Good+Questions


 * What Makes A Good Question A Good Question?**

Good questions are key to framing and inquiry efforts. So then, what are the characteristics of a good question?


 * //Our ideas...//**
 * Question that leads to another question
 * Earnest
 * Relevant
 * Open-ended or specific: appropriate to situation
 * Provoking --> stimulating, probing
 * Not looking for one specific answer
 * Clear and comprehensible

//Continue to add to our list over the course of the semester....//

In addition to Allen’s ideas for what makes a question a good question featured on the presentation from class 4, Postman and Weingartner provide the following considerations for us as teachers (p. 66):
 * POSTMAN & WEINGARTNER'S IDEAS ABOUT GOOD QUESTIONS**

- Will your questions increase the learner’s will as well as his [or her] capacity to learn? - Will they help to give him [or her] a sense of joy in learning? - Will they help to provide the learner with confidence in his [or her] ability to learn? - In order to get answers, will the learner be required to make inquiries? (Ask further questions, clarify terms, make observations, classify data, etc.?) - Does each question allow for alternative answers (which implies alternative modes of inquiry)? - Will the process of answering the questions tend to stress the uniqueness of the learner? - Would the questions produce different answers if asked at different stages of the learner’s development? - Will the answers help the learner to sense and understand the universals in the human condition and so enhance his ability to draw closer to other people?

For Postman and Weingartner, answering yes to these questions ensures extremely high standards in education