Question
What is the question I’m trying to answer, the problem I’d liked to solve, or the key issue I need to resolve?
The introduction of graphics can lead to interesting questions. For instance, we can view microscopic images of snowflakes at Snowflake from Electron Microscopy Unit of USD.
Ask yourself, "how do I encourage students to ask deep questions rather than surface level questions?"
Generate a list of questions about Egyptian mummies. Then, look at photographs from Wikimedia Commons and refine the questions. What's the impact of the visuals on your ability to generate questions? Do the inspire any new questions? How could audio, video, or animation be used in another situation?
Graphics
Many different types of graphics can draw interest and generate questions. A few examples are below:
- Clipart
- Comics
- Google search for science comics, chemistry comics, etc.
- Darwinism comics
- HowToons
- Diagrams
- Wikimedia Commons - Diagrams
- Best Diagrams are by LadyofHats such as cells and flies
- Google Images - compare the life cycle of two different creatures
- Google Patents - trace the evolution of an invention
- Wikimedia Commons - Diagrams
- Infographics
- Infographic and Visualization Websites
- Maps
- Photos
- DK Clipart
- Flickr
- Free Images
- Free Photo
- Free Stock Photos
- Images of the World
- PD Photo
- Pics4Learning - designed for students and teachers
- Public Domain Images from Wikimedia
- Wikimedia Commons
- US Government Images
- Satellite Images
Contrast dueling images such as an animal in a cage and in the wild.
How could sets of images be used to encourage different perspectives?
Multimedia
The web is filled with short video and audio clips to stimulation questioning. Audio can stimulate interest in visuals. Begin by exploring 100 Best YouTube Videos for Science Teachers. Find examples below:
- Science Video
- Educational Video
- TeacherTube - education specific
- SchoolTube - education specific
- Graspr - instructional video
- PBS Video
- Smithsonian Channel
- Vimeo - general sharing site (Encyclopedia of Life)
- YouTube - look for video channels such as National Geographic
- Live and Archived Webcams
- Nest Cams - bird nests
- Bald Eagle Cam and Blog
- San Diego Zoo
- TryScience Live Cams - Multiple Cameras
- Science Audio
Use video to stimulate questions. Watch the book trailer for Wicked Bugs by Amy Stewart on YouTube or watch the book trailer for Wicked Plants by Amy Stewart on YouTube. As you watch, brainstorm a list of questions you have about the facts presented in the video. Locate the section of the book that discussed this aspect, then go on a fact-finding mission.
Ask students to generate questions about what they see and hear in the book trailer.
- Is this bug dangerous or is it a myth?
- Is the bug really linked to this event?
- When were the images created?
- Are the images actually associated with the event?
- Is the author bias in some way?
- Are the images realistic or invented?
- What images best reflect the bug?
- What images best reflect the problems they cause?
Check out the resources for the Wicked Bugs website for lots of links and information about insects in addition to what is found in the book.
Data
The US Government website science.gov provides many articles, databases, and direct links to visual resources.
- Subscription Databases - unfortunately many don't contain good visual information
- ProQuest Direct
- PubMed
- Web of Science
- Free Data
- Butterflies and Moths of North America
- CDC Public Health FastStats
- Especies Fact Sheets
- FedStats
- FedStats Kids - links to kid's pages
- Gallup Polls
- Gapminder
- SciCentral
- USA.gov - search government agencies such as ATV Safety
- Blogs and News
- Periodicals
- Highlights Kids
- National Geographic
- NWF Green Hour Archives
- Scientific American
- Scientific American Expeditions - Stories about students and scientists in the field.
- Scitable - Created by Nature Education. Check out the Student Voices section.
- Smithsonian
- EarthQuakes
- Energy
- Energy Statistics
- Gasoline Prices
- Nonrenewable Sources - oil (petroleum), natural gas, coal, nuclear (uranium)
- Renewable Sources - biomass, geothermal, hydopower, solar, wind
- Energy Calculators
- Health
- Hurricane Center
- Volcano Information
- Water
- Water Kids
- Water Use
- Water Questionnaires - compare your results to other states
- Weather Information
- AirNow Air Quality
- Learn about the Air Quality Index. Use the National Air Quality Summary to make comparisons between different locations.
