Questions

The foundation of all true learning is Wonder, or questions.

So often in learning, we are encouraged to a) learn only what the teacher says is important and b) memorize what someone else tells us to. There is often little space in a traditional classroom for real questions, so they are discouraged.

But truly educated people know how to ask questions and, more importantly, how to find the answers. So, in getting an education, that's where we will start. Watch this:



There are six basic questions you usually ask: Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How.

Here is a game that helps people practice the meaning of these words. (You can skip the game if you know what all those words mean and don't need to practice them.)

These questions can be used on any subject.

For example, I'll pick "telephones". Here are questions you could ask about telephones that would help you learn.

Who invented the telephone? Who uses telephones most often today? Who invented the cell phone? Who repairs telephones? Who owns the telephone wires/cell phone towers?

What is the telephone made of? What did the first telephone look like? What is the smallest cell phone that works? What does a cell phone cost? What is required to make a phone work? What was the first sound transmitted over the phone?

Where was the first telephone used? Where is a phone used most often today? Where can I buy a new phone? Where can I see vintage phones? Where was the cell phone invented? Where do dead phones go? Where can I recycle phone batteries? Where should phones NOT be used?

When was the telephone invented? When was the cell phone invented? When is my cell phone bill due? When is the time when the most people are on the phone at once? When did the White House first get a telephone?

Why do so many teenagers carry cell phones? Why do people not use land lines as often as they used to? Why do some people say cell phones cause cancer? Why won't my parents let me get a cell phone? Why did they use those old phones with round dials on them?

How do cell phones actually work? How do they fit the camera in there? How did they discover the technology to build the first phone? How did cell phones get developed? How do they find lost people using cell phones? How does a landline phone work? How have phones changed over the years?

There are other kinds of questions you can ask that don't use the basic question words, like "Does anyone NOT own a cell phone?" or "Is there anyone who doesn't own a cell phone?" Often these questions can be reworded to include one of the basic question words ("Who doesn't own a cell phone?"). You can also start an educational question with the phrase, "I wonder...." (as in "I wonder who doesn't own a cell phone.....").

The very best questions for learning are what teachers call "open ended." These questions are not answered "yes" or "no", but with more complex ideas. "Does anyone not own a cell phone?" is not going to get you as much information as "What kinds of people don't own cell phones?"

When setting out to answer questions, it's a good idea to find both an answer and another question--or many more questions. This leads you on a journey of learning that sometimes takes you far from your starting point--sometimes in directions you might never have
anticipated.

Now it's time to practice.

Watch the following video. Then write down three questions for each type (Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How).



If you find any of your questions compelling, start looking for answers.

You might start here:
.

Did the second video answer any of your questions?
Did it make you think of any more?

How do you find the answers to your questions? I recommend you start at your local library's website. You can also try wikipedia.org, google.com, or any number of "resource starting points" that are on the web, like this one and this one. I also highly recommend walking into your local library and asking the librarian at the reference desk. Their job is to help you find the answer to your questions (I know--my husband and I both used to be a reference librarians!).

There are many other ways of looking at questions. If you want to know more, you can look here.

The most important thing, though, is that you ask questions and then try to find the answers.