Asking Better Questions: Teaching and Learning for a Changing World 3rd Ed

For educators, questioning is an indispensable pedagogical tool. It is a way of provoking inquiry—seeking explanations, meanings, understandings—and of imagining, wondering, probing, prying and satisfying a manifold of curiosities, and the list goes on. And because the list must go on, that is, remain open-ended ad infinitum, the appearance of the third edition of Asking Better Questions: Teaching and Learning for a Changing World is a timely and notable contribution.

In addition to the Introduction, this work comprises 12 solid chapters, a conclusion, appendices, a bibliography and an index. The Introduction explains the motivation and purpose of the book: interrogating “[h]ow we can encourage deep learning, support the exploration of meanings, and generate engaged conversations about things that matter” (p. 10).

Chapter One, “Setting the Context”, establishes the influence of Paulo Freire’s (1970), constructivist, and socialist, utopian philosophy on the authors who see Questioning as an “Act of Citizenship” and who lament that critical thinking has “become a victim of curricula of expediency and outcomes” (p. 15). Critiquing what might be considered the neo-liberal turn in education amid the digital era, the writers make a strong case for “Putting Students’ Questions [in all their diversities] at the Centre of Pedagogy and Schooling.”

In Chapter Two, “Questioning in a Rapidly Changing World”, the socio-educational, economic and political context is critiqued further, and the authors underline the need for contextually responsive questions/questioning. They call for “An Expanded view of Literacy”—especially “The Need to Exercise Critical Literacy”. These are offered as counter discourses to the “The Digital Reality” that permeates living and learning. This reality is characterized by: “Attention grabbers, Disruptive forces (to student attention), [a] constant urge to shift and change and [a] loss of empathy” (pp.19-20). The calls for empathy and empathic action initiated here are noteworthy features found throughout the book.

The Third chapter offers three “Capacities to Enlarge the Conversation” to resist/thwart the “negative” influence of “digital media” (p. 21). They are: (1) Critical Thinking—to look deeply and ask why things are as they are and how they can be changed… (2) Empathic Awareness (e.g., Using roles via drama to explore diverse perspectives. For instance, exploring climate change from the perspective of a denier, and a robot), and (3) Reflection—creating meaning from experience. Worthy of admiration here is the carefully and clearly worded definition of what the authors mean by Reflection (p. 23). The reflective stance advocated requires identifying key questions (p. 24-25) and is impressive (e.g., what drives people to take a stance?).

Chapter Four is purposed to provide a topic/unit –Leaving Home—that operationalizes/implements the three questioning capacities discussed in Chapter Three—critical thinking, empathic awareness and reflection. Here the authors proficiently model and demonstrate the effective use of questioning in a unit relevant to every classroom in Canada—mobility—leaving home.

In Chapter Five, “Shifting Language to Reflect a Shifting World”, the writers set the context (positivism/surety) and succinctly present their research on the need for and use of conditional language. They show how certainty can be eschewed by featuring use of conditional words such as: might, could be, might entail, may on occasion, could involve, may have, and could have been (p. 36). Thus, [c]onditional language is not only a way to open thought, feeling, and talk; it is also a gentle and respectful way to open ourselves and others to possibilities, and to let disagreements, resistance, and conflicts become appreciated for what they can add to the talk or discussion (p. 37).

Featured in Chapter Six, “Anchors in This Shifting World”, are two complementary structures: (1) Bloom’s Taxonomy (1956) and its revised version (Krathwohl, 2002) that centers cognition and (2) Morgan and Saxton’s (1987) Taxonomy of Personal Engagement (interest, engaging, committing, internalizing, interpreting and evaluating) that acknowledges the intersection of thinking and feeling (p. 42). Uses of these complementary structures are demonstrated in a question-based example.

Chapter Seven focuses on the work of questions: “What Do I Want This Question to Do?” Three broad categories are presented: A—Questions that elicit information; B—Questions that shape understanding and C—Questions that press for reflection. These “Key Question Intentions” are elaborated convincingly with robust examples in this ample chapter.

For Chapter Eight, “A Glossary of Questions”, readers are served a rich variety, such as: the open question, the polar, the branching the inductive, deductive, divergent, rhetorical, and the wondering question. Each one is supported by concrete and meaningful examples.

Entitled “Building a Community of Inquiry”, Chapter Nine focuses on the use of oral language and specific configurations that encourage dialogue, and respectful communication. It bulges with sound ideas about the use of questions to “Open and Deepen Conversations”, “Active Responding”, “The Value of Thinking Time”, and “The Courage to Wait”.

The goal of Chapter Ten, “Promoting Responsibility for Learning”, is to strengthen students’ abilities as “effective questioners and better communicators” (p. 69) through the use of an “Inquiry-Based Approach”. Highlighted here is a list of “Teaching behaviors to avoid” and questions useful to achieve such a goal and irresistible questions useful for helping students to become capable questioners, and the importance of the quality of teacher questions for student growth.

Chapter Eleven, “Questions for a Changing World: Students as Researchers”, has a research-specific focus where the topic of Rubbish/Garbage is explored through questions. This has the strength of a ready-to-go unit using the six components of the Taxonomy of Student Engagement discussed in Chapter Six. This requires using carefully crafted questions and prompts. A creative example (p. 85) is about Raising Questions through Art: Analyzing and Creating Artworks and accompanying teacher prompts/questions.

Chapter Twelve, “Unwrapping a Mystery: Students as Questioners”, position students as competent problem solvers through role-playing. Information is provided from a source, and students need to solve a murder mystery by raising questions (e.g., What can we learn from the source? What questions do we have?). Next, the writers model how to “Build a Story through Questioning (pp. 88-91), truly, a powerful way to attract and build student engagement!

The book’s “Conclusion” focuses on “Raising Difficult Questions” in today’s climate. The authors point out that “questions raised…are often difficult to answer but reflecting on them has the potential to create conversations that are thoughtful, attentive, aware, and rich in perspectives…They add, “…as we learn to ask better questions, we begin to change ourselves. One day, perhaps, that could lead to changing the world… “(p. 99) thus re-signaling the ethical/social justice/inclusive orientation of the book.

Solidly grounded in a critical, ethical framework of justice, caring/empathic awareness, reflection and transformation, Asking Better Questions: Teaching and Learning for a Changing World is a first-rate professional resource that is as indispensable to teachers as questions are to teaching and learning. My copy will be pressed into service immediately!