does it take
to domesticate an animal?

I categorized each students writing and collected the data together for the class. I was
absolutely amazed by how many students now thought in questions rather than conjectures or
opinions. I was not surprised that the number of connections were fewer than when the topic was
hamsters (at the beginning of the year) because this topic was not one that as many students felt
familiar with. For many, the word domesticated was new so even if they had experience with
domesticated animals (pets) they did not make many connections to these until after we discussed
it.



Figure 17. Student thinking in pre-research activity compared to post-research activity. This
figure demonstrates the ideas students wrote down as they thought about hamsters in September
animals as compared to the ideas they wrote as they thought about wild and domesticated animals.

Next, the class read an article describing and contrasting wild and domesticated animals.
Following this, I gave the class a chance to update their thinking pages. They used pens (rather
than pencils) to add to the page (so that new thinking could be discerned from initial thoughts). I
collected the students work and categorized the new writing, as well.


Table 9. Additional student thinking in pre-research compared to post-research activity. These
tables compare the types of ideas students wrote down before and after watching a video or
reading an article in the pre- and post-research activities.

I found it interesting that this time the majority of thinking was conveyed through questions.
In introducing this activity, I didnt prompt the students to write down their questions, but rather
asked them specifically to just write down what they were thinking about. The questions were
detailed and numerous on nearly every paper. Even after we read the article, there was so much
more they learned about wild animals and breeding animals for domesticity that new questions
arose.

Last Thoughts
The approach I used this year encouraged more interest and questioning in my students. They
are clearly different than they were in Septemberboth in how they actively think about
information and how they approach and perceive thinking and questioning. The exciting thing is
that Ive seen their new behavior extend beyond the school walls. Ive observed students more
actively engaged on field trips and confidently asking questions until time runs out on each of our
visits. Though I cannot speak for the extension of this behavior to home, students did reflect that
they ask more questions at home than they did before. One student, Grant, proudly remarked that
in the beginning of the year I used to want to ask questions only about things I wanted to talk
aboutthings I was interested in only; now I have so many questions about everything that my
parents sometimes run away from me. That is what I call success!