fact, no definitive right answer can be found. And
even when there is one—or at least when there
is reason to prefer some responses to others—
the answer isn’t obvious and can’t be stated in a
sentence.
Why is it so hard to find a cure for cancer?
Do numbers ever end? Why do people lie?
Grappling with meaty questions like these
(which were among those generated by a class
in Plainview, New York) is a real project . . .
literally. Question-based teaching tends to shade
into learning that is problem-based and project-based. Intellectual proficiency is strengthened
as students figure out how to do justice to a rich
question. As they investigate and come to understand important ideas more fully, new questions
arise, along with better ways of asking them. And
the learning spirals upward.
Guiding students through this process is
not a technique that can be stapled onto our
ASKING?
ILLUSTRA
TI
ONS
©
RO
BERTNEUB
ECKER
