Asking Big Questions

Use this tool to normalize uncertainty

by encouraging children to ask big questions.

◖Step 1◗
Decide what content you want children to learn. Your learning goals might be motivated by national, state,
or local standards; school-based goals, expectations, or values; or important current events or topics of
interest. Assume that there are connections between what the children care about and what you want to
teach, and ask questions to create inquiry on a local level. Your questions might frame a long-term project,
a week’s investigation, or an hour-long experience.

◖Step 2◗
Observe individuals, as well as groups of children in your classroom. Children’s emotions often propel them
into learning experiences. Observe children’s play, conversation, social interaction, and engagement to
discover what children care and wonder about. Document your observations via notes and photos, videos,
or audio recordings.

◖Step 3◗
Connect learners to each other to encourage curiosity about multiple perspectives and diversity. Facilitate
conversation that supports thinking from a variety of voices. Listen carefully and share with children your
own curiosity about their thinking. Continue to document.

◖Step 4◗
Review your documentation with one or more colleagues to identify connections between your learning
goals to develop questions that connect children’s interests to the learning goals. Invite colleagues to notice
things you may have missed. Together, brainstorm one or more questions that connect children’s interests
with local or global issues or concerns.
Criteria for choosing a question that normalizes uncertainty and conflict include:
■■ speaks to what both adults and children are curious about
■■ provides multiple entry-points ■■ encourages collaboration
■■ calls for imagination and playfulness
■■ evokes powerful emotions

© 2019 President and Fellows of Harvard College and Opal School. This work is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-SA). This license allows users to share this work with others,
but it cannot be used commercially. To reference this work, please use the following: The Inspiring Inventiveness products were co-developed by
Project Zero, a research center at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and Opal School.

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◖Step 5◗
Developing questions is its own inventive process. Play around with the wording of questions over time
Based on what you’re observing. Formulating a powerful question can be challenging; in general, simple is
stronger and more elegant. Settling on a good question often feels right or aesthetically satisfying; beautiful
questions address the heart of what you are asking.

◖Step 6◗
Post questions in the classroom — on a wall or table, by a set of materials, in the math area — in order
to provide a reference point for ongoing thinking and meaning-making. Such questions remind you (and
others) to learn alongside the children in curiosity and wonder.

For video examples and reflections on practices that inspire inventiveness,

become an Opal School Online Sustaining Member at learning.opalschool.org.

OpalSchool.org Asking Big Questions Inspiring Inventiveness

Children need to be immersed in a culture that celebrates, and provides
multiple opportunities for, asking big questions.

Invention always begins with a question: “What if?”

Inventors pose and respond to big questions: “What
problems do people experience?” “What might be
created to solve those problems?” “How will the
world change once these inventions are introduced?”
Inventors need to be able to see the world as it is, but
also to imagine how it could be different. They need
to practice transgression, recognizing that the status
quo isn’t sufficient. Inventors think of things no one has
thought of before; they respond to uncertain questions
by combining ideas and materials in new ways. The
questions teachers ask have an enormous impact on children’s capacities to embrace the uncertainty of
things as they are, and to imagine possibilities for a better world. Of course, teachers ask all types and sizes
of questions, some planned, some in the moment. Questions can either invite participation or encourage
compliance. This tool helps teachers plan big, open-ended questions that value the known and the
unknown. Provoking responses to such questions makes children’s thinking visible so it can be deepened,
extended, or challenged.

Suggested Time Frame When and How

Questions can spark an individual conversation All the time!
or be used throughout the year. Posing
complex questions across subject areas keeps
inventiveness flowing.

Tips and Variations

Some questions are worth returning to over time because of their ability to surface children’s thinking. The
following protocol can be used in either class-wide or small-group reflections, with images, text, or artifacts
that have the potential to lead to invention or action.
1. What do you notice? 4. What do you wonder?
2. What else are you noticing? 5. How does it make you feel?
3. What do you think when you see ? 6. How might we respond? What can we do?
What could we invent?
■■ Use a staff meeting to ask teachers to review documentation of children’s thinking from the classroom
and make connections to learning goals or current issues or events in your local, national, or global
community.
■■ See the resource, Asking Questions that Meet Standards while Supporting an Inventive Mindset, for
examples of questions that are more or less likely to inspire inventiveness.

OpalSchool.org Asking Big Questions Inspiring Inventiveness

 Asking Questions that Meet Standards
while Supporting an Inventive Mindset
A resource for Asking Big Questions

Engaging children from the very beginning in identifying problems themselves, rather than posing problems
for them, supports the development of an inventive mindset. The standards below come from the State
Content Standards for California Public Schools (Oct. 2011) and the Next Generation Science Standards
(2013). Each standard is followed by examples of questions that are more or less likely to support an
inventive mindset.

Science Content Standards for California Public Schools (Grades 3 - 4): Objects
in the sky move in regular and predictable patterns (Standard #4, p. 3.47; 2011).
Finding out what children already know helps connect children to mandated content. Grade 3 and 4
students likely know how the moon’s appearance changes during the four-week lunar cycle. Beginning a
study of the phases of the moon with the first set of questions below asks for factual recall and vocabulary;
they do not require students to make personal connections to the subject matter. The second set of
questions invites children to share their experiences, observations, stories, and questions with each
other. Such open-ended questions help children learn how to learn. They keep children’s focus on being
comfortable with uncertainty and finding out, rather than on being certain and right.
Questions that review content knowledge Questions that inspire inventiveness — that
— that reinforce the way the world is help us imagine what the world could be
■■ What are the phases of the moon? ■■ What have you noticed about the moon?
■■ What creates the phases of the moon? ■■ What do you think is going on?
■■ How long does each phase of the moon last? ■■ What do you wonder?

History-Social Studies Content Standards for California Public Schools

(Kindergarten): Students understand that being a good citizen involves acting in
certain ways … (3) Know beliefs and related behaviors of characters in stories
from times past and understand the consequences of the characters’ actions
(Standards K.1 and K.1.3; p.3; 2000).
Questions that review content knowledge Questions that inspire inventiveness — that
— that reinforce the way the world is help us imagine what the world could be
■■ What are three ways the character in this story ■■ What did you notice about the characters in
was acting like a bad citizen? the story?
■■ What were the consequences of his bad ■■ How would you feel if you were treated that
behavior? way?
■■ Where in the text does the character state a ■■ Why do you think the character made those
belief? choices?
■■ How do you think things might have turned out
differently?

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Next Generation Science Standards (Grades 3-5 Engineering, Technology, and
Applications of Science [3-5-ETS1-3] Engineering Design): Plan and carry out
fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to
identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.

Questions that review content knowledge Questions that inspire inventiveness — that
— that reinforce the way the world is help us imagine what the world could be
■■ Where were the failure points in your design? ■■ What problem would you like to solve?
■■ How can you introduce three variables that will ■■ How can you design a prototype that is likely to
make your [prototype] unique? solve this problem?
■■ How have others been successful in ■■ How will you test your design?
responding to this problem, and how will you ■■ How will you gather feedback?
include those responses in your own design?
■■ What will you do to improve your model?
■■ What will you control for in your tests?
■■ How would you like to share your invention with
the world?

(At first glance, the first set of questions above may not appear to be as closed as the first sets in the
previous examples. However, a closer look suggests that, although multiple responses are possible, the
first set of questions above still tend to refer to the world as it is. These questions imply that the teacher
has provided the problem that the model or prototype is intended to address, that the problem can be
solved in only a few ways, and that the criteria for a successful design are already known.)

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 Sample Big Questions
A resource for Asking Big Questions

There are many different types of big questions. Good big questions inspire an inventive mindset that
encourages children to pose their own big questions. Big questions can normalize uncertainty, make space
for imagination, and connect children’s interests with local and global issues. They can provoke children to
engage deeply with materials or ideas, and encourage them to move beyond assumptions when conflicts
arise. The questions below have been loosely categorized.

