Wilhelm+Chapter+7


 * Using Questioning Schemes to Promote Deep Disciplinary Learning **

__Introduction & Issues of Engagement and Competence __

 * Learning to Speak “Ag"**

Wilhelm tells a brief story of how his daughters were taught by a family friend to speak what they called “Ag Language”. They would place the syllable //ag// in front of every vowel. One day the girls were speaking this language in order to keep their conversation private when one of their friends questioned them about it. This led to a conversation on math and science language in which Wilhelm joined the conversation. He was disappointed to hear the girls speak negatively about math and science, and it caused him to reflect on his own past negative opinions of the subjects. It also caused him to reflect on why students from one generation to the next continue to think that math and science are dull.


 * Issues of Engagement and Competence**

Wilhelm states in this section that the biggest challenge for teachers today is motivating students. Therefore it is important for teachers to understand the relationship between student interest and disciplinary competence. Wilhelm (2007) gives the example that one of his colleagues uses: “Kids don’t become readers because they are hooked on the //cr// blend” (p.153). Students need to be involved in the tasks in order to become hooked on the topic. Wilhelm (2007) refers readers to the following chart //[|The Engagement Continuum]// by Saxton and Morgan (1994): Interest, Engagement, Commitment, Interpretation or Internalization, Application, Generation, Communication, Evaluation (p.153). This process takes students from being curious about a problem or topic to a willingness to critique and refine understandings.

__Using QAR in Mathematics Instruction __
"Question-answer relationships," also known as "[|QAR]s," should be used throughout all content areas. Teaching students how to //talk// math is just as important as teaching students how to //do// math. One way to promote mathematical thinking, discussions, and decision-making is by using this powerful questioning scheme, QAR. As Wilhelm (2007) wrote, "Too often math, as it's taught in schools, focuses on the "right answer," rather than on mathematical thinking and real-world situations" (p. 155). By using QARs, students find relevance in their work and can apply their knowledge to real-life problems.

Teachers can facilitate these question-answer relationships by asking the following types of questions: Students move along this continuum as they work toward becoming engaged learners and competent mathematicians.
 * **//Right there// questions:** These questions should ask students about the facts, data, and details, as well as pointing out the irrelevant information, in the problems.
 * **//Think and search// questions:** These questions should help students identify patterns in the data and determine the proper mathematical operations to use to find the solution to the problem.
 * **//Author and me// questions:** These questions should encourage students to find missing information. Additionally, these questions should help students see the connection between the problem and their own lives. Students will be required to identify the mathematical operations, as well as alternative operations, they must use to solve the problem. Reflecting on their process by checking their work, determining the effectiveness of their strategies, and hypothesizing are essential components of "author and me" questions.
 * **//On my own// questions:** By answering these questions, students apply problem-solving strategies to real-world problems. They learn to think, speak, and solve problems like a mathematician.

On a side note, Readwritethink.org has a lesson on QARs in math. Refer to following link to access a reference guide that students can use to help them analyze QARs in math: [|Guide Sheet: Using QARs with Graphics]

__QAR & Science __
QAR is an important part of science reading. When reading informational text and formulating their own opinions, it is first important that students understand the //right there// questions. These questions give them the information they will need to delve further into the text with //think and search//, //author and me//, and //on my own// questions. //Think and search// questions in science can help students look for "various explanatory patterns" (p. 156). They can use the answers to both of these types of questions as the start to make their own claims and/or hypotheses.

"QARs were eminently useful in apprenticing the students into [|scientific thinking] because they required following processes" (p. 156):
 * //**Right there**// questions promote careful observation and consideration of direct evidence.
 * //**Think and search**// questions promote the ability to see relationships among data and patterns across data sets, make reasonable inferences and hypotheses, and consider indirect evidence to make predictions and theories.

