What is your question today?
Sharmila Govande
Knowing the answers may help them in school, but knowing how to question will help them for life.
– Warren Berger
One of my students – a young girl in grade 1 – loves to be neat in her work. She has good handwriting and organizes the page very well. The question numbers are written inside the margin, a blank line in between two answers and the date written neatly on the top left of her page. A few days ago she was writing the date and happened to erase it a couple of times when I asked her, “Can you tell me what these numbers mean?” by pointing out to the numbers she wrote while writing the date. She stared blankly at me not knowing what to say. To help her, I turned pages and pointed out that she never missed writing the date and I said, “Yesterday, you wrote 7.8.17, today you have written 8.8.17”. Can you tell me why?” After a lot of prodding, she replied, “My teacher writes this in class daily and has told us that we have to write it too. Or else she puts a big question mark.” This little girl did not know or understand the purpose of writing the date and wrote it only because she did not want a question mark on her book. This discussion left me with an uneasy feeling. I could see that like her there would be many children who do things just because they are asked to do so, without understanding the reason or without believing in its purpose.
This was not my first encounter with such blind acceptance and non-questioning attitude of children. Ever since I started teaching, I found that children simply accept everything stated to them by an adult especially a teacher, without even attempting to ask the questions – why, what, how, when, where. This results in poor thinking and problem solving skills and it affects the much needed ability to make decisions as they mature into adults.
So, how do we get children to question? How do we work on building their curiosity levels and engage in questioning until they feel satisfied with their findings and are clear about a concept.
Children ask questions when they feel that their questions are appreciated. Therefore, parents, teachers and significant adults should encourage children to question. Teachers must make the time to listen to their students and display patience as children might find it difficult to explain the questions they have. Teachers must also help them articulate their question by rephrasing it. This helps the teacher make sure that the question is understood correctly. During one of my theme sessions, an eight-year-old girl wanted to know why rivers are formed only on mountains. She found it difficult to articulate her question and it took me some time before I understood what she wanted to ask. It is also important for teachers to accept the questions – however silly they may sound and answer them in a simple way. Another child wanted to know why I had three children. This question might sound silly to some and too personal to some others, or a hush-hush one to teenagers. However, to me it was a moment to rejoice as it came from a child who rarely asked questions and answering it truthfully resulted in a long discussion that revealed that this child did not have any siblings and yearned for one, but his mom did not want another responsibility.
A teacher doesn’t have to answer all the questions asked by a student. If she does, then she falls in the trap of, “Teachers know it all.” A discussion with fellow students, or a ‘let’s find out the answer’ helps the children learn to continue their quest for answers even in the absence of a teacher or an adult. When the teacher and student engage in searching for answers, they help the children develop the skill to research and read different perspectives on the problem. A discussion with fellow students helps in not only developing the ability to articulate and express, but also the ability to listen and comprehend various solutions or perspectives, gives rise to many other questions and helps in the formation of many concepts. In my theme class, the students were engaged in preparing pots for planting. We were reusing old plastic cartons and one student wanted to know why we were making holes in the carton. A discussion with fellow students followed, where a student shared the importance of draining excess water without which the plant would die. Another student shared his experience of how excess water damaged plants. A student linked it to floods and how floods damage crops and yet another took his connection further to why he felt planting in the soil directly is better. He shared that all excess water would seep into the ground and reach the water table.
I recently learnt a technique to help children learn how to question. This was shared by Rupesh Gesotta, an engineer turned school math teacher who has dedicated his life to generating a love for math among children during a math session for parents. He gave us a simple question – find the odd man out. The numbers given were 9,16,25,43. He asked all of us to share our answers. We were surprised that we had different answers and a different logic by which we worked out our answer. So for me 43 was the odd one as it was not a square of any number, but the other numbers were. For another, 9 was the odd one out as it was a single digit number. For yet another 9 was the odd one but his reasoning was that the digital sum of the other numbers was 7 except that of 9. Thus bringing problems which can have multiple answers, can be one way of telling children that there can be many answers to a problem and one can find these multiple answers by questioning the logic and thinking and thereby not simply accepting the teacher’s answer as a given.
Another technique that I usually use in many of my classes and individual sessions with children is by asking children to arrive at the answer and explain the process of thinking involved. Here the teacher acts a guide who helps children explore solutions using different strategies. Take a simple subtraction sum as an example. What is 9-5? There are many ways of getting the answer – backward counting, drawing 9 circles and cutting away five circles, using a number line, using fingers, etc. What is important here is to not insist on any particular technique, but to encourage children to use different techniques and have a discussion on the process of thinking involved in arriving at the solution. When children start focusing on the ‘process’, it becomes difficult for them to accept the ‘answer’ without being convinced of the process.
Once children start asking questions, they can also discover further connections. I was talking about doubles and halves with a group of first and second graders. The children had to arrive at the double of and half of a particular number and show how they arrived at the answer by drawing it on the board. It was wonderful to watch the children ask the question why and not just accept the answers. One girl who was keenly observing the process, shouted out “Ma’am, only even numbers can have perfect halves. For odd numbers – one number is left over and that has to be divided into two parts resulting in a fraction”. This was a big eureka moment for her as she made this discovery for herself. She later shared that the double of every number is an even number.
Starting a class with a question – a real life problem – is yet another way of promoting a questioning culture. The question could be a general one such as ‘why do you think it is so hot today’? Or it could be related to the topic / concept being taught. An activity such as, “What is your question today?” encourages children to ask one question daily. Children take turns to ask their questions. Playing games such as ‘20 questions’ teaches children to ask appropriate questions that lead them to solutions. Various other ways such as having a question box in class, question time at the end of the lesson and rewarding children who ask questions works wonders for creating a questioning culture. It is this culture which will develop adults who question the appropriateness, the effect and the impact of an event or an act and this will help them to shape their life.
The author is an education and social development professional. She is involved in teaching school children, facilitating workshops for teachers and parents and writing on education related topics. She can be reached at
