Penelope Hanstein put it this way and hit the nail on the head.
"A genuine question truly seeks an answer, as a pseudo question expects no answer, cannot be answered...."
Upon reading this I began to doubt how genuine some of my questions were. The material there was what I wanted but at the time I knew what I wrote came from scattered thoughts and this becomes apparent in my questions. No amount of investigating can answer certain questions. Going through the thought process in this way though has helped me pinpoint where I actually want to go with this line of inquiry and the genuine questions that can be answered through investigation.
“when will the public learn to appreciate dance?” is not a question that can be answered. This question does, however suggest several important issues about public perception of dance...."
I can see how what Hanstein said above relates to my own thought process.
- Does my age affect the way teenage students see me? Will more respect come with age?
This pseudo question has opened other doors though and was actually the one where all my other questions stemmed from.
Hi Carla,
ReplyDeleteExcellent post!
This is one of those ‘turning a corner’ moments. Everyone should read this post.
I’d add that one of the main barriers to asking valid questions is an understandable desire to improve or change something. We then easily fall into the trap of designing a question that then permits us to lecture on what we think should happen.
A genuine question emerges out of a desire to understand or know something in a deeper, more effective way.
It is also our nature to want answers to big questions … like your ’Is there a better way to approach teaching teenagers to gain optimum results?’ Unfortunately this question comes loaded with preconceptions. For example, that there is such a thing as an (singular) optimum result. And ‘optimum’ … from whose perspective? And ‘is there a better way’ … better than what?
To tackle this general question, I would first ask where the insights lay. Say it is teachers who you think know best. So lets put them in the frame. ‘What do Teachers say about the approaches that they find most effective in teaching teenagers?’ I’d then narrow it down, say ‘What do Teachers say about the approaches that they find most effective in teaching teenagers dance at KS3?’ Now this is starting to be a question you could answer.
Hope that helps!