Educational Leadership - September 2015

tried again: “I’ve cut it in . . . ?” After four such unsuccessful attempts to elicit the answer she was looking for, the teacher supplied it herself: “I’ve cut it . . . in half” (overlooking the fact that June had spontaneously introduced this concept when she made her initial request).

In a provocative study of social studies lessons in grades 3–6, Edwin Susskind (1979) compared teachers’ views about questions in the classroom with reality. He began by asking teachers how many questions they actually asked in class and what the desirable number of questions to ask would be. Happily, the two figures were similar—teachers reckoned that, on average, they asked a question every two minutes, which was also the rate they judged to be desirable.

Teachers thought that the students should also ask a question every two minutes, but they believed that their students fell somewhat short of that ideal, asking a question every three minutes.

With these data in hand, Susskind went on to observe the actual rate of questions in 32 classrooms. It turned out that teachers asked a lot more questions than they realized—almost two questions a minute. Student questions, on the other hand, occurred at a rate of only about three or four per hour. Putting this another way, the teachers thought that it would be good if they asked questions at the same rate as their students, but they actually asked questions nearly 30 times as often.

When we consider that the data
were aggregated across the entire
class of students, we can see that the
majority of students were sitting in
class for hours without asking a single
question—a sharp contrast to the
pattern observed among preschoolers
at home. Admittedly, classroom
practices may have changed since
Susskind’s study was carried out,
but given the continuing constraints
on teachers, we’re probably still a
long way from replicating in schools
the frequent how and why questions
Chouinard observed between young
children and their caregivers.

Becoming More Aware

Young children ask lots of questions at home, and they follow up on the answers with more questions. It’s clear that they’re genuinely seeking information. But when children enter preschool, the pattern changes; there, the teacher tends to ask the questions. By the time they’re in grade school, many students ask no questions whatsoever.

In an interesting aside on his work with teachers, Susskind explains that when he reported his findings back to them, several dismissed them as nonsense. Only when they agreed to tape their classes and analyze the tapes themselves did they acknowledge how many questions they asked and how few their students asked.

The lesson for other teachers: If we listen carefully, both to ourselves and to our students, we can become more aware of whether our classrooms provide the supportive environments children need to get the greatest benefits from their early tendency to ask questions. EL

Author’s note: I am grateful to Catherine Snow, who contributed to this article with helpful information concerning the curriculum and the role of questions in U.S. preschools and schools.

References

Brown, R. (1973). A first language: The early stages. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Chouinard, M. (2007). Children’s questions: A mechanism for cognitive development. Monographs of the Society for

Research in Child Development, 72( 1).

Frazier, B. N., Gelman, S. A., & Wellman, H. M. (2009). Preschoolers’ search for

explanatory information within adult-child conversation. Child Development, 80, 1592–1611.

Harris, P. L. (2012). Trusting what you’re told: How children learn from others. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press/Harvard University Press.

Isaacs, S. (1930). Intellectual growth in young children. London: Routledge.

Kurkul, K., Ward, A., Dwyer, J., & Corriveau, K. (2015, March). Questions as a mechanism for acquiring knowledge. Paper presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Child Development, Philadelphia.

Piaget, J. (1926). The language and thought
of the child. New York: Harcourt Brace.
Rousseau, J. (1762/1979). Emile, or on
education. A. Bloom (Trans.). New York:
Basic Books. (Original work published
1762)
Sully, J. (1896/2000). Studies of childhood.
London: Free Association Books.
(Original work published 1896)

Susskind, E. (1979). Encouraging teachers to encourage children’s curiosity: A pivotal competence. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 8, 101–106.

Tizard, B., & Hughes, M. (1984). Young children learning. London: Fontana.

Paul Harris (paul_harris@gse.harvard .edu) is Victor S. Thomas Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education. His most recent book is Trusting What You’re Told: How Children Learn from Others (Harvard University Press, 2012).