"Hey Alexa, when was..."
"Hey Google, how old is..."
"Hey Siri, what is..."
"Hey Miss Tessarolo, why does..."
One of the above is scarier to ask than the others. Can you figure out which one? Reflecting on William Berger's (2014) A More Beautiful Question, it became extremely obvious. Both the student and teacher perspective, asking me, the educator, is scarier than asking some AI bot, no offence, Alexa. Why? I'm nervous I won't know the answer and the student is nervous to look dumb. We need to get over ourselves and start asking more beautiful questions.
Growing up, I always asked so many questions. If I didn't know, I needed a concrete, immediate answer or else I would drive my parents up a wall. As an educator, I am one of a handful who respectfully questions aspects of my profession. Why are we using Google Classroom instead of Schoology? What if we require teachers to go paperless? How can we improve engagement through gamification? Twenty years later and I still love to question. However, am I asking beautiful questions? Berger clarifies these as:
"ambitious yet actionable...can begin to shift the way we perceive or think about something—and that might serve as a catalyst to bring about change" (p. 8).
As a new teacher, many colleagues were appalled and #shook by my questions. I either asked too many, it wasn't my place, or they felt offended when I asked questions in an attempt to enhance lessons or data. Berger suggests this is because questions challenge authority and can cause disruption. Look at scientists, artists, and janitors...they're always questioning to improve their work! How can we make this more efficient? What if I rotated my canvas to the left? How can we disinfect this school effectively for students to safely return in the fall? Intentionally phrasing my questions to begin with What if, How, or Why has already shifted my perspective of questioning.
Should I gamify this lesson? --> What if I gamified this lesson?
The beautiful question on the right encourages a new level of curiosity and imagination, the power of taking a step back to pause. I change my action step from searching for an interactive, online game to imagining to brainstorming how students can "play" this lesson through tools such as CoSpaces, Kahoot, or Classcraft. I used Padlet to capture a few more questions I'm pondering before jumping to any immediate "fixes" or answers.
This exercise then made me reflect, why don't I ponder and sit with curiosity anymore? Why do we Google "ways to watch Schitts Creek season 6" after finishing the
first five seasons on Netflix? We need to know if Alexis makes it to the Galapagos with Ted, Moira is cast for a new show, if Stevie finds her place in the world and if David and Patrick actually get married! The suspense is killing me, I can't wait. But, what if I could? What if I exercised my imagination to predict what might happen in season 6? Since Google, Berger reminds us we prioritize and trust immediate most answers, rather than pondering the What Ifs of the unknown. It is no surprise this immediate need for answers is negatively affecting our memory. Sparrow et al. (2012) points out our reliance on the Internet lowers our ability to recall as we displace storing information in our brains to our computers. Not only are my friends and colleagues relying on the Internet, but my parents and students are both a part of this "Google Effect," too.
Bringing awareness to the power of a pause and taking time to question was a good first step. Now, how do I encourage students to prioritize questioning, curiosity, and using their imagination over Googling? Modeling and questioning exercises (like my Padlet above) seem like a great Step 2. Why not?
References:
Berger, W. (2014). A more beautiful question: the power of inquiry to spark breakthrough ideas. New York, NY: Bloomsbury.
Sparrow, B., Liu, J., Wegner, D. M. (2011, August 05). Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips. Science (333)6043 776-778. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/333/6043/776
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