“Which questions? Which examples? Why?” Using students’ process & products of art to develop and reveal new insights about a target concept

Workshop for Arts-Impact -- Sonja Wiedenhaupt, The Evergreen State College September 2012 Resources Article on how to structure questions and select work as a way to future student thinking around a concept:

• Smith, M.S. et al. (2009) Five practices for orchestrating productive mathematics discussions. Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School. 14 (9) 548-556.

Good book on questioning strategies:

• Walsh, J. A. & Sattes,D. B. (2005) Quality Questioning – Research-Based Practice to Engage Every Learner. Corwin Press.

Examples of open and closed questions: • Tutoring Tips: Effective Questioning Strategies (2012) College of Brockport. Retrieved

from http://www.brockport.edu/~slc/tips/questioning.html Great resources on how to think about dialogue for the sake of inquiry in science. Useful video examples of teacher who elicits student thinking and ideas with goal of probing and pushing thinking around a concept.

• Discourse Primer (2013)Tools for Ambitious Science National Science Foundation http://tools4teachingscience.org/tools/discourse_tools/primer.html

Useful resource for thinking about how novices and experts think differently about concepts

• Committee on Developments in the Science of Learning with additional material from the Committee on Learning Research and Educational Practice, National Research Council (2000) "How Experts Differ from Novices." In How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. Retrieved from: http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=9853&page=31

There are many articles on the development of conceptions and common misconceptions in science, math and a few in social studies. Examples of books that gets at students conceptions and misconceptions:

• Allen, M (2010) Misconceptions in Primary Science. Open University Press. • Sobel, D. (1998) Map Making with Children: Sense of Place for the Elementary Years.

Heinemann.

“Which questions? Which examples? Why?” Using students’ process & products of art to develop and reveal new insights about a target

concept

What distinguishes these sets of questions? When and why might you ask these kinds of questions in a lesson?

• What is the state capital of Washington? • Name five Indian tribes in Washington? • What are Sneeds? Where do they come from? What does the Onceler have to do to make them?

• When is something symmetrical? • What makes some things float and other things sink? • Are multiplication and addition similar? How are they different?

• “Tell me more about that.” • “What do you mean when you say ___? Explain that a bit more.” • “Tell me what happened in your own words.” • “Why?”

A framework to guide:

the questions you ask

what to listen for

How to use this information

to guide the lesson

to orchestrate the debrief that uses students performances

Purpose

to deepen their understanding of the target concept

BEGINNINGS

Discover what students know

and don’t yet know.

Purpose is not to catch people out,

but to identify the fertile ground for learning.

How might creating the artwork help students to explore what’s not obvious?

By David Sobel, 1998

What does each child understand about PERSPECTIVE? What does s/he still get to learn about it?

From Map Making with Children by David Sobel, 1998

Think pair share:

Identify 2-3 things that are true but not obvious to young learners about BALANCE and SYMMETRY. Image sort -- which are symmetrical (y/n/?)

Think pair share:

Identify 2-3 things that are true but not obvious to young learners about BALANCE and SYMMETRY. Image sort -- which are symmetrical (y/n/?)

What questions about symmetry come out of the pile of disagreements/puzzlements that could be a subject of exploration through the art project?

What questions could you ask that would help you see how think about this question

Video example

Think pair share:

Identify 2-3 things that are true but not obvious to young learners about BALANCE and SYMMETRY. Image sort -- which are symmetrical (y/n/?)

What questions about symmetry come out of the pile of disagreements/puzzlements that could be a subject of exploration through the art project?

What questions could you ask that would help you see how think about this question

How might creating the artwork help students to explore this question?

MIDDLES LISTENING IN SOME MORE

Purposeful observation and probing questions

to reveal patterns

in how students are thinking about the puzzle/dilemma

through creating the artwork/performance

MIDDLES PLAN THE DISCUSSION Help students examine how the relationships and differences in their pieces reveal something about the concept:

Select kinds of examples that will help students continue discussion about the concept

What kinds of things might you look out for in students’ explanations and projects that could be useful to share for our question about balance?

ENDINGS HOLD THE DISCUSSION One purpose of the discussion is to help students examine how the relationships and differences in their pieces reveal something about the concept: e.g. Seeing how works that are both assymetrical and balanced are similar?

What makes them balanced? Probing questions…..

Comparing works that are assymetrical and balanced with those that are unbalanced. What determines whether they are balanced or not? Probing questions…. What did you discover about making something balanced? Show in your example…. Other people do the same thing? Something different? Share what you did… What guidelines could we give someone to help them make something that is assymetrical and balanced.

REFLECTION Locate your learning & notice what’s next I used to think… Now I think…..

or How are the ideas and information presented today connected to what you

already knew about _____

What new ideas did you get that extended or broadened your thinking in new directions?

What challenges or puzzles have come up in your mind from the ideas and information presented?