Big Questions that Connect Personal, Local, and Global Issues

■■ How might nurturing our relationship with ■■ Why do different people see the world in
the natural world support empathy and different ways? What happens when people
agency and grow our abilities to think and act with different worldviews come together?
creatively and collaboratively for the good of ■■ What are the connections between what
everyone? makes you change and what makes the world
■■ What does it mean to be a citizen? change?
■■ What can we do with feelings of injustice in our ■■ How might sharing what I need as a person
current experience or as we learn about our help me understand what we need as a
history? community?
■■ How might understanding stories of the past ■■ What does it mean to care for something
help us better understand issues of today? How bigger than yourself?
does history help us live our lives? ■■ How can we move from recognizing that
■■ What becomes possible when we share our there are different perspectives to seeking
strengths with our community? understanding of those perspectives?

Big Questions that Encourage Reflection

■■ How can reflecting on our thinking and feeling ■■ What word or words capture your exploration
deepen our understanding of ourselves and today? What ideas did you find in your play?
others? ■■ Why do we reflect?
■■ What surprises will you encounter when you ■■ Who are you as an idea-maker?
slow down and zoom in on ?
■■ What do we do when we are reading?
■■ What are you hoping will happen when people
■■ What happens in our brains when we do math?
look at your work?
■■ How do stories connect us?
■■ How is similar? How is it different? What
new ideas will emerge? ■■ How are ideas like seeds?
■■ Where do ideas come from?

OpalSchool.org Asking Big Questions Inspiring Inventiveness

Big Questions about Teamwork and Community
■■ How do you know when you are doing ■■ What did you learn about your partner? What
teamwork? What does teamwork feel like? did you learn about yourself?
■■ What is difficult about teamwork? What ■■ What do you know about collaboration?
strategies do you use to make it easier? ■■ What have we discovered that can help us
■■ What does it mean to listen to somebody else’s collaborate? What language invites and
idea? How can we build our ideas together? supports collaboration?
■■ What happens when our ideas connect? ■■ How does play support collaboration?
What do we discover by snapping our ideas ■■ Who are we as a community?
together? How does it feel?
■■ What leads people to act on behalf of others as
■■ What remains important to each of us while well as themselves? What happens when they
we uncover what is important to all of us? do?
■■ How can we work together to ?

Big Questions about Materials

■■ Can you make a drawing to show me what you ■■ What happens when we slow down and look
mean? closely to capture what we see?
■■ What happens when stick and wire meet? ■■ What materials do you need to help you grow
What stories might they tell? your ideas, stories, and research?
■■ What connections are revealed when children ■■ What ideas will we build together?
play with materials, ideas, and theories? ■■ What role do materials play in building
■■ How might [blocks, ] be a place to snap relationships?
ideas together? ■■ How does observational drawing allow us to
■■ As you play, what stories do you discover in consider multiple perspectives?
these materials? ■■ What can [charcoal] do?
■■ How can you use line and color to express ■■ How can taking things apart teach us about
emotions? what holds a community together?
■■ What new possibilities exist within a familiar
material?

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Big Questions about Emotion and Conflict
■■ How will encounters with [e.g., insects] help us ■■ What do friendships need to grow and flourish?
explore powerful emotions that might arise like ■■ How do you figure out what to do when you
fear, possessiveness, wonder, delight, and love? don’t know what to do?
■■ What happens when we hit someone in our ■■ What does it mean to be an active participant
community? in a friendship?
■■ What strategies can you use to solve a ■■ Why do things go wrong sometimes and what
problem? would the world be like if they didn’t?
■■ What is peace? ■■ If you face a challenge, how can you seek
■■ What lives in your heart? somebody else’s perspective on it?
■■ What does it mean to be a friend?

Teachers’ Big Questions

■■ How will children’s encounters with [e.g., ■■ How do children learn through play?
insects] provide opportunities for us as a ■■ What would be lost if we did not invite children
learning community to explore conflict, to collaborate?
empathy, and caretaking?
■■ What is the relationship between curiosity and
■■ What might we learn from the children when critical thinking?
we listen to their thoughts about numeracy and
■■ How can playful inquiry nurture empathy and
mathematical thinking?
advocacy?
■■ How might a child’s questions and ideas
■■ What becomes possible when children
become invitations for others to explore?
create a world together from their collective
■■ How might this way of teaching attend to imagination, strength, and joy?
content standards in a way that is meaningful
and connected to the interests of children?

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