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Expecting the “right” answers
January 19th, 2012 by Frank LaBanca, Ed.D.

I have long been an advocate for conceptual learning – big ideas. At the heart of good conceptual teaching is quality assessment. It is HARD to ask good questions of students. But I sometimes wonder if teachers are always looking for the “right” answer. I have always felt that it is better to find the “best” answer. Here’s a list of questions with some interesting answers. Of course, most of these questions are lower-order thinking factual recall. However, I love the divergent thinking!

Q1. In which battle did Napoleon die?
* his last battle

Q2. Where was the Declaration of Independence signed?
* at the bottom of the page

Q3. River Ravi flows in which state?
* liquid

Q4. What is the main reason for divorce?
* marriage

Q5. What is the main reason for failure?
* exams

Q6. What can you never eat for breakfast?
* Lunch &dinner

Q7. What looks like half an apple?
* The other half

Q8. If you throw a red stone into the blue sea what it will become?
* Wet

Q9. How can a man go eight days without sleeping ?
* He sleeps at night.

Q10. How can you lift an elephant with one hand?
* You will never find an elephant that has only one hand..

Q11. If you had three apples and four oranges in one hand and four apples and three oranges in other hand, what would you have ?
* Very large hands

Q12. If it took eight men ten hours to build a wall, how long would it take four men to build it?
* No time at all, the wall is already built.

Q13. How can u drop a raw egg onto a concrete floor without cracking it?
*Any way you want, concrete floors are very hard to crack.


2 Responses  
  • Steven Baumann writes:
    January 23rd, 2012 at 9:38 am

    This is what makes language so interesting. I never appreciated the nuance of words in my youth, but with age (and experience) can come a wonder of how we choose and interpret words.
    In science, we have our own nomenclature that is often distinct from conversational English. I often direct my students to take a moment to clearly compose their thoughts and to turn around their questions to see if the what the audience hears is what they mean for them to hear.

    Perhaps this gives birth to the many wonderful things that can come out of the mouth of children. I have compiled a list of these for my youngest son, Wellington(now 13) . We call them Wellisms, and they have become treasured for the simple, dare I say pure, insight that we all once possessed.

    As a tool for teachers, we need to figure out what we are trying to achieve. Yes, for big picture ideas, poorly formed questions present fertile ground for higher level thinking and applications. But, for assessments of specific data, we need to articulate exactly what it is that we are expecting the student to reply to.

  • Steven Baumann writes:
    January 23rd, 2012 at 1:46 pm

    Frank:

    Check out the following link from Edutopia.com:

    http://www.edutopia.org/blog/abstract-thinking-skills-students-ben-johnson

    I came across this quite by accident, but I believe it is an appropriate addendum to the points you make in this blog.

    Enjoy.

    Steven



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