For this reason, I wonder if it might not be better to separate the generative part of the process (having students pose questions) from the “settling on a specific question for the group to investigate” part of the process.

In teaching writing, we try to emphasize separating the generative process from the editing process. Why not do the same thing with mathematical question-posing?

Starting from that assumption, I find myself wondering why would we not pose the #anyqs question to the students as, How many mathematical questions can you come up with? And then capture them ALL on the board.

Or set a timer for 5-7 minutes and have pairs or groups generate lists of as many mathematical questions as they can come up with before the timer goes off. THEN start gathering or sorting them on the board as a whole class.

– Elizabeth (aka @cheesemonkeysf on Twitter)

My point is that each classroom setting is going to be different, and we should embrace that. Taking a “one size” fits all approach seems counterintuitive to inquiry based teaching in general. If you want a specific question answered, ask that question, the students will learn the material that is valuable to that teacher. If you create a good enough visual or manipulative, then the question will be created for you (or at least one that is worthwhile).

Yes, you should probably be strategic with the use of your #anyqs to at least craft them in such a way that your image or video is more likely to draw out the questions that are pertinent to what you need to cover, but when you ask a room full of students something as broad and unengaging as “where’s the math” you better be prepared to follow the student’s lead on that one, otherwise you’re going to disenfranchise their curiosity.

Bowen: (Can we ever be certain it will happen the “right” way, though?)

I’m probably playing a bunch of semantic games here, but I don’t want to suggest there’s a “right” question. I do have a question I’d like students to consider, a question I think is important and worthy of their time. That question comes from a certain context. How do I represent that context to my students so that the question I’m wondering seems compelling to them also?

I’m curious, for instance, how the classroom would have looked if the teacher had shown some video of some kind of stadium stampede, something to trigger the thought that, “my word, we need to do something about this.”

Timon: So in this case Dan (let’s get rid of the fact the teacher was surprised), how many students does it take to make our anyqs legit?

A majority, maybe? But consider that students may have lots of questions about a given context. Maybe “how many fire exits are there?” is the predominant question for only 40% of the students but it’s somewhere in the top three for the rest. I can live with that. I can’t live with instructional design that disregards the likely questions students might have about a given context, which is what we’re working against with #anyqs.

I know we can post them to twitter, but I feel like a group of math teachers are naturally going to gravitate more toward the “mathy” questions.

It’s a totally different game, decidedly not math, and not even close to good inquiry-based teaching. Such questions should either be clarified or just not asked in the first place.

It’s interesting to compare this to #anyqs, where the goal seems to be to make as certain as possible that the question the kids come up with is the same as the one in the lesson plan — taking the path of not asking the question, letting students construct it. (Can we ever be certain it will happen the “right” way, though?)

louise: So put up all the questions, and then let them have at it.

Not all questions are answerable given the information available. Not all questions require the same mathematical competencies. Problems?

@Brian, can you favor me with an example?

@Ben, what I’m saying is that the teacher is designing curricula for herself. I’ve clarified the text. Thanks.