For about 10 years, the ACRES (Afterschool Coaching for Reflective Educators in STEM) project at MMSA has guided Out-of-School-Time providers in building the skill of Asking Purposeful Questions. While this project was developed for out-of-school educators, it can be applied to all educational settings, and as some educators noted, it’s immensely productive in real-world situations.
One ACRES participant shared, “ACRES is such a great gateway to bigger questions, conversations, and engagement. It doesn’t have to be STEM. In fact, it’s how do you interact with kids and listen to their voice? And how do you encourage them to develop their own critical thinking? That habit and that practice feel like they’re very applicable to everyday situations.”
Purposeful questions have wide-reaching applications. ACRES Coach Sheila James stated that, “For me, ACRES is like Frank’s Hot Sauce. I put it into everything.” Another ACRES participant shared, “Yeah, I use purposeful questions in my everyday life. I use it for myself. I use it for my family…It’s not just about the answer. It’s about the human connection.”
So, what are these purposeful questions that lead to critical thinking and connection? In ACRES, asking purposeful questions is viewed as a cyclical process. Read on to learn the details of this technique and hear afterschool educators’ reflections about asking purposeful questions.
1. Start with a Purpose
Why are you doing this particular STEM activity? What is the purpose, both of doing the activity, as well as asking questions? What is your STEM Learning Goal? Are you focusing on a particular STEM concept, or working to build STEM identity?
2. Plan Purposeful Questions
After you have your purpose in mind, plan your purposeful questions. These questions may help you nudge youth toward the STEM Learning Goal they’ve identified, broaden ideas they have, or clarify the thinking they shared with you or their peers.
“I’ve thought about the training quite a bit. When talking about lessons with other educators, I ask, Well, what questions are you asking? Are they open-ended? Where are you going with this? Have you let the youth elaborate on what they’re thinking?”
3. Ask Purposeful Questions
During the STEM activity, you get to ask your questions. You may notice that the questions serve two purposes. The questions may be communal in nature: sharing, expanding, or clarifying thinking so that STEM learning can grow in community with others, or the questions might be more personal in nature, digging deeper into one’s own thinking.
“Oh, my gosh, youth are so eager to share. I think sometimes I just want to get to the lesson outcome. And I forget that these are some curious young minds, and they’ve come up with things that I haven’t even thought about. I didn’t take that point of view before ACRES. Youth are so much more innovative than I gave them credit for.”
4. Allow for ‘Think Time’ and Listen Actively
A key and challenging part of asking purposeful questions is what happens after the question is asked. It is crucial that as educators, we allow “think time”—that quiet pause for 3-5 seconds after a question is asked. It will feel tough; you may want to jump in and rescue learners. But hold back. Give learners time to think and then very carefully listen to what they share. You’ll need to take what they share with you in order to continue to the next step in the process.
“I learned that I ask really good questions, but sometimes I ask too many of them. I don’t give enough wait time for them to have the answer. And so I’ve been mindful of that. “
5. Ask Follow-up Purposeful Questions
The cycle begins again here, where you have the opportunity to ask additional purposeful questions that follow-up on what the youth shared with you. Again, you may be sharing, expanding, or clarifying thinking, or you may be digging deeper into what youth shared.
“When I ask questions, I try to only ask one question, wait for that to be answered, and then move on to the next.”
You are invited to learn more about Purposeful Questions in the Asking Purposeful Questions Blueprint. If you are interested in becoming an ACRES coach, visit our website to access all of our coach materials.
ACRES is a project of:
Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance
343 Water Street, Augusta, ME 04330
Acknowledgment of Support: This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants No. DRL 17131341 and DRL 2115229, as well as the Noyce Foundation, the STEM Next Opportunity Fund, and the Davis Family Foundation. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funders listed above.
