During World War II, the US Department of Defense wanted to make planes that were strong enough to resist bullets but light enough to move quickly. They realized that putting armor on an entire plane would make it too heavy. Instead, they tried to figure
What percentage of numbers contain the digit 3? You might guess 10 percent, but in reality, almost all numbers contain the it. If you want to know why, you’ll need to watch this excellent Numberphile video for an explanation.
Teachers often go into classes hoping that their questions will lead to vigorous and thoughtful discussion, but they usually leave disappointed that they only elicited a sea of blank faces.
While it can be tempting to blame the lack of response on student lethargy or
I’ve been teaching literature for more than 30 years, and nothing has struck me more during that time than the difficulty of finding just the right discussion question. It’s easy to give out information, which students dutifully take down in notebooks and throw away after
Critical thinking has become a catch-all phrase in any education literature that touts the development of 21st century learning. It seems that no matter which instructional model is being used or how the craft of teaching is being applied, as long as the approach claims
Participation continues to be one of the most common methods faculty use to get students involved in their learning. It’s a go-to strategy for many, but various studies have shown that it’s not always used in ways that realize its full potential. We go to
Good answers depend on good questions. That’s why we work so hard on the content of our questions and why we should work with students on how they ask their questions. What also helps to make questions good is asking the right type of question.
For some time now my good friend and colleague Larry Spence and I have been discussing the role of questions in the college classroom. The conversation started with concerns over the quantity and quality of questions students ask—those earnest questions about what’s going to be
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