What's a Natural Next Question?
When you are learning something, your naturally curious mind automatically comes up with questions about it. Those are your Natural Next Questions! Sometimes in school we are hesitant to ask them, for many reasons, including fear of judgement by our peers or our teacher. In inquiry, ask away! That's the way we learn more, keep our curiosity active, relax, and follow our natural interests.
In Beagle and Make it Matter inquiry, you say we should set our big project-wide goal as a question. Why is that?
The reason for this is that statements often imply that the answer is known, while questions imply that there's more to learn. The mindset here is that no outcomes or paths of action are predetermined (Tenet 5). The goal is to learn about the issue, and not necessarily solve it right away.
What are some examples of big goal questions people have used?
How can we raise awareness of COVID prevention methods in our local community?
How can we learn how to build robots?
How can we reduce gun violence?
How can we create a garden?
How can we promote a culture of kindness in our school?
What barriers exist to better healthy food access and how can we affect them?
How can we promote awareness of and voting in local, state, and national governance?
What if I don't think someone else's question is a good one, or I think it could be improved?
No question is “wrong” or “bad.” Each question asked comes exactly from the place of understanding one is at and thus is absolutely appropriate as coming from that place. The art of asking fruitful questions is delicate and takes practice to develop and must start from a place of simply asking questions of any kind. No judgement is ever necessary in this learning process. In years of practicing these inquiry learning techniques, we've found that trying to blend similar questions together almost never improves them; they become less specific and therefore less helpful. Best practice is to accept every question with positivity.
For Teachers
How can I help young learners get comfortable asking questions?
First of all, make sure you never criticize any questions. Every question is great. Much later, learners can start working on creating even better questions, but for now, you are there 100% to support. Some ideas:
- As a group leader, practice making some compelling statements and then turning silent. “I got a new puppy over the weekend.” “I had pizza for dinner last night.” “I finally solved a problem last night that I’ve been stuck on for a very very long time.”
- Have team members read a passage or watch a video and assign the task of writing down questions that naturally occur to them about it.
