Powerful Learners 2 - Rich Questions

Over the last few weeks I have outlined how we are seeking to build powerful Room 4 learners by helping children ask deeper questions aimed at helping children internalise learning. We found that “WHY” was a powerful word. The purpose and application of this to classroom teaching is for the child to ask WHY they are doing what they do in class. If a child can think about and articulate the reason behind a learning task they are engaged in, if they can understand WHY they are doing a task, if a child is able to understand the relevance of work they commit to, then there is likely to be a greater motivation to be a learner. “Because the teacher said so” can be quite a weak reason for getting excited and enthusiastic about a task.
Think about when you were at school. Certainly for me at primary school I was given no choice in what I was taught. The teachers chose what was taught and when. (As a beginning teacher I was taught that to plan a unit of work, look and see what resources were available and build what I taught around those— there was no reference to children helping shape teaching content.) The expectation was that as a child I would learn the information or skill and then I would be graded on how successful I was through some kind of test or activity. My report card gave me a rating (poor, average, good, excellent) and somehow the teacher put a tick in a box to show how much “effort” I had exhibited. In hindsight I wonder just how this measured my interest, my depth of learning or even what I had achieved that was actually relevant to me.
Research in education clearly indicates that ownership of learning is increased through the learner understanding WHY they are doing a task, and WHAT the outcomes might look like