Purpose: What kind of thinking
does this routine encourage?
This routine provides students with the opportunity to practice
developing good questions that provoke thinking and inquiry into
a topic. It also helps students brainstorm lots of dif-ferent kinds
of questions about a topic. The purpose of asking deep and interesting
questions is to get at the complexity and depth of a topic. The
purpose of brainstorming varied ques-tions about a topic is to get
at the breadth, and multi-dimensionality of a topic.
Application: When and Where can
it be used?
Use Question Starts to expand and deepen students'thinking,
to encourage students' curios-ity and increase their motivation
to inquire. This routine can be used when you are introduc-ing a
new topic to help students get a sense of the breadth of a topic.
It can be used when you're in the middle of studying a topic
as a way of enlivening students' curiosity. And it can be
used when you are near the end of studying a topic, as a way of
showing students how the knowledge they have gained about the topic
helps them to ask ever more interesting questions. This routine
can also be used continuously throughout a topic, to help the class
keep a visible, evolving list of questions about the topic that
can be added to at anytime.
Launch: What are some tips for starting
and using this routine?
Before using Question Starts, you might want to ask students what
they think makes a good question. Then, when you show the Question
Starts, explain that this routine is a tool for asking good questions.
Start the routine by providing a topic- Stockholm, a compass, the
Equator, good sportsmanship. Ask them to use the Question Starts
to generate a list of questions about the topic. Initially, it's
best to work together as an entire group. Once students get the
hang of the routine, you can have them work in small groups, or
even solo. Or mix it up. For example, do step 1 as a whole class,
do step 2 in pairs, and step 3 as a whole class again.
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