The Magic of Open-Ended Questions in Social Annotation

Are your students proficient at asking initial questions about a text but struggling to deepen their Hypothesis discussions with their classmates? How can we better equip students to engage in meaningful and sustained conversations without continuous instructor facilitation? Let’s take a look at some strategies to unlock conversation through the magic of open-ended questions. 

Learning through Conversation

Students might be interested to know that throughout history, philosophers and educational theorists have explored the relationship between dialogue and learning, recognizing conversation–and questioning in particular–as essential not only for intellectual growth but also for personal development. Perhaps the most familiar example of learning through conversation is the Socratic method, where dialogue is guided by a series of questions that encourage students to explore their opinions on a topic. The Socratic method exemplifies dialogic inquiry, with open-ended questions playing a crucial role in the creation of knowledge.

Thinking more broadly, open-ended questions are fundamental to how we explore our world. For instance, in scientific research, questions serve as the foundation for developing testable hypotheses and guide our evaluation of the ethical implications of our findings. Questions promote collaboration and help us with knowledge transfer. Outside of the classroom or research lab, knowing how to ask thoughtful questions can enhance our social and professional interactions and help us better understand ourselves. In these ways and more, practicing open-ended questioning can better prepare students for engaging in meaningful conversations in their courses and beyond!

Open-Ended Questions are Divergent Questions 

According to McComas and Abraham (2004), we can think of close-ended questions as convergent questions, or, questions that require students to arrive at a specific, expected answer. These questions can be answered with a statement of “yes” or “no,” a simple phrase (such as the definition of a vocabulary word or date of an important historical event), or some other predictable response located in basic comprehension of the instructional material. Examples of signal phrases for convergent questions include “what,” why,” “how,” “describe,” and “in what ways.” Convergent questions can be useful for reinforcing comprehension through recall, but they may restrict students’ ability to transfer their knowledge to real-world situations beyond the classroom. In a Hypothesis annotation assignment, too many convergent questions may lead to perfunctory student participation. 

Divergent questions, by contrast, require application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation–all forms of higher-order thinking and learning. Examples of signal phrases for divergent questions include “imagine if,” “what are some possible consequences,” and “what is your opinion.” Divergent questions are open-ended and invite students to share their perspectives, make connections across contexts, and develop their own interpretations, solutions, and conclusions. When we imagine a successful, student-driven discussion using Hypothesis, we are probably imagining annotations rich with divergent questioning.

Ideas for Deepening Conversation 

Here are some strategies and activities that can develop questioning skills and the habits of mind necessary for inquiry-driven learning. 

• Practice identifying convergent and divergent questions. Ask students to categorize various question types (maybe using Hypothesