Questions are how we think. They are how we, explore new things, show our creativity, and gather information. When I ask my students in Algebra to tell me all about the graph of a line, I am giving them a chance to show what they know; A chance to list out and marvel at the immense amount of information they can gather from a single clue - a line. This type of question is good.
Over their educational careers our children will be faced with good questions and not so good questions. Some of them will be on standardized tests, others will be masked in a discussion. What makes a question good?
- Good questions encourages us to think. Wrestling with vast ideas and concepts comes from contemplation of a good question. Does the question encourage us to take time to think about the material? Then it's a good question.
- Good questions do not have obvious answers. When we ask our child questions that have obvious answers we're asking them to affirm what we already believe. Instead, we need to challenge them to think and reveal this thinking through the not obvious answer.
- Good questions have different journeys. As a math teacher I'm not interested in what your child states the unknown variable of x is equal to. I know the value of x. I'm interested in how he came to the conclusion. What patterns did your daughter see in the graphed line? What comparisons did she make between the line and the axis? These answers are shown to me in the work that your child submits, not in their value of x. Not everyone solves a system of linear equations the same, and that's okay. There are at least three ways to solve it, which path did you take? Good questions lead different people down different paths to the same end value, but not to the same end.
Are we asking our children to regurgitate what we've told them or are we encouraging them to think, explore the less obvious, and take the journey required for them to find the ultimate Truth and Logos?