Types of questions asked and the Big Picture

        Writing questions in biology

(How My Views Have Changed About Writing Them.)

        Although I am still somewhat leery about the Big Picture and what is said to be able to be accomplished through its use, during last Monday's class, I began to see a very important aspect with regards to its use that I had not previously considered. Prior to Monday's class, I had not realized just how important the questions that are being asked by a teacher in his or her attempt to assess and challenge students' misconcepts about a particular subject truly are. During the class, I began to see that teachers can also accidentally instill misconcepts about the very subject matter he or she is trying to teach simply by asking questions that ultimately lead his or her own students down an unintended pathway.

        Take for example when we reviewed the different questions that were written by our class after we viewed the movie, "The Lion King." Many questions did not even began to address the vast array of the ecological misconcepts that were presented in the movie. Some questions could also easily instill even greater ecological misconcepts inside students' minds if they were presented to them. Thus, the way in which questions are structured and asked is also an important element in making sure that the information a teacher sets out to teach is actually being taught by them.

        However, with this being said, coming up with questions that will both provoke thoughtful analyses on the part of students and keep them on task will be hard. Because although in spite of the fact that many say that if students are having a hard time with a particular subject (area) to spend more time on it, the teaching curriculum and what has to be covered in a certain amount of time will not always allow a teacher to do this more than just occasionally.Therefore, the way in which questions are structured around the Big Picture becomes even the more critical and important for a teacher to implement correctly in his or her classroom.

What I Expect To Get Back As An Instructor

       I expect to get several things out of asking questions that focus on the Big Picture. First of all, I except my students to be able to engage in thougth provoking analyses about any subject matter that is taught by me or by any of their future teachers. I except this because I believe that if a teacher helps his or her students to become truly interested in what is being taught, students will then automatically take control of their own learning experiences. I also expect my students to gain a through understanding  of any subject matter that is being taught to them because by my continued focus on the Big Picture and making sure that I ask the right types of questions, my students will hopefully also begin to ask these types of questions as well.