__Questioning Circles and Science __
Questioning Circles address questions many students ask such as, “Why do we have to learn this stuff?” and “When are we ever going to use this?” The Questioning Circle “connects them personally, as a disciplinary ‘novice expert,’ to what really matters in the material” (Wilhelm, 2007, pg. 159). Questioning Circles can invigorate engagement among students in a text.

During Questioning Circles, teachers can ask [|questions] about a text related to the following:  Example: How did you catch the virus? (self)  Example: Do you face the same risk from viral diseases as adolescents did 50 years ago? (self to world)  Example: Given what we know from the text and history, do you think children should be required to be vaccinated for certain diseases before starting school? Why or why not? (self to text to world)
 * //**Pure Questions**//- relating to self, text, and/or world.
 * //**Shared Questions**//- relating to self and text, self and world, and/or text and world.
 * **//Dense Questions//**- relating to self, text and world.

Through Questioning Circles, students are able to make [|personal connections] to the material and see how it is connected to real-world issues.

=__Reviewing Whole Units with a Questioning Scheme & Concluding Thoughts __=

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Each of the schemes, ReQuest, QAR, and Questioning Circle can be used to organize an entire unit review, again, planning backwards. Wilhelm states that these strategies "promote engagement and disciplinary understanding" (Wilhelm,2007,p.161).

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Rethinking "Coverage" and Textbooks
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Despite recognizing the power of [|inquiry teaching], many teachers resist adopting it, claiming they have too much content or text to cover to devote the time that inquiry requires.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Wiggins and McTighe (ibid) feel that this excuse "confuses information with knowledge."
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Relying on a textbook doesn't yield the gains that inquiry teaching does.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Even short inquiry units have positive effects on motivation, interaction, interaction, achievement and test scores.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Textbook as One of Many Tools
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Inquiry changes how the textbook is used:
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">text is no longer the basis of the curriculum
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">it becomes the summation of the dominant viewpoint
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">other texts and resources are used
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">greater use of primary documents
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">student activities and prior experiences become resources
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">hands-on activities and inquiry exercises

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Alternate sources are used because "most textbooks present students with a highly simplified view of reality and practically no insight into the methods by which the information has been gathered and the facts distilled. Moreover, textbooks seldom communicate to students the richness and excitement of the original works" (Wilhelm, 2007, p.163).

=<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Concluding Thoughts: On Motivation and Deep Understanding = <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"The teacher's job is to promote learning and understanding" (Wilhelm, 2007, p. 163). Inquiry fosters deep understanding, but to get to that point, the teacher's first job is to MOTIVATE his/her students. Wilhelm finds that when [|Csikszentmihalyi's conditions of flow] are met, that students are more willing to engage in activities. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">According to Csikszentmihalyi, flow exists when the following conditions are present:
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">sense of control and competence
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">a challenge that requires an appropriate level of skill
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">clear goals and feedback
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">a focus on the immediate experience
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> and the importance of the social aspects of an activity

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Wilhelm added the fifth criteria of flow and stated that inquiry meets all of those conditions as do all of the activities in the text, when used properly. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Further, Wilhelm cites the work of John Guthrie, "foremost researcher on motivation" (Wilhelm, 2007, p. 164). Guthrie states that motivating and engaged classrooms are:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1. Observational <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2. Conceptual <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3. Self-directed <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4. Strategic <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">5. Collaborative <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">6. Coherent <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">7. Personalized

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In Conclusion
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The inquiry approach provides all of the characteristics of a classroom that motivates and engages students. It is these characteristics that produce meaningful interactions with the material that promote deep understanding. Because what we teach really does matter, inquiry is a means of sharing our excitement and understanding of how and why learning is important. Inquiry fosters motivation and engagement as well as providing the tools of dialogue and student questioning.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The use of inquiry builds students who are able to participate, at any point in their lives as a member of their profession, community, or as a citizen of our democracy. Wilhelm cites John Dewey, "Democracy is conversation," maintaining that using questions and dialogue to make meaning helps us to pursue both understanding and democracy (Wilhelm, 2007. p. 165).