Children are naturally inquisitive. Young children are curious about their environment and want to know all they can about how the world works and why. They do this by asking questions and exploring their surroundings. Asking questions is the way children get someone’s attention and engage them in conversation.
And yet we discourage
children from asking questions when we consistently reward those students who
find answers and solutions on their own. Think about it, how often do teachers or
peers inwardly groan as the stereotypical child raises her hand to ask yet
another question? How often do we praise a student’s problem solving abilities,
especially when he has made independent discoveries?
In inquiry-based classrooms, the process of asking questions for greater understanding can be its own reward. And yet, unfortunately, the test-based assessments used by most
modern schools employ a measurement mechanism that discourages the very kind
of pure inquisitiveness we seek to cultivate. We must find the balance.
Further, question-rich
learning can benefit children of all abilities. Research
shows us that inquiry-based education “affords students the
chance to decide how they go about understanding concepts which may have been
hard to grasp in the context of someone else's explanation,” (Melber, 2004*) and
“an inquiry-based learning environment was shown to have a positive effect on
not only students with learning, mental, and physical disabilities, but also on
an academically gifted student who was socially challenged. (Rapp, 2005*)
Reform Judaism emphasizes the
premise of informed choice; of learning and understanding our rituals,
practices and teachings as a means to intentionally choose the way they fit
into our modern lives. At the core of
informed choice is inquiry – we are encouraged to ask questions, so much so
that there is a Jewish proverb that states, “No one is without knowledge
except he who asks no questions.”
No comments:
Post a Comment