Developing Our Question-Asking Skills in Science

/ Level 1 / Level 2
Type of question
Think about what the article didn’t answer- what questions are still in your mind? or How could you design a study that would be an extension of this work? / Basic information- has a text-based quality and can be answered with a textbook or encyclopedia / a) Wonderment- reflects curiosity, puzzlement, and skepticism; often seek deeper connections between phenomena and understanding
b) Co-variation questions- examine causal relationships of natural or chemical phenomena (used for designing experiments)
Content Orientation
What’s important in this article? Take a big idea from the article and think about what you could ask about the science concepts, the experiment or its outcome (be skeptical). Think about what’s important to know about science- are facts important? What’s going to be important in our future? Think about ethical or social implications from the article. / Question addresses trivial facts, dates, acronyms / a)Question addresses a gap in the information in the article, asks for more detailed explanation of something addressed but not thoroughly covered in the article
b)Question is about the science phenomena or problem
c)Question is about scientific procedures
d)Question relates to social/ethical considerations
e)Question is about a treatment or solution
Complexity
Think about ways in which people can reflect on what they are learning from the article. Think about comparing ideas in the article, looking closely at the findings of the study, applying the study to things you know elsewhere, evaluating the author or article, or forming your own opinion about the topic. / Fact-finding question / a)Compare and contrast
b)Analysis and/ or application
c)Inter-disciplinary (relates 2 fields)
d)Judgment and/ or evaluation
e)Taking a position and/ or personal opinion
Relation to Article
Think beyond the content in the article. Or take a couple of ideas mentioned in the article and talk about how they support or go against one another. / Answer is found in the article / a)Answer is found in the article but asks for a synthesis of 2 or more ideas
b)Part of the answer is provided by the article
c)The answer can not be found in the article

Adapted from Roth, 1996; Dori & Herscovitz, 1999

Introduction

Asking questions is a central part of science. It is a skill needed for designing studies and for thinking critically about conceptual and experimental work. Students, however, have little exposure to the types of questions often asked by scientists. In science classrooms questions that are modeled typically fall into a couple of categories- textbook and cookbook questions. Students are familiar with textbook and teacher questions that can be answered in a couple of sentences. These questions typically probe reading or instructional comprehension. In a traditional classroom students are also familiar with the types of questions asked in cookbook labs where the question and the solution are predetermined. Both of these types of questions encourage students to formulate a correct answer. These types of questions do not reflect the true nature of scientific inquiry- where asking questions that take months or years to answer is the norm and the source of the questions is the investigator.

Supporting students in asking questions in the classroom can take many forms. For example, when conducting a laboratory, students can pose new questions that were raised by the experiment. This form of question asking is critical to refining and extending thinking about experiments and the concepts or models behind the experiment. But honing question asking skills in other tasks may be equally valuable for developing critical thinking skills.

This project investigates the types of questions students ask based on reading scientific articles. I worked with a former colleague who teaches Advanced Biology at a local high school. This year she is mentoring a student-teacher. The papers used in this study are from an assignment given by the student-teacher. The students were asked to write a summary of two articles and write at least 2 questions per article.

Assessment Tool: The Development, Insights, and Usefulness

Following is a description of the coding system and how various pieces of the tool might be useful to both the teacher and students. Students and teachers should spend the bulk of their time evaluating each question in terms of its type, orientation, complexity, and relation. These elements are not mutually exclusive; however, together they represent a way of emphasizing multiple elements that students can consider when writing questions. These elements are discussed in terms of Level 1 and Level 2. Level 1 is a starting place for many students and Level 2 is considered a mastery level. As the assessment tool on the previous page indicates, there are many forms that are considered mastery level. For scoring purposes, Level 1 elements are given a 0 and Level 2 elements are given a 1. The assessment instrument is intended to help students develop questions that reflect meaningful learning and understanding.

The following are key elements of the coding scheme that could ultimately be taught to students and utilized by students.

Type

Type refers to one of three types of questions differentiated by Wolff-Michael Roth (1996). Roth documented three types of questions eight-grade students typically asked in inquiry-based learning experiments. These questions are also useful for examining the types of questions students ask when reading articles. Although, students are not likely to design a co-variation question, it is useful to define this type of question for students and offer it as an alternative for students interested in designing hypothetical experiments that extend information in the article. Moreover, it is important for students to think about the range of questions asked in science. In moving from Level 1 to Level 2, students move from writing basic information questions to questions that reveal some level of reflection.

Level 1 Basic information- has a text-based quality and can be answered with a textbook or encyclopedia

Level 2 a) Wonderment- reflects curiosity, puzzlement, and skepticism; often seek deeper connections between phenomena and understanding

b) Co-variation questions- examine causal relationships of natural or chemical phenomena (used for designing experiments)

Orientation

Orientation refers to the orientationof the content that the students included in their question. This category was adapted from Dori & Herscovitz (1999) who classified questions students wrote in terms of “addressing a phenomena or problem raised” in a case study that the students read. In their study they classified students’ papers in terms of the presence or absence of this element. In this project, more categories were added to include the many types of content addressed by the students. This element of the assessment tool recognizes the cognitive task of selecting pertinent content; this provides an indication of what they think is important from the article. It also provides an indication of what they think is important in terms of science content, doing science, the nature of science, and social or ethical implications of science. This study also includes a “level 1” to help understand what we mean by less meaningful orientations. In moving from Level 1 to Level 2, students move from focusing on irrelevant or extraneous facts to focusing on content that is contextually and personally meaningful.

Level 1 Question addresses trivial facts, dates, acronyms

Level 2 a) Question addresses a gap in the information in the article, asks for more detailed

explanation of something addressed but not thoroughly covered in the article

b)Question is about the science phenomena or problem

c)Question is about scientific procedures

d)Question relates to social/ethical considerations

e)Question is about a treatment or solution

Complexity

Complexity refers to the cognitive tasks the question assumes. Dori & Herscovitz (1999) developed a similar category based on Bloom’s taxonomy. Their study coded student papers using what I am calling Level 2 b-e. Level 2 a was added since many students wrote compare and contrast questions. Comparing and contrasting is often used in understanding scientific phenomena and experimental procedures. Level 2 tasks differ significantly from simple identification tasks. In moving from Level 1 to level 2 students focus on more complex cognitive tasks.

Level 1 Fact-finding question

Level 2 a) Compare and contrast

b)Analysis and/ or application

c)Inter-disciplinary (relates 2 fields)

d)Judgment and/ or evaluation

e)Taking a position and/ or personal opinion

Relation

Relation refers to the way in which the question relates to the article. Level 1 questions stem from a singular idea within the article. Level 2 questions (b & c adapted from Dori & Herscovitz, 1999) either synthesize a few ideas from the article or are extensions of the article. A concrete way to examine the relation element of questions is to think about where the answer can be found in the article.

Level 1 Answer is found in the article

Level 2 a) Answer is found in the article but asks for a synthesis of 2 or more ideas

b)Part of the answer is provided by the article

c)The answer can not be found in the article

My Journal Log

Scoring guide for mastering question writing skills

Article # / Type / Orientation / Complexity / Relation / Sum / Article AVE / Overall
AVE / Total # ? / Form
1 (sample) / 0 / 1c / 0 / 0 / 1 / 2.5 / 2.5 / 2 / MC
1 (sample) / 1a / 1b / 1d / 1b / 4 / SA

Developing Our Question-Asking Skills in Science

Student Notes from Classroom Discussion

General guidelines to writing questions.

Why is it important to ask questions in science?

Why is it important to ask questions when I am reading science articles?

How can I improve my question asking skills? Things I noticed about the types of questions I asked in the past…

Things I would like to work on…

NICE WORK! We are on our way to becoming critical thinkers and question writers!

Suggestions for Composing a Science Article Review

The rationale for doing an article review is two-fold: 1) they help you become familiar with biology in the news and 2) they highlight the relevance of science in your own lives.

In the top corner include the following information:

Title of the article
Author of the article
Date article was published
Source of article

In the top middle- give your paper its own title (this title should reflect the meaning/ relevance that you found in the article).

Make sure the paper is written in your own words. Summarizing and copying are two distinctly different styles.

Papers should be about 1- 1½ pages in length (double spaced, 12 font). If you do not have access to a computer then your papers should be neatly written and comparable in length to a typed version.

Proof read your papers.
Newspaper/magazine articles must be attached or glued to a separate insert. Articles from journals or bound magazines with importance need not be cut and glued, a photocopy will suffice.
Papers may be resubmitted for a higher score.
Late papers will be deducted 2 points from the original score.

FORMAT

1st Paragraph- Summarize the article in your own words.

What was the purpose of the article? The purpose of the article was…
What was the author trying to convey to the reader? The author was trying to convey that…
Summarize 2-3 major points emphasized by the author. The author's three main points were…
Describe in your own words what the article was about.
Try not to use numbers and dates unless they relate directly to one of your main points.

2nd Paragraph- Evaluate what you have read.

What is your opinion on the topic discussed?
Was the article informative?
How does the article relate to you and your environment? Will the information in the article impact you? Someone else? How?

How does the article relate to what you are learning in science? Name at least one concept that relates to what we are learning and describe the relation.

Criteria / Student Score
Article summary:
2 points The purpose of the article is stated clearly, accurately and in the student's own words.
3 points Major points are stated clearly, accurately and are summarized in the student's own words.
Article Evaluation & Connection:
1 point The student's opinion of topic is expressed in detail and supported with examples.
2 points The student discusses how the topic relates/ impacts the student & the environment by using specific, accurate examples.
2 points The student describes how the topic relates to what we are learning by using specific, accurate examples.