2.2 Typology of questions

Questioning is an important component to promote good thinking. The quality of adult-child discourse is shaped by the type of questions that teachers ask. Through the questions that teachers ask, they communicate with their students their expectations for thinking. Inviting children to ask good questions sparks their curiosity and helps them become more metacognitive. When a child understands their thinking process, they gain the ability to learn how to learn. Ritchhart [9] considers questions as culture builders, for him, questioning is the chief way in which teachers and students interact around content. Ritchhart [9] proposes the following typology of questioning in the classroom:

• Review: recalling and reviewing of knowledge and information. This involves questions that produce terminology, procedures, content, events, and context.

By answering questions from an understanding map (Figure 1), children can

Opportunities in the Odds; Exploring Adult-Child Interactions and Their Effects…

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.82515

A learning community of practice is created by people who engage in a process of collective learning in a shared interest. Teachers are often products of experiences and tend to teach using the ways they were taught [10] unless they are challenged to bring new ideas and theories to their classrooms as a result of their education. The art of teaching is a permanent invitation for teachers to reflect on their practice in connection with theory and their beliefs [11]. According to Ferrance [12], learning communities of practice benefit from action research that can be: individual teacher research, collaborative action research, schoolwide, or

American phycologist and educational researcher Seymour Sarason [14] claims that when you ask teachers to justify the existence of schools, the answer will be that it is for students; it is not for the learning and development of teachers…. Yet, if contexts for productive learning do not exist for teachers, teachers cannot create and sustain those contexts for students." Learning communities of practice leverage teacher knowledge and empower them to lead their own learning. This is critical for teachers so they can make their own decisions and understand the implications of

This chapter refers to an individual teacher research focusing on the quality of adult-child interactions of three teachers from a 3-year old and 4-year old classroom. The research team and teachers focused on creating awareness of cultural forces, the quality of questions, and reflective sessions to improve adult-child

deepen their learning and go beyond knowledge.

their teaching in children's learning and growth.

2.4 Learning community of practice

district research.

Figure 1. Understanding map.

3. Methodology

interactions.

25


#### 2.3 Teaching for understanding framework

Teaching for understanding (TfU) is a framework for thinking. Starting from differentiating knowledge from understanding, it is a guide that can help students learn concepts in depth and then transfer those concepts to another context. TfU is a collaborative approach for effective teaching that was developed, tested, and refined by Project Zero researchers at Harvard Graduate School of Education along with many experienced teachers and researchers [4]. The framework can help keep the focus of educational practice on understanding, while allowing teachers flexibility to design units that fit their priorities and teaching style.

TfU and Making Thinking Visible are two frameworks that complement each other. Both focus on thinking towards understanding. The TfU framework helps educators design curriculum while Making Thinking Visible and cultural forces provide strategies and conditions to promote thoughtful performances of understanding. TfU engages students in deep understanding as a result of good thinking. Opportunities in the Odds; Exploring Adult-Child Interactions and Their Effects… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.82515

• Time: children need time to think and reflect about their learning. Deep learning takes time and teachers should give students time to focus on

understandings.

Early Childhood Education

2.2 Typology of questions

exploration of a topic.

concepts, or purposes.

24

clarifying and uncovering new ideas.

2.3 Teaching for understanding framework

bility to design units that fit their priorities and teaching style.

conceptual understandings by finding evidence and applying these conceptual

Questioning is an important component to promote good thinking. The quality

• Review: recalling and reviewing of knowledge and information. This involves questions that produce terminology, procedures, content, events, and context.

• Generative: exploring the topic. There are authentic questions or wonders that teacher do not know the answer to and essential questions that initiate

• Procedural: directing the work of the class by going over directions and assignments, clarifying, checking for attention and agreement, task completion, and organizational and management related questions.

• Constructive: building new understanding. These questions extend & interpret, connect and link as well as orient and focus big ideas, central

• Facilitative: promotes the learner's own thinking and understanding. These questions request elaboration, reasons, evidence, and justifications. They generate discussions among the class to hear different perspectives while

Teaching for understanding (TfU) is a framework for thinking. Starting from differentiating knowledge from understanding, it is a guide that can help students learn concepts in depth and then transfer those concepts to another context. TfU is a collaborative approach for effective teaching that was developed, tested, and refined by Project Zero researchers at Harvard Graduate School of Education along with many experienced teachers and researchers [4]. The framework can help keep the focus of educational practice on understanding, while allowing teachers flexi-

TfU and Making Thinking Visible are two frameworks that complement each other. Both focus on thinking towards understanding. The TfU framework helps educators design curriculum while Making Thinking Visible and cultural forces provide strategies and conditions to promote thoughtful performances of understanding. TfU engages students in deep understanding as a result of good thinking.

of adult-child discourse is shaped by the type of questions that teachers ask. Through the questions that teachers ask, they communicate with their students their expectations for thinking. Inviting children to ask good questions sparks their curiosity and helps them become more metacognitive. When a child understands their thinking process, they gain the ability to learn how to learn. Ritchhart [9] considers questions as culture builders, for him, questioning is the chief way in which teachers and students interact around content. Ritchhart [9] proposes the

following typology of questioning in the classroom:

By answering questions from an understanding map (Figure 1), children can deepen their learning and go beyond knowledge.

#### 2.4 Learning community of practice

A learning community of practice is created by people who engage in a process of collective learning in a shared interest. Teachers are often products of experiences and tend to teach using the ways they were taught [10] unless they are challenged to bring new ideas and theories to their classrooms as a result of their education. The art of teaching is a permanent invitation for teachers to reflect on their practice in connection with theory and their beliefs [11]. According to Ferrance [12], learning communities of practice benefit from action research that can be: individual teacher research, collaborative action research, schoolwide, or district research.

American phycologist and educational researcher Seymour Sarason [14] claims that when you ask teachers to justify the existence of schools, the answer will be that it is for students; it is not for the learning and development of teachers…. Yet, if contexts for productive learning do not exist for teachers, teachers cannot create and sustain those contexts for students." Learning communities of practice leverage teacher knowledge and empower them to lead their own learning. This is critical for teachers so they can make their own decisions and understand the implications of their teaching in children's learning and growth.
