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Hi, So I was recently at a science teaching conference and one point that was brought up was that we need to get students asking more questions about science. My last unit in Earth Science is going to be about Astronomy. I was thinking of doing a project where they explore a question (or questions) they have about the universe. But I'm not sure how to go about it. Some of their questions could be answered in maybe a few sentences while some may be more complicated. I'd like to have them research their question and make a report of some kind to show what they learned. Any ideas or suggestions on how to design this lesson? Thanks

This is for high school Earth Science...I decided to do a project where they choose from certain topics and then make a poster on their topic using a rubric. We'll see how it goes.

Another technique for asking questions is that during class discussion on some topic I would say that I did not know the answer to something (something in my head to get the kids inquiring). The I told the kids that they could earn extra points by looking it up at home and bringing back an answer the next day. By doing this I was trying to show the students that not even a teacher knows all the answers to questions. That I was willing to admit it and ask a question myself. That seemed to make the kids more comfortable about asking their own questions.

Here are some resources to help

Attachments

Perspectives: The Art (and Science) of Asking Questions (Journal Article)

A Quest to Improve (Journal Article)

Science Sampler: Thinking about students' questions (Journal Article)

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