Ask Me Another

Abstract

It took a Navy Admiral to remind me about something important concerning teaching and learning. I was at an information meeting for Navy reservists and their spouses on readiness preparation for possible deployment. I was completely out of my element; I was intimidated by the setting, by the speaker's rank, and certainly by the topic. Rear Admiral Martha Herb started her presentation by encouraging us (okay, maybe commanding us) to ask questions. She said, You don't learn as much unless you ask questions.How right she is. This simple statement struck me as a basic truth about teaching and learning, of which I needed reminding. Questioning is the basis of all scientific inquiry. Just a glance at the articles in the Journal of Geoscience Education, or at the many professional development workshops for geoscience instructors offered in conjunction with past Geological Society of America and American Geophysical Union meetings, tells us that we have a large toolbox of instructional methods to encourage inquiry. But question asking can still be elusive, especially in a lecture. And even with the growing trend of flipped classrooms and blended learning, I believe that lectures will not, and should not, fully go away. Lectures can be powerful and inspiring (have you listened to a TED talk [http://www.ted.com/talks]?), but do not need to be isolating monologs. Interruptions by questions can help the instructor gauge the room (Are they with me?), help students clarify their learning and make connections between the lecture content and their prior knowledge and personal experience.So, sitting listening to Admiral Herb, I reflected with some dismay on a class I was teaching that term. With only nine students in it, one would think my monologs were few and the dialog rich. That was not the case. Although I taught it much the same way I did the prior year, with lots of active learning exercises and group work, the students that term just did not ask questions of me when I lectured. Maybe to them, I was as intimidating as a Navy admiral.That Saturday when I was listening to Admiral Herb, I also had a good taste of what it is like to be a student in a large class listening to a lecture. Did I ask a question? No. Did I have some? Yes. Telling students to ask questions will not ensure that they will.So when I returned to James Madison University the following Monday, I entered class with renewed motivation to get the questions flowing. …