All good
investigative work begins with the asking of important, relevant, and
significant questions. This is also how Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
work begins. But suppose that you do not know what questions to ask, or
what constitutes a significant question, or how to ask important questions.
Because most of us did not receive training in graduate school on how
to ask teaching/learning questions, this may be new territory for many
of us. Here are a few suggestions for getting you started asking significant
questions. Typically, the more practice you have asking teaching/learning
questions, the easier it becomes.
I.
Think about the goals you have for your students’ learning, and
formulate those goals into researchable questions:
A.
Goal: Help students to better understand a difficult idea or concept
i. How
do students understand this concept?
ii. What are the misperceptions students have about this concept?
iii. Why do students have difficulty with this concept?
iv. How can I help students better understand this concept?
B.
Goal: Help students to be more creative thinkers
i. What
does it mean to be a creative thinker?
ii. How would I know if a student was being creative?
iii. How do students understand creative thinking?
iv. Why do students have difficulty doing creative thinking?
C.
Goal: Help students to learn how to use feedback on their assignments
so as to make the follow-up assignment better
i. How
do students use feedback?
ii. Do students know how to use feedback effectively?
iii. How do students understand the concept of feedback?
iv. Does using feedback result in more effective student learning?
II.
Think about the problems you are encountering with your teaching or students’
learning, and reformulate these into researchable questions:
A.
Problem: Students ask the same questions about the same theory over
and over
i. How
do students understand this theory?
ii. Why don’t students understand this theory?
iii. How can students relate this theory to something they do understand?
iv. How can I help students better learn this theory? How will I know
if they have learned it?
B.
Problem: Students are not participating in class discussion
i. How
do students understand/view participation?
ii. Why are students not participating in discussion? Why are students
participating in discussion?
iii. How are the questions being asked linked to the quality of student
participation?
iv. Do students see participation as a form of learning, or a waste
of time? What are students’ attitudes toward participation?
C.
Problem: Students are not able to apply concepts/theories to real-world
contexts
i. Do
students learn through application?
ii. Why do students have difficulty applying concepts/theories to
real-world contexts?
iii. How do students understand the activity of “application?”
iv. How can I help students learn how to do effective application
of concepts/theories?
III.
Think about questions you have about your teaching or your students’
learning, and formulate those into researchable questions.
A. How
do students view group participation, and how does that impact their
learning?
B. How can we help students learn to think critically?
C. How is creativity related to student learning?
D. How do students draw on their prior knowledge to learn about new
information or new ideas?
E. How do students' interactions with each other and with teachers affect
their learning?
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