This provocative idea that we as educators can need to carefully craft our questioning of students to prioritise provocative questioning struck a strong chord with me.
With this in mind I thought through the levels of questioning that I've used in the past with a unit that is taught in many schools, 'Exploration has contributed to change'.
Thinking about this unit I came up with the following provocative questions to drive the unit:
- When does an exploration become an invasion?
- Do explorations always result in change?
- Should humanity continue to explore?
- Is there only one right way to interpret an event?
- Can anyone be an explorer?
- What changes have explorations brought about?
- How do explorations affect different cultures?
- Why are the effects of explorations perceived in different ways?
I am looking forward to continuing to explore the possibilities of provocative questions as truly effective driving elements in engaging students with thinking and questioning.
Below is a video of Marina Gijzen an inspirational PYP teacher at Nanjing International School talking about her response to provocative questions.