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4.6
Asking Questions to Promote Curiosity
Submitted by Lori Britt
This activity focuses attention on the intentionality of asking questions. A good question can help promote a rich and meaningful discussion and goes beyond talking “on the surface”.
Learning Goals
Understand what constitutes “good questions”.
Practice developing questions that will surface new insights and perspectives.
Instructions
Set Up: Prepare for the Activity
Select a complex problem that is important to the group.
Share the Identifying Stakeholders Worksheet as handouts or create copies of the file for each group.
Organize participants into pairs or small groups (3-4 ppl).
Begin by introducing the learning goals of this activity.
Step One: List Stakeholders for a Complex Problem (15 min)
A key way to promote broad knowledge of an issue is to ask good questions. How do we know what good questions are? One way to start thinking about questions is to identify what you assume people think about an issue and then develop questions to explore whether or not that is the case.
Share the complex problem and invite each small group to first create a stakeholder chart for this issue using the worksheet.
Then ask them to answer the following questions:
How do you think each stakeholder defines the issue?
What do you think are their major concerns?
Ask them to also think about and list sources that led them to these perceptions (such as media accounts, personal experience, knowledge they have gained in their education, others).
Step Two: Identify Key Stakeholders (10 min)
Invite each group to think about what questions they can ask each group of stakeholders to help unearth the concerns and hopes they have regarding this issue.
Then, ask them to identify which stakeholders it would be very important to try and communicate with directly regarding this issue. Have each small group write their top 5 stakeholders on a whiteboard, shared screen, or other surface visible to everyone.
Step Three: Craft Specific Questions for Specific Stakeholders (20 min)
Select a few of the different stakeholders listed and assign each small group one of these stakeholders.
Each group is tasked with writing good questions tailored for their specific stakeholder. Highlight that a good question offers insight into the stakeholder’s perspective and helps us to understand how they make sense of the issue.
Share the Question Chart showing a few types of questions that can help support collaborative learning about an issue from stakeholders. Examples oriented around the problem of healthcare are offered to show how participants might write each type of question for a particular issue.
Step Four: Debrief as a Full Group (10 min)
Invite each group to share some of their stakeholder questions. Discuss:
Which type of question was most commonly used? Why is this?
Which question stands out? What caught your attention? What does this question do or make possible?
How would you revise one of these questions to go deeper?
What concerns do you have about asking specific stakeholder questions?
TIME
55
min
MODULE
Culturally Responsive Collaboration
This activity can be completed by any discussion group.
This activity is suitable for professional or more formal learning environments.
This activity can be used to support facilitation skills. See Sample Facilitation Certificate Program Design to illustrate sample sequencing.
Tell us what you think. Rate and review this activity:
Have any helpful suggestions or modifications for this activity?
Share them in the comments below!
0 Comments
RT
January 16, 2023 at 5:26:09 PM
This activity helps develop a skill that is useful in many contexts, including in the classroom, workplace, community and even at home.
RT
January 12, 2023 at 10:17:13 PM
This activitiy can be modified or used as is in helping STEM students and science & technology professionals in identifying the unintended consequences and uses of any new scientific or technological developments or tools, such as AI models, etc.
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 2:03:49 PM
I am waiting for someone to try this activity out and share it back with us. This is probably one of the most ambitious activities in the toolkit. I really love it but I have not had the opportunity to try it out with a group. Please someone try this and share back!
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 2:01:33 PM
Another all time favorite. I really recommend this activity when you are trying to think about the complexity of a social topic and who/what is impacted by it. It pairs well with the Divergent Thinking/Surround the Topic activity. This activity also includes a really helpful worksheet for capturing types of stakeholders.
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 1:59:07 PM
I really like this activity. It is a fun way to figure out what matters most to us as a group. For example, if you need to figure out the theme for a discussion series or a topic for a group project, try out this activity. It helps participants to reflect on their own civic passion but also negotiate together the civic passions of the group. It could be paired with the value activities in Module One.
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 1:54:13 PM
I the process in this activity ("surround the topic") a lot. It is particularly useful as facilitation preparation. It also helps with generative thinking.
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 1:52:01 PM
This is an all time favorite. Use it as a warm-up activity or whenever you have a group that feels stuck and can't think of new ways of engaging a topic or problem.
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 1:49:22 PM
Similar to the previous activity (1.7 Taking Inventory of CD Skills), this activity includes a google survey that participants can complete at the beginning of a program or class. Instructors or facilitators can use this information to then tailor future activities to best fits the discussion needs of their group.
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 1:46:46 PM
Use this as pre-class or pre-workshop preparation! These self-evaluations will help teachers or facilitators to better understand the starting point of each participant and an aggregate view of the group. The survey results are shared only with the instructor/facilitator. This is a really helpful resource (and you can modify the survey to fit your needs).
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 1:43:42 PM
This activity and the previous (1.5 Understanding Values) are great for difficult conversations. I would use this as the prep work before diving into potentially tricky conversations. It helps participants to look for the values that inform opinions (and not just dismiss ideas that they don't like).