How Can I Ask an Impactful Question?|Reflections on A More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger —Part 2
Introduction
Are you a question-asker? If so, what kind of questions do you ask yourself or others? Are they practical everyday questions, or are they questions that inspire you and create a sense of wonder? Are you still curious about the world? Do you want to make a difference and impact the lives of those around you? A beautiful question is powerful! We explored that topic in my post How Can A Question Be So Powerful? This is part 2 of series of posts about questioning that was inspired by A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas by Warren Berger.
Warren Berger’s Book
A More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger is a great book and is a must read for anyone who wants to make an impact in their life. I suggest you pick up a copy and read it for yourself or have your local book club read it and discuss it.
Note: I’m reviewing Berger’s 2014 version of A Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas. He recently published a 10th Anniversary edition that includes new chapters on how questioning can help make you a better leader… a clearer thinker… and a more effective communicator. Fresh stories about the power of questioning to inspire breakthroughs — in your work and your life which can be found on Amazon.
My Approach
This is not just a review of Warren Berger’s book, but a series of reflections inspired by the book. I will connect what I learned from his book to things that I already know or are thinking about.
How did we lose our sense of curiosity?
Although all children are natural questioners and experimenters from the moment they can talk, somewhere along the way people lose their curiosity and ability to question. They forget, or they become fearful, or they don’t want to rock the status quo, or they simply deprioritize questioning due to time constraints.
Questioning often has inverse relationship with expertise—hence preschoolers. If you’ve ever spent time with a preschooler, you know that they ask A LOT of questions. They don’t care if they look smart. They don’t care if they annoy you. They just want to know the answer, and the only way they can find out is by asking questions. They ask questions that go beyond most of our areas of expertise which can frustrate us.
Yet, once children start attending school, questioning and curiosity drops off. Why? Berger answers that question with a list of questions some of which includes the following:
- “Why do some keep questioning, while others stop? (Was it something in the genes, in the schools, in the parenting?)” (page 4)
- “And if we look at the questioners versus the nonquestioners, who seems to be coming out ahead?” (page 5)
In chapter 2 he delves further into preschool. He says that studies show that once students enter preschool, they begin to ask fewer questions, and the more preschool models itself after a normal school, the less questions they ask. The exception is Montessori schools.
Why are Montessori Schools different?
Montessori schools focus on child-led activities in a multi-age classroom. The teachers act as facilitators and children learn through discovery. The curriculum is adapted to each individual student’s interests. By doing this, children develop a life-long love for learning. They become independent problem-solvers. As an educator, I’ve known for a long time that Montessori schools were supposed to have the best educational methods around. (I really need to go and observe one.) Berger’s book seems to reinforce that idea as he discusses how most of the top tech company executives were Montessori students because their brains were trained to ask “Why should it be like this?” from an early age.
Why do people avoid questioning?
Questioning is a process. You don’t find the answers to complex problems right away, but you figure out answers one step at a time which may generate even more questions. It takes time, and in our society, we never seem to have enough time. Therefore, questioning is often seen as counterproductive (or too focused on answers).
At other times, the right moment for asking the question never presents itself and knowing the right question to ask is difficult. Questions also involve doubt. We may think, “What if there are no good answers to the question we raise?” It also implies ignorance. We humans like to be right. At least I do!😉 And asking a question is admitting that we don’t know the answer. Depending on the culture, it could also be considered subversive or a challenge to authority.
How do I rekindle my ability to question or instill questioning in others?
Practice makes perfect! It takes time and intentionality. Watching someone model good questioning or experiencing it first-hand is extremely helpful. Professional development and training are critical. Listening well is also key. Practice listening to understand. Then ask a follow-up question instead of going straight to giving input or advice. There are a variety of methods that encourage questioning.
Why? What If? How?
Warren Berger, the author, proposes using his “Why? What If? And How?” method to promote innovative questioning. For questioning to be productive it eventually needs to be in done in an orderly and logical way. He states that his “Why? What If? And How?” method is merely a simplified version that encompasses several problem-solving processes. (This is what we math educators call modeling. For more information on modeling see my post How to Cure Math Anxiety with Modeling Mondays.)
- Why?: Frame a problem and gather information.
- What If?: Generate ideas.
