Facilitating Learning to Formulate Questions

To support the Formulating Questions component, educators may consider using the following implementation recommendations 1:

  • Plan ahead and insert questions to ask students into lesson plans.
  • Answer the question themselves to help them anticipate how students will answer and where they may struggle, and anticipate further questions they might consider asking to push student thinking and deepen student understanding.
  • Become familiar with the curriculum, considering which educator prompts to use or adapt for questions in their lessons.
  • Keep in mind the stage of development of their students; providing questions that are challenging but manageable.
  • Use open-ended questions to encourage a range of possible responses and building student confidence in answering.
  • Present curriculum expectations as questions.
  • Look at their current questioning practices and choose one area to build upon.
  • Take a lesson they currently have and tweak it to incorporate one or more components of the inquiry process.
  • Try a mini-inquiry, thinking about how to change a unit from a content-focused to an inquiry-based approach.
  • Look for opportunities to co-teach inquiry skills with the librarian in their school.
  • Consider displaying the components of the inquiry process in a Word Wall poster for reference in the classroom or activity area.

Sample Curriculum Connections for Learning to Formulate Questions

With differentiated instruction and varying amounts of support, many of the strategies identified in Figure 10 can be used at all age/grade levels. For example, many of the examples for secondary students are also applicable for many elementary students.

Figure 10: Sample Curriculum Connections for Formulating Questions

Curriculum Expectations for Health and Physical Education – Grades 1-8 2 Core Concepts Big Idea Overarching Questions

Movement Competence

B2. apply movement strategies appropriately, demonstrating an understanding of the components of a variety of physical activities, in order to enhance their ability to participate successfully in those activities
  • Movement strategies
  • Components of an activity (movement skills, rules, boundaries, fair play)
  • Successful Participation
  • You can improve your performance using game strategies
  • How you conduct yourself is as important as playing well
  • What do you need to think about when you are playing?
  • How can you play fairly?
  • What makes a good teammate?

Possible Topical Questions 3

Movement Strategies

  • What is the best way to get the ball to your partner? (primary)
  • What did you do to improve your chances of success in the activity we just did? (junior)
  • What similar strategies might you try in golf, bowling and curling? (junior)
  • What did your opponent do that was successful? What strategy could you use in response? (intermediate)

Interpersonal skills

  • What can you do to play fairly when playing the game of tag? (primary)
  • How is the game set up so that it includes everyone? (junior)
  • How does fair play, etiquette and ethics affect game play? (intermediate)
Curriculum Expectations for Health and Physical Education - PPLO Core Concepts Big Idea Overarching Questions
A2. demonstrate an understanding of the importance of being physically active, and apply physical fitness concepts and practices that contribute to healthy, active living
  • Importance of regular, vigorous activity
  • Factors affecting fitness levels
  • Benefits of being physically fit
  • How to assess fitness levels
  • How to develop/ revise personal fitness plan
 Being physically fit has an impact on one’s health and well-being.
  • How do you maintain physical fitness throughout your life?
  • What makes a person physically fit?
  • Why is it important to be physically fit?

Possible Topical Questions

Personal Fitness

  • Is 20 minutes of daily moderate to vigorous activity enough to be physically fit?
  • How can you tell if you are physically fit?
  • How can you develop your current fitness level?
  • Why might your fitness plan change over time?
  • Why can it be easy to lose your level of fitness?

1 Ontario Ministry of Education. (2011). Capacity building series – Asking effective questions (Special Ed. #21). Retrieved from: http://etfo-ots.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/CBS_AskingEffectiveQuestions.pdf

2, 3 Ontario Ministry of Education. (2015a). The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1 to 8: Health and Physical Education, 2015 (Rev. ed.)