Setting the Q
Guidance for teachers - Understanding how to word a suitable question
The difference between WHAT, HOW and WHY questions
To promote thinking it is vital that both the teacher and the pupils understand the wording used in the question. If you pose an incorrect or unsuitable question then the Thinking Frames Approach will grind to a halt. One of things that our action research identified is that children (and many teachers) don't know the difference between the meanings of the words WHAT, HOW and WHY. To help them we have devised a simple analogy to use with the children.
Our analogy works by modelling to the children 3 different questions in which most of the wording is the same
- What do you bring to school?
- How do you come to school?
- Why do you come to school?
By using this analogy children can see very clearly that the WHAT, HOW and WHY questions require a very different style of answer:
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| Type of Question | Answer required |
|---|---|
| WHAT |
Recalling the scientific names of objects or processes. Sometimes you only need one name sometimes you need a list of them. |
| HOW |
Recapping a sequence of events in the correct order. Think of a How question as a journey through time - (First.. then.. then.. and finally..) |
| WHY |
Linking cause and effect. Applying the ideas that you have learnt to give a scientific reason for something happening. |
Model to the pupils that quite often what happens is that they can give very detailed answers but not answer the original question posed. For instance if you were asked "Why do you come to school?" Giving the answer, "First I walk down to the end of the road, then I wait for the bus..." etc may be both highly detailed and accurate but it is quite clearly an inappropriate response to the question posed.
Children of all ages have found this simple analogy to be very helpful and particularly useful during tests and assessments. However it is worth bearing in mind that once you have introduced them to this analogy then there is no going back - they will pick you up every time that you use either WHAT, HOW or WHY incorrectly in class!