- How?: Create prototypes and make necessary revisions.
On page 32 of his book he discusses how people systematically solve problems by framing the problem and gathering information.
Meier’s Habits of Mind
One of the good things about Berger’s books is that he doesn’t just focus on his own questioning method, but he introduces various methods that have been useful across different fields. One example is from MacArthur award-winner Deborah Meier who created a question-based school to create critical thinkers and problem solvers.
- Evidence: How do we know what’s true or false? What evidence counts?
- Viewpoint: How might this look if we stepped into other shoes or looked at it from a different direction?
- Connection: Is there a pattern? Have we seen something like this before?
- Conjecture: What if it were different?
- Relevance: Why does this matter?
The Five Why’s
Toyota uses the “5 why’s” method which can be applied to many situations. Sometimes questions are surfacy and it takes awhile to get to the heart of the issue, so if you ask “why?” five times successively you are more likely to get to a problem’s root.
Socratic Method
The author doesn’t give much time to the Socratic Method, yet it’s probably the most famous of all questioning methods. It’s a teaching method developed by Socrates (and captured in writing by Plato) that uses questioning as a tool for learning. The teacher becomes a facilitator and enters a dialogue (not a debate) with the students.
Implementing the Socratic Method takes planning on the part of the teacher, but it is highly effective. The teacher has a learning goal in mind. To achieve that goal he/she continually asks open-ended questions about a specific topic or issue until the students get to the heart of the problem. A good teacher will intentionally ask questions that make students confront misconceptions and their own illogic. Since it’s a dialogue students can also ask their own questions.
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Since the primary audience of my blog is educators, I can’t forego talking about Bloom’s Taxonomy. Most teachers have come across or been encouraged to use Bloom’s Taxonomy in their teaching. Bloom’s Taxonomy categorizes learning objectives in a hierarchal form. Many teachers are required to use Bloom’s Taxonomy verbs to write learning outcomes or guiding questions. Although, it’s a tool to improve questioning, I’m not sure that it fully gets to the heart of the exciting world of questioning that engages and challenges students, but it’s an easy starting place especially if your school already requires that you include it in your lesson plan.
How can we ask better questions? (aka Refining the Question)
Not all questions are equal. When you ask the wrong question, you solve the wrong problems as we can often have right answers to the wrong questions. Things to consider are “Why am I asking why? What assumptions am I making? Is there a better question I could be asking?” Once you have a question, you need to analyze it and try to refine it to make it even better. For example as mentioned above, Toyota uses the “5 whys” approach to question the question, thereby refining their question. Then when you’ve decided upon your question, go out into the real-world with your question(s) and see if it/they work(s). Don’t forget: Listening informs questioning. Remember to listen with an open-mind to see what answers your question(s) bring(s) back.
Open and Closing Questions
Open and closing questions can change the quality of a question. Experiment with your question. What type of results will you get if you open your initial question? What will you get if you close it? The author gives several renditions of the question: “Why is my father-in-law difficult to get along with?” He closes the question to create “Is my father-in-law difficult to get along with?” which provides some clarity, and then he opens it back up with a revision to the original “Why is my father-in-law so difficult for me to get along with?” As you can see experimenting with opening and closing questions has the ability to not only improve the question but also get to the heart of the matter.
You Try!
Take the question “Are peanuts healthy?” See if you can improve it and put your new question in the comments!
Are you ready to start pursuing your questions?
Are you a curious person? Do you want to become the type of person who asks beautiful questions? Who can you motivate in your life by asking a question? What situation in your life requires a beautiful question to get a beautiful answer? Pursue it. Start small. Ask a few questions, and then a few more. Settle on one or two to pursue. Revise them and then start seeking answers. To increase the fun and for accountability, draw others into your question. Welcome them into your question and pursue your answers together or join me and my blog as I continue the conversation online!
Conclusion
Thank you for coming alongside with me on this journey of inquiry. This is part 2 of series of posts about questioning that was inspired by A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas by Warren Berger. Part I was How Can a Question Be So Powerful? The next post will have practical suggestions on how to incorporate questionings into your life, school, or workplace. Then I will explore Jesus’s use of questioning techniques. Finally, I will pursue the bigger life questions.
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