- Billion Dollar U.S. Weather Disasters. What weather disasters are the most expensive? Why?
- Gobal Measued Extremes of Temperature and Precipitation
- State of the Climate from NOAA
- Storm Events from NOAA
- Tornado from NOAA
- U.S. Climate Extremes from NOAA
- Wildfires from NOAA
- AirNow Air Quality
Interactives
An increasing number of websites provide interactives and games to stimulate interest in science topics. For instance, the Nobel websites contains a game called Immune Responses. Find a few examples below:
- Astronomy Interactives
- Bay Trippers
- Binary Balance
- Carbon Cycle Game
- Cut the Knot
- Crayon Physics
- Design a Panda Habitat
- Diabetic Dog
- Dynamic Earth
- Edheads (Weather, Simple machines
- EnviroMysteries
- FreezeRay
- Learn Genetics
- MyPyramid.gov
- National Geographic Interactives
- Nobel Games
- Ology Big Ideas - Archaeology, Astronomy, Biodiversity, Earth, Genetics, Marine Biology, Paleontology, Water
- Rock Cycles
- Scholastic Interactives
- Science Links
- Science View
Visual Storytelling
Visual stories such as Sugaring Time by Kathryn Lasky are also an effective way to jumpstart an inquiry. Consider the Scientists in the Field series.
- What are the most important ideas in the story?
- Could the story be told from a different perspective?
- What other types of visuals could be used?
- How would the story be different in another setting?
- Could you tell the entire story without words? How?
- What questions do you have about the story’s topic?
- What are your questions about the people and place?
Use text-based stories to stimulate image needs and interests.
- The Emperor of all Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee
- The Great Influenza by John Barry
- Pox: An American History by Michael Willrich
- Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond
Explore news photos, cover stories, and front pages that could be used to generate questions or practice the process of questioning. Go to Newseum and Yahoo Photos for examples
What books are you reading?
What journals and blogs are you reading?
Brainstorm books and articles that jumpstart questioning related to a particular curriculum-related topic.
Facilitate Inquiry
In Q Tasks Carol Koechlin and Sandi Zwaan provide questions to get students and teachers thinking about their questions and information to deepen the investigation.
Use guiding questions to facilitate inquiry:
- What's happening? What's not happening? What might happen next?
- What are your questions?
- What other questions might be useful?
- What does this visual or video say? What's the story?
- How will the information provided be useful in addressing my question?
- What are possible problems or questions?
- What's the key question? What's the central problem we're trying to solve?
- How much? How long? How many? How heavy? How deep? How far? How fast?
- What are the elements, features, or variables?
- What are the criteria and constraints?
- How would you explain this problem or question to a friend?
- What would this look like from another perspective?
- What are the causes and effects?
- What are the consequences of?
- What if ..?
- What does this imply about…?
- What evidence supports this argument?
- What do you mean by…?
- What do you see?
- What objects go together? Why?
- Which objects should be separated? Why?
- What would you name this group? How would you describe it?
- In what other ways could these objects be grouped?
Select a topic of interest such as nocturnal adapations.
Collect a set of photographs.
Use the questions above to deepen an investigation.
Questioning and Technology
Use technology to inspire thinking:
- Do you want to do a quick check of definitions or basic information? Use an online encyclopedia. However remember that information should be verified with two additional resources.
- Do you need background information about the problem? Use quality, authoritative websites.
- Do you want to see recent information? Use an online newspaper or journal article.
- Do you want to stimulate ideas? Use a website that contain engaging information or ideas.
- Do you want to think about the situation in different ways? Try audio, video, graphics, or data sets.
- Do you want to brainstorm ideas? Try Today's Meet.
Try It
Ask yourself, "how do I encourage students to ask deep questions rather than surface level questions?"
Starter examples:
Video - The Majestic Plastic Bag
Images - Turtle deformed by being trapped in a six-pack plastic ring
Comic - Deadly Dilemma of the 6 Pack Rings.
Generate a list of questions about a topic. Then, explore images, videos, audio, statistics, or text. Refine the questions. What's the impact of the visuals or audio on your ability to generate questions?
For a more in-depth exploration, read the graphic book Graphic Inquiry by Annette Lamb and Danny Callison available from Libraries Unlimited, 2011.