Asking Powerful Questions

Session One

Introduce the interview.

• Explain that a guest will be meeting with the students in the near future to talk about a topic that the class has been studying. Alternatively you could adapt the activity by connecting with an expert using technology applications, such as e-mail, a blog or video conferencing.
• Provide background about the interviewee and invite students to consider what questions would help them learn more about the topic. Ask students to think about what would be a really good question­––a really powerful question––to ask. Primary students may require some coaching to understand the difference between a question and a statement.
• Provide examples of both powerful and not powerful questions.

Note: These are sample generic questions that could be used to develop the concept of powerful questions. They do not necessarily need to relate to the topic of study.

Explore the concept of criteria.

• If the class has not previously worked with the concept of criteria, provide a definition (e.g., the basis for making reasoned judgement) and invite students to provide examples of criteria for familiar things; e.g., What does a respectful person look like? do? sound like? What would a disrespectful person look like? do? sound like?

Determine criteria for a powerful question.

• Invite the students to examine the examples of powerful and not powerful questions and brainstorm the characteristics (or criteria) of powerful questions.
• From the brainstormed list, ask students to select up to five criteria that they think are most important in recognizing a powerful question. You may want to cluster similar criteria into a more encompassing term.
• While it is important to honour student contributions during a brainstorming session, teachers also have an opportunity to invite a deeper response from students. For example, it is possible to ask a question that meets all of the criteria, and yet is a trivial question. Help students consider other criteria such as relevance to the topic, clarity and focus, and the potential for the question to generate unique and interesting information.
• This list of sample criteria is provided as teacher background information. It may also be shared with students as a sample of what another group of students decided.

Generate possible questions.

• Ask students to think of questions they would like to ask of the guest. Encourage students to consider the criteria in formulating their questions. Record questions generated during the class brainstorming.
• This list of sample questions is provided as teacher background information. It may also be shared as a sample of what other students decided. Note that not all of the questions in this sample meet the criteria for powerful questions.

Apply criteria for powerful questions.

• Model how to use the Student Self-Assessment Checklist to evaluate the quality of the questions provided during the brainstorming. You may wish to use Sample #1 Student Self-Assessment Checklist: How powerful are my questions and Sample #2 Student Self-Assessment Checklist: How powerful are my questions to model student responses in both the Yes and Not Yet categories.
• Adjust the criteria in the LH column of the Student Checklist as needed to align with the criteria generated by the class. Use questions generated by the class to replace the questions in the samples (i.e., Why did you fight in the war? Do you remember some of your friends from the war?), if desired.
• Involve the students in providing evidence of how each question either meets the criteria for a powerful question or needs to be revised to meet the criteria.
• Involve the students in providing suggestions for improving questions that do not yet meet the criteria for a powerful question.
• This tool is a place for students to explore their thinking. The metacognitive process is an important step in learning to think critically. As such, this checklist is intended to be used as a formative tool (assessment for learning) and not to generate a mark. The process of identifying when revisions need to be made and then making improvements is a significant step in learning to think critically. 
• Involve students working in pairs to use the Student Self-Assessment Checklist to evaluate the quality of the remaining questions.
• Check for understanding by having students share examples of their powerful questions with the class.