Questioning Strategies and Critical Thinking

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Questioning Strategies andCritical Thinking

• King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals
• Saudi Arabia
• April 2002
• S. J. Piccinin, Ph.D.

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Objectives

• Describe a classification of questions
• Explain structure and characteristics of better
  questions
• Identify common errors so as to improve
  questioning
• Practice writing questions
• Explore relationships to critical thinking

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Some Thoughts on Questions

• "The whole of teaching and learning is shot
  through with the art of questioning."
• Hamilton (1928)

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Some Thoughts on Questions

• "What's in a question, you ask?
• Everything. It is the way of evoking stimulating
  response or stultifying inquiry. It is, in
  essence, the very core of teaching."
• John Dewey (1933).
• How we Think. Boston, D.C. Heath

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Some Thoughts on Questions

• The question to a wise man is the beginning of
  wisdom
• German Proverb

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Some Thoughts on Questions

• Isadore Rabbi suggests he became a good
  physicist and won the Nobel Prize because he was
  valued more for the questions he was asking than
  for the answers he was giving.

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Some Thoughts on Questions

• "The art of questioning is the art of guiding
  learning."
• J. Green (1996). Editors note, Clearing House,
  40, p.397.

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Critical ThinkingA Definition

• " ability to judge the relative merits of
  conflicting evidence on the basis of sound
  conceptual frameworks and to make decisions and
  to act upon best evidence."

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Critical Thinking

• Items rated highly
• Reasoning or problem solving in situations in
  which all the needed information is not known
• Detecting fallacies and logical contradictions in
  arguments
• Recognizing similarities between one type of
  problem or theory and another
• Power Enright (1987)

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Differences Among Disciplines

• The importance of particular reasoning skills
• The seriousness with which faculty regard
  particular reasoning errors
• The impact that various critical incidents have
  on faculty member's estimation of students'
  analytical abilities
• Power Enright (1987)

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Result of Factor Analysis of 56 Critical Thinking
Skills Important for Success in Each of the Six
Disciplines

• Analysis and evaluation of arguments
• Drawing of inferences and development of
  conclusions
• Definition and analysis of problems
• Ability to reason inductively
• Generating alternative explanations
• Power Enright (1987)

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Most Serious "Flaws" in Reasoning in All
Disciplines

• Accepting the central assumptions in an argument
  without questioning them
• Being unable to integrate and synthesize ideas
  from various sources
• Being unable to generate hypotheses independently
• Power Enright (1987)

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Other Reasoning Errors

• Making generalizations from insufficient evidence
• Confusing coincidence with causation
• Offering irrelevant statements
• Applying rules without justification
• Inability to see a pattern
• Ignoring details
• Power Enright (1987)

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Factor Analysis of Errors Two Factors

• Errors in evaluation of evidence
• Formal logic errors, particularly when reasoning
  with statistically oriented material
• Power Enright (1987)