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Questions and QuestioningThe role of the adult in

extending childrens thinking

Helen Tovey

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Outline Childrens questions

Adults questioning

Video analysis adults and block play

Possible roles of the adult in extendingchildrens thinking

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Childrens Questions Why does the aeroplane stay up and not fall

down? Who waters the trees? How do they get right

up there? Why is snow white? Whats all that sugar doing on the cars? How does the snail eat when it hasnt any

teeth? Wheres the tap? Wheres the plug?

( child looking at the sea for the first time)

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Rhetorical Questions How did that big ice get into that

bottle?

I know, it must have melted first

Why does the duckling drink like that ?Why doesnt he drink like a cat ?

I know, its cos he hasnt got a tongue

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Philosophical questions When tomorrow becomes yesterday

where has all the time gone?

How come God made nasty cats whokill birds?

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Research in the 80s Average of 20 questions a day at home

Sustained passages of intellectual search at hone

At nursery and school little evidence of questionsthe curious puzzling child was gone.

Adults asked the questions and dominatedconversations

Much talk was low level, mundane, flat in tone -little sense of intellectual struggleTizard, B & Hughes, M (1984) & Wells, G ( 1985)

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2002 - REPEY Project

5% of questions were open ended

34% of questions were closed

81% were not directly related topedagogy

Siraj Blatchford et al (2002) Researching Effective Pedagogy inthe Early Years DfES

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`Most teachers waste their time byasking questions which are intended to

discover what a pupil does not know,whereas the true art of questioning hasfor its purpose to discover what the

pupil knows or is capable of knowingEinstein 1920 cited in Nutbrown, C (1999) Threads of Thinking

Paul Chapman

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`REPEY ProjectExcellent settings:-

` Provide adult-child interaction that involves

sustained shared thinking and open endedquestions to extend childrens thinking.

`Freely chosen play activities often providethe best opportunities for adults to extendchildrens thinking

Siraj Blatchford et al (2002) Researching Effective Pedagogy in the

Early Years DfES

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Sustained shared thinkingan episode in which two or more individualswork together in an intellectual way to solve

a problem, clarify a concept, evaluateactivities, extend a narrative etc. Both partiesmust contribute to the thinking and it mustdevelop and extend

Siraj-Blatchford et al(2002) ResearchingEffective Pedagogy in the Early Years(REPEY), Dfes.

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Effective contexts for

sustained shared thinkingA child an adult

an adult and a child pair.

The larger the group the fewer theepisodes and the more likely thatinteractions would be monitorial.

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Summary of research on

effective interaction

Sensitivity to the meanings a child is trying to

communicate a desire to promote interaction where both

participants have equal space and discoursestatus

Skill in responding to the meaning intended

Genuine concern to achieve a mutualunderstanding

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Video Boys and blocks

How effective is the adults talk insupporting and extending the boys

thinking and understanding? What strategies are effective?

What strategies are less effective?

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Talking about thinking

What do you thinkof that? What a good idea! Im wondering What can we use ? Where shall we put it ? I wonder whythey go so fast? What do you need to do that ? Lets just check Is it a good idea ? Can you guess. Have you thoughtabout .... ? Supposingwe .. would that be a good idea? Lets pretendthat

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What is the adult role in

supporting and extendingchildrens thinking ?

making time

a provocative environment

rich first hand experience and stories

open ended / problematic materials

Provision to extend chs persistent concerns relaxing the `teacherly agenda

making connections

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Role of the adult in childrensthinking outdoors

Tuning-in to childrens thinking listening to and respecting their ideas Posing open ended questions

-I wonder why?-what made you think that?-what do you think might happen?-what else can we do?

Using thinking words remember, think, know, wonder, consider,reconsider, guess, plan, check, test, etc

Developing `sustained shared thinking( REPEY Project 2004)

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Responsive, reciprocal interaction

helping children reflect on their own

thinking documenting childrens thinking

making learning visible

to `open up parts of the world thatchildren on their own havent thoughtof thinking about( Eleanor Duckworth 1987)