Asking Questions
We all assume that human beings naturally know how to ask questions, but in this day and age of video games and television, many people have forgotten how to ask questions critically.
The definition of asking questions critically can best be summarized as the ability to look at a problem or situation and: apply 1. What you already know about the subject 2. What your study of the subject reveals about itself, and 3. What is already known by others about the subject.
I will base this primer on Bloom's Taxonomy. which is a fancy way to say levels of questioning. If you are not familiar with Bloom's levels, please take a minute and click here, (Bloom's levels)
Basically questions fall into one of six different levels. Basic knowledge, like the kind of thing you do when you are taking a multiple choice test fall into the lowest level of thinking skills called Knowledge. If I were to ask you to define soccer, or remember the date of the D-Day invasion, this would be thinking, but not thinking critically. Think of this level as the things you know.
The next level of thinking/questioning is called Comprehension. If I were to ask you to compare and contrast the sports of basketball and baseball this would be an example of a comprehension question. You would have to take the knowledge you have (from level 1) and translate it into a way to tell how the two sports are similar and how they are different. Think of this level as "the things you understand.
The third level of thinking/questioning is called Application. In this level you would use the two lower levels of thinking to solve a new problem. For example, if I asked you to calculate the number of RBI's (runs batted in) during a baseball game, you would have to think at the third level of questioning. Think of the third level as "the things you can do.
The fourth level of thinking is when we are really beginning to turn on the brain cells. This level is called Analysis. A person has to draw on all three of the lower levels to analyze something. You might use this thinking skill when you are searching for patterns in crossword puzzles, or when you are reading a mystery novel and trying to figure out who did it. Think of the forth level as "the things you can break apart by thinking.
The fifth level is called Synthesis. This level of thinking requires you to take old ideas to make up new ones or predict what may happen in a given situation. Think of this level as the things you can put together in new ways that make sense.
The sixth and final level is the highest level of thinking. This level is called Evaluation. This level asks you to judge the fine points of a situation. For example you have been served a meal with 4 of your favorite foods, but you are only allowed to eat one. Which one do you pick?
The steps in using these levels of thinking are relatively easy. The hardest part is remembering to THINK. Imagine if you were the only person left on the Earth. Who would do things for you? There would be no parents, no teachers to answer the questions for you. Just you and your brain.
Step 1: Whenever you are faced with a question, stop for a minute and think about what is being asked. What do you already know about the question? Have you heard the term or words before? In what way were they being used when you heard them before? Step one is probably the most difficult because you as the student must read, define, and ask yourself the basic questions about whatever you are studying.
Step 2: Now that you have spent some good old quality time with your brain, take a look at the SUBJECT or matter you are studying. Apply those questions that you asked in step one. For example, In step one you are being asked to allow nuclear waste to be buried in your State. In step 1 you might have said that you know nuclear waste is bad, but you are not sure why. You know that it comes from power generation and is very useful, but has serious environmental and health side- effects. You understand words associated with nuclear waste like radioactive and long term effects and pollution.
Step 3: Once you have done your homework (Step 1), and examined the things you understand about the issue you are looking at (Step 2), you are ready to move on to step three.
Ask yourself some harder questions like, What can I do to see if nuclear waste is bad? Is there an experiment I can do or things I can look up? In this step you are applying the terms and things you know from the first two levels of questioning to try and apply them.
Step 3 is also a transition to the higher levels of thinking. It is in this step that you will begin to ask the really hard questions. You will analyze the situation or take it apart. For example, now that you have checked out the facts for yourself and maybe done an experiment or two you can begin to look at the problem. In order to do this you have to decide where you stand on the issues. You have to realize that there are always at least two sides to every problem. You must be familiar with both of them to make a fair and unbiased decision. This can be hard, but it is part of thinking critically.
Step 4 Involves using the information and things you have discovered to come up with new ways of looking at a problem. For example, maybe you can find a safer way to dispose of radioactive waste, or ways to use it so it does not have to be stored. This is one of the highest levels of thinking when you synthesize new plans.
Evaluation is the final step and it involves making judgments about your answers. Being able to fairly and accurately decide if a course of action or an answer is right or wrong demonstrates the highest level of thought.
While these steps seem easy, many people choose the simple way out. It's easier to say I don't know. Tthe hardest part is getting started. You can ask a really hard high level question first. Write it down on the paper and then use the steps. Think about what you know, think about what others have said, then examine the issue or problem closely. By following these steps you can think critically through anything.
Tests in my class will require you to use this thought process. I will rarely use multiple choice as a format. There are two ways of looking at this problem. You can either decide to work your way through the class and learn to think critically or you can decide to keep on thinking at the same level you do now and not being successful. It is your choice.