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[sub]The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. —Albert Einstein [/sub] [sub]One integral element of NGSS is getting students to ask questiions, because asking questions is ventral to inquiry and learning in general. Science investigation in its’ most basic form is asking questions, and teaching children how to ask questions. Children are often described as natural scientists and their curiosity as a basic human trait. As science teachers, we must be invested in having all their students use this process skill. [/sub] [sub]My question is, what are some strategies you get your students to create and ask their own questions?[/sub]

I know that you posted this a long time ago but one strategy we use is to do activities, demos, and labs that don't start the way the students expect.  The first part of the activity is set up as really just following the directions....no inquiry.  But it sets the stage for something to happen that is surprising to the students.  And then the next part asks them to think of questions that they want to know about after seeing that first piece.  So they are using their curiosity. An very simple example of one we use is the M&M in water.   The first piece asks what they think will happen to an M&M in a petri dish of water.  They almost all guess that the color will bleed off into the water, which is correct.  The next piece asks if you put two different M&Ms an inch apart in a petri dish of water what will happen?   They almost all guess that the two colors will mix in the middle.   But what really happens is exactly opposite of that.  And then that starts the curiosity and questions. Hope that helps some.

A way that I would use to get students to ask questions in science is allowing a fun schema activation to take place. When you ask them something that the child is familiar with first, they are more likely to respond. Also, allow some reward for answering questions so that the classroom is more inclined to do so.

It's interesting because students (I teach 4th grade) seem to have an unending supply of questions during the "teaching time" of all my lessons - not science in particular, either. I am talking about the whole "To" part of the "To-With-By" model for lessons. And I really try to keep that part quick so we can move on to the engagement part of things. So I always build expectations around them just listening for those ten minutes or so and saving questions for after. To curb some of this, I try to encourage them to put questions in the "Parking Lot" (which is just a chart paper they can put sticky notes on) for us to get to later. Interestingly, when it is science time and I ask them to come up with questions to lead an investigation or to build a research topic about, it is like pulling teeth. I think it scares them that maybe their question won't be "right" or "good enough." So, maybe what I should be trying is the parking lot approach for science questioning - not just as a placeholder for when we can't get to something, but as a non-threatening brainstorming activity where they have had success in the past!

I always ask my students to think about things they are observing and consider what is happening and why--and then frame their observations as questions they can explore using more inquiry-based thinking. For example, with my summer campers, more than one of the students has remarked about how hot it is outside. I once replied back that it felt so hot out you could probably cook an egg on the sidewalk. My kids were thrilled--can you really cook eggs on the sidewalk? We put together a solar oven and decided to see if we really could use the sun to cook things. We made S'mores and although it took a lot longer than cooking over a campfire, they melted down and we were able to see how the sun can be turned into energy, while the kids got to enjoy a tasty treat. I heard a lot of great verbal observations, so I wrote a lot of them down and then had the students think about how we could frame them as questions to find out more. Having something to base their questions off of seemed to really help encourage more critical thinking. They would mention something and then another student would go "Oh yeah, when we did that, how come this happened?" I think it's important to give all the students a baseline experience that they can build off of, a common experience that can provide richer questioning. It's something recent, and it's something shared that all the students saw in progress.

I tend to use the flipped classroom strategy. I give my students a topic to search at home and the next day we have discussions related to the topic. I feel that they tend to ask more questions that way.

Good information on NGSS, Next Generation Science Standards are K–12 science content standards. Standards set the expectations for what students should know and be able to do. NGSS were developed by states to improve science education for all students. I think these standards give local educators the flexibility to design classroom learning experiences that stimulate students’ interests in science and prepares them for college, careers, and citizenship. Diana Jeff

How do you get your students to ask meaningful questions?

I wonder this myself, and as another reply mentioned, it seems like children are constantly asking questions- until you ask them to ask questions about a specific topic, then they become worried that there might be a 'wrong' question! In searching online, I found an article about inquiry-based learning that addresses this on a few levels (link below). A teacher describes her approach in the classroom, one strategy is that she keeps the line of inquiry aligned with student interests, for example, uses tweets to teach grammar. This can be modified for science classrooms with some creativity.

