OPPENNESS AND ASKING QUESTIONS

Openness and asking questions

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"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." Albert Einstein

I have been teaching for many years and observe my students struggling to be successful. I equip them with numerous learning tools, support them and do my best to develop good relations inside student groups. However, no matter how much I believe myself to be approachable and open to help students, few take advantage of this opportunity. I started to wonder not only what obstacles exist between me and my students but also what makes them closed to asking questions in and out of the classroom.

There are numerous reasons, some psychological in nature. Definitely shyness is one of the most obvious. Some students feel uncomfortable because they are naturally inhibited and reserved. They often have no courage to participate and ask questions. It also goes together with two more fears: the fear of peers and the fear of appearing unintelligent. It seems that the last two are typical for teenagers and disappear at academic level. However, it is not true. People have a natural tendency to overestimate the importance of their position in the group and asking unwise questions may disturb that.

The second important cause may be the format of the lectures. It is very often a one-way conversation full of specialized knowledge and difficult expressions. Even if the speaker pauses to allow questioning, majority of students might not be able to come up with good and developing questions at that exact moment. Some lecturers wait until the end of the class to allow time for asking. At the same time, it is a moment when everyone is starting to focus on packing up and leaving. Questions are forgotten.

Thirdly some students who remain timid and silent are not shy to speak but they come from another culture. It is important to recognize the fact that in some cultures students are taught not to ask questions during class. It might imply that the teacher is not teaching well. Such students need specific instructions on cultural norms so that they know how and when to ask questions appropriately. Such situation is observable not only talking about different countries and parts of the world. Students coming from small towns or villages sometimes feel intimidated and overwhelmed by large class size or noisy behavior of other students in the university.

Finally, it should be taken into consideration that some people don’t speak up in class because they don’t understand the material. Their question might reveal the fact that they are not adequately prepared for the lecture or do not follow the material despite their best efforts.

The learning process begins with asking questions as a form of intellectual exploration. Inquiries are used to develop not only critical thinking or give opportunity to be independent thinkers. It is also the key to openness. Knowing the reasons why students don’t want to question issues might be helpful to find a proper solution, which sometimes is complicated and complex. However, without asking questions our students will never be able to cooperate and open to others. The time spent on analyzing the situation and supporting this kind of activity is not wasted. It leads to better understanding and openness to others. 

Komentarze

  1. Alastair Creelman4 listopada 2021 02:28

    This is another aspect to openness that isn't covered in the topic work but is related to the next topic when we look at creating communities and learning together. You might be interested in a guide we produced from a project a few years ago, Silent learners https://nvl.org/content/silent-learners-a-guide. There are lots of tips on how to include silent members of your class and how to recognize their learning.

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