Nowadays, many course books for (very) young learners include big questions. But what are big questions?
A big question is a type of question that encourages children to answer in their own way. It should never be a yes-or-no question or have only one answer. A big question allows children to use their knowledge and think deeply, making it a great learning opportunity.
Very young learners are concrete thinkers, and they start thinking more abstractly around age 4 (Copple & Bredekamp 2006). This means that their speech is usually quite literal, and big questions might initially pose a challenge. Therefore, when teaching young learners, it's important to observe them. The more information you gather, the better you will be able to support their learning and ask questions that are appropriate for each child's level of development.
Strasser and Bresson suggest considering the following aspects when introducing big questions.
Think about where your learners are developmentally. Do they have the vocabulary to answer the planned big questions?
Consider children's prior knowledge.
Write down specific questions you plan to ask ahead of time. As an alternative, you can comment on children's work by making statements about what you see them doing, followed by an open-ended question or remark.
Start with simple, lower-level questions. Gradually ask more difficult questions when you see the learners responding easily.
Allow plenty of wait time.
Use active listening strategies: make eye contact, encourage children to share their ideas, and summarise what they say.
Limit the time you take to ask questions to avoid children loosing the engagement.
In my previous post, I talked about using higher-level questions and activities during the storytelling, below I outline some suggestions that teachers can use during the circle time and drawing/writing activities.
Drawing / Writing
Remember. What letters did you use in your writing?
Understand. Tell me about your drawing/writing.
Apply. What did you draw/write about..?
Analyse. How similar/different is it to..?
Evaluate. What are some reasons this is your favourite drawing/piece of writing?
Create. How can you create a book that tells a story about...?
Circle time
Remember. Who is not here today?
Understand. How do you think (the class puppet, the story character) is feeling today?
Apply. (Connecting to the previous stage) Can you share a time when you felt (worried)? What did you do?
Analyse. What can we change about the way we tidy up?
Evaluate. In the story, do you think it's okay for a (character) to (action)? Why? Why not?
Create. Sometimes we get angry. What can we do to stay calm?
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