The main idea from this article that I will be keeping in mind in my future classroom is that the students will get off track in their excitement, but at least they are excited! Let them be excited, and as a good teacher, learn to ask your own questions to begin to steer them toward a middle-ground where your objectives meet their interests. 'The true art of teaching is to ask the right questions, become a thought partner (interaction during instruction), and then assist in students' discoveries.' http://www.edutopia.org/blog/inquiry-based-learning-asking-right-questions-georgia-mathis

From experience, focusing on making students comfortable is helpful in getting them to speak up during a discussion. Relating concepts to ones they are already familiar with such as foods, activities, songs, clothes they are culturally aware of at home or friends' houses, enables them to speak with confidence.

It is important to make sure kids feel safe and comfortable from the beginning of the school year. The atmosphere created will have a lot to do with how willing students allow themselves to take risks and raise questions. I have seen a teacher who uses a "Parking Lot" chart to give students a place to anonymously ask questions. Each student is given a parking spot with a number. Students are able to write questions or comments and place them on their parking spots at any time during a lesson. Exit cards may work well to have students ask questions or express how comfortable they feel with a topic, etc.

For many students it is difficult to speak in front of a class or even raise up there hands to ask a question. A way that a teacher can manage their classroom to keep asking questions during a lesson is by putting them in teams and letting them form a question to be asked to the teacher. The teacher should always keep in mind who is participating and who is not. The teacher can provide some help to motivate students knowlege. 

What other strategies or methods in teams can help students work together to ask group questions that involves everyones participation? 

I am in my final semester of college and will be student teaching in the fall. I am interested to learn more about how to get students to ask questions. From my personal experience, both in elementary classrooms as well as college classrooms, I have noticed an unspoken 'class culture' surrounding questions. Some classes I have witnessed a culture of involvement where most of the class is engaged and asking questions. Other times, I have noticed a shift in class culture that somehow results in a lack of student involvement. One thing that I have noticed, and I'm not sure if this is a coincidence, is that the classes that it is harder to get students to ask questions and speak in front of the class are often in the afternoon. I feel like this could be due to a general feeling of tiredness that causes disengagement. I love the idea of using a flipped classroom because it allows students to learn on their own time and gives them more time to ponder the material and generate in-depth questions. If a flipped classroom model is not possible for me to implement in the future, I may try to plan science lessons earlier in the day to see if students are more likely to ask questions at this time. I realize that this may not be possible, but it would be interesting to explore if it is. I also really like the suggestion of letting students discuss in groups before asking questions. I have seen this work very well in college classrooms every day. I believe it gives an aspect of anonymity because the students can phrase a question as 'Our group was wondering...' rather than personally stating their question. Though questions are an important part of learning, I have seen many students struggle with embarrassment when identifying and asking questions they alone are wondering. The implementation of group questions makes this less of an issue.

I am a student teacher and one thing that I think gets the students asking questions is introducing a phenomenon at the beginning of a unit, and referring to this phenomenon throughout the unit. Having the students get introduced to a phenomenon at the beginning of the lesson they become intrigued, and will more likely begin asking many questions trying to solve the 'why' or 'how' of the phenomenon. 

I think that students work better and are more comfortable (espicially with something new) when they can work together and when they can build upon something else. If students are not comfortable with asking questions in science, you could start with a subject/topic that they are more comfortable with. They can work in small groups to ask questions and add on to each others questions. Sharing ideas leads to more ideas! Learning how to ask questions takes practice just like everything else we do. So scaffold and make students comfortable to set the foundation for them. I hope this helps!

My middle school students love the 'parking lot' I have set up in the classroom.  They have questions and are excited to ask them in a the comfortable way the parking lot offers them.  Another way I set them up at the beginning of the year to ask questions is to give lab groups a topic under the main topic we are/will be learning and then have them write questions they have about it.  It's so simple and yet they love it!  They are engaged and putting their curiosity into great questions.

Hi Margot!

I loved your emphasis on the importance of questions. I feel that too often questions are discouraged so that the teacher can spoon-feed all the information to the students. This makes learning much less meaningful. when students ask questions and then learn the answer through their own discovery, they retain the information more because they were the ones who asked the question and searched for the answer. I often find myself wanting to answer every question. I think the key to encouraging questions is letting the kids find the answers themselves. When they ask a question, let them discover. That will lead to more questions and more discovery. They will love the thrill of discovering the answers to their own questions!

I definitely agree with the original post and the one phrase where she connected students to being natural scientists. I think that it is extremely important to build lessons based on what students are already questioning about in their daily life and bring those questions to the classroom. By doing this you are modeling to students that their questions matter and in general inquiring is important. I think there have been a few other replies to the original post 

I definitely agree with all suggestions mentioned in the prior posts. I have learned in my years as a teacher that if students feel like they help plan the lesson then they take more pride in the outcome. Asking questions is such an important part in the learning process. Making them feel comfortable and helping them feel like they are valued contributors is a great way to promote involvement. 

Hi Margot,
I am currently a student teacher and the high school where I am placed at is really the first time that I’ve seen NGSS curriculum with storylining be implemented in the classroom. I think this curriculum effectively sets the stage for students to hone in on their natural curiosity and ask questions. For example, at the start of each unit or storyline, students watch a phenomenon, such as a video or a picture, and they’re simply asked to make observations and come up with any questions about what they’re seeing. For example, at the start of the Africa unit, students watch a video showing lions as they are stalking and hunting prey. This kind of anchoring activity helps further build their curiosity about the unit they are about to start and helps them practice the process of science themselves by asking questions and making their own observations. As a scaffold, you can also have students try to formulate questions using the 5 Ws, and have students work in groups. Having students watch a phenomenon, ask questions, and make observations before they are taught the content of the phenomenon has helped foster authentic questioning by the students and promotes class discussion about what they are seeing as well.
I also think it’s important to create a classroom climate that is encouraging of questions. It’s important to be encouraging and react positively to students when they ask questions so they will be encouraged to ask more in the future. Some suggestions for making a positive classroom environment could be encouraging collaboration between students and sharing questions they have come up as a group. When students can talk to one another before sharing in a whole class discussion, this can help raise their confidence to ask their questions. Another suggestion could be to smile and respond with words of encouragement such as “that’s a great question” or “that’s a really great observation you made, who else had a similar thought?” Extending a student’s question and asking if other students had the same question can also help students feel validated and more secure to promote future questions. Relationship building with students is also important so they feel comfortable sharing their ideas with you and so they trust that you will always encourage their thoughts and not shut them down or disparage them.
Another way to encourage questions in the classroom is to write down the questions your students ask and make a mini lesson out of them. You can even ask students how they would go about answering their own questions to exercise their problem-solving skills. This will really help students feel heard in the classroom, help them feel a sense of ownership in their learning, and help peak their curiosities. Allowing students to help shape their educational experiences and what they are learning about also helps to build engagement and communicates to them that the questions they ask are important and valued by you.

I think a great way to have students ask questions is to model the technique. I teach first grade and have to first teach my students the difference between a question and a statement. Then, I show them what asking questions looks like. We use the 'see, think, wonder' technique as well. Hope this helps!

As a teacher, I understand how difficult but important it is to keep students on the topic of the lesson, but if students themselves do not ask questions, it means that they either understood everything or did not understand anything. I always wait for questions from my students, because if they have no questions it means that I should explain the topic again. Sometimes even to inspire students to work hard and to set them up for good learning I use https://essays.studymoose.com/write-my-speech and this service helps me to write my speech to students and inspire them a little bit. Thank you all for your answers! The topic is very interesting. 

 Some strategies I will use with my students to create and ask their own questions is by creating group activities so students can also learn from each other, making the class very interesting for them so they can be related to our daily life and can ask questions about the topic or assignment. 

One of the hardest things I have discovered as a teacher is getting my students to ask questions. Most students refuse to ask because they don't want to ask the wrong thing. I have opened up my class to be a no judgement zone. My students are highly encouraged to ask and answer questions. I do like some of the suggestions made and I plan to use them also. 

Not only getting them to ask questions (good questions) but getting them to answer is difficult at times as well!  The I dunno always seems to come up efven if I know they know the answer.  It is like they are so afraid to be wrong they rather play 'dumb' than to actually try and put in effort.