Eleanor Duckworth’s work on Critical Explorers asserts that the combination of: teachers as curriculum designers and the focus on children’s thinking and not simply our own, is a powerful learning duo.
Today we take a further look at some practical questioning strategies she has outlined in her work and a hexagonal thinking strategy you can use. The following is from the Critical Explorers site where you can delve more deeply into the ideas she offers.
Catch students’ interest
- Try to convey that you think they’ll enjoy exploring this image (or text, or map, etc.), and that what they are doing and saying sheds new light for you on the object. It always does.
- Try to keep them thinking about it, even when they may think they have done all they can.
- Try to find out what they are thinking about the image, and to follow their thinking as it changes.
For example:
Ask for observations:
- Start with a question that allows for a very small answer, where everyone has something to say — for example, “What do you notice?”
- Ask them to point to the image and show everyone what they are talking about.
- Ask what else they notice.
- Ask them to say more about an observation they’ve made.
Ask for clarification:
- Ask them to refer back to the image itself to back up whatever they have to say about it.
- Ask them to clarify something, or to explain what makes them say what they do.
- Make a hunch about what is behind what they say, and check the hunch with them.
Ask about conflicting or contrasting ideas:
- Draw attention to some seeming inconsistency in what they have said.
- Ask what about the image puzzles them.
- Ask how what they have said fits with another part of the image, or with something they said earlier, or with something someone else has said.
- Ask them to think about other students’ ideas, and to refer to the image to explain why they agree or disagree.
To provide further support for children we have found that a hexagonal thinking activity gives them a clear way to structure their thinking, seeing the combinations of ideas they have and manipulating their thinking in a tangible way.
You can explore a range of resources and further reading about hexagonal thinking/learning such as one of David Didau’s original posts. This post is useful from Frances Brown that extends some of the ideas and of course HOOKed on Learning’s resource page which offers many a link journey to explore.
This summary presentation from my good friend Chris Harte, a Leading Teacher at the John Monash Science School, is a great place to start.