Questions and Questioning The role of the adult in extending childrens thinking

Helen Tovey

Outline

Childrens questions Adults questioning Video analysis adults and block play Possible roles of the adult in extending childrens thinking

Childrens Questions

Why does the aeroplane stay up and not fall down? Who waters the trees? How do they get right up there? Why is snow white? Whats all that sugar doing on the cars? How does the snail eat when it hasnt any teeth? Wheres the tap? Wheres the plug? ( child looking at the sea for the first time)

Rhetorical Questions

How did that big ice get into that bottle? I know, it must have melted first Why does the duckling drink like that ? Why doesnt he drink like a cat ? I know, its cos he hasnt got a tongue

Philosophical questions

When tomorrow becomes yesterday where has all the time gone? How come God made nasty cats who kill birds?

Research in the 80s

Average of 20 questions a day at home Sustained passages of intellectual search at hone At nursery and school little evidence of questions the curious puzzling child was gone. Adults asked the questions and dominated conversations Much talk was low level, mundane, flat in tone little sense of intellectual struggle

Tizard, B & Hughes, M (1984) & Wells, G ( 1985)

2002 - REPEY Project

5% of questions were open ended 34% of questions were closed 81% were not directly related to pedagogy
Siraj Blatchford et al (2002) Researching Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years DfES

`Most teachers waste their time by asking questions which are intended to discover what a pupil does not know, whereas the true art of questioning has for its purpose to discover what the pupil knows or is capable of knowing
Einstein 1920 cited in Nutbrown, C (1999) Threads of Thinking Paul Chapman

`REPEY Project
Excellent settings:` Provide adult-child interaction that involves sustained shared thinking and open ended questions to extend childrens thinking. `Freely chosen play activities often provide the best opportunities for adults to extend childrens thinking
Siraj Blatchford et al (2002) Researching Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years DfES

Sustained shared thinking

an episode in which two or more individuals work together in an intellectual way to solve a problem, clarify a concept, evaluate activities, extend a narrative etc. Both parties must contribute to the thinking and it must develop and extend Siraj-Blatchford et al (2002) Researching Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years (REPEY), Dfes.

Effective contexts for sustained shared thinking

A child an adult an adult and a child pair.

The larger the group the fewer the episodes and the more likely that interactions would be monitorial.

Summary of research on effective interaction

Sensitivity to the meanings a child is trying to communicate a desire to promote interaction where both participants have equal space and discourse status Skill in responding to the meaning intended Genuine concern to achieve a mutual understanding

Video Boys and blocks

How effective is the adults talk in supporting and extending the boys thinking and understanding? What strategies are effective? What strategies are less effective?

Talking about thinking

What do you think of that? What a good idea ! Im wondering What can we use ? Where shall we put it ? I wonder why they go so fast? What do you need to do that ? Lets just check Is it a good idea ? Can you guess . Have you thought about .... ? Supposing we .. would that be a good idea? Lets pretend that

What is the adult role in supporting and extending childrens thinking ?

making time a provocative environment rich first hand experience and stories open ended / problematic materials Provision to extend chs persistent concerns relaxing the `teacherly agenda making connections

Role of the adult in childrens thinking outdoors

Tuning-in to childrens thinking listening to and respecting their ideas Posing open ended questions -I wonder why? -what made you think that? -what do you think might happen? -what else can we do? Using thinking words remember, think, know, wonder, consider, reconsider, guess, plan, check, test, etc Developing `sustained shared thinking ( REPEY Project 2004)

Responsive, reciprocal interaction helping children reflect on their own thinking documenting childrens thinking making learning visible to `open up parts of the world that
( Eleanor Duckworth 1987)

children on their own havent thought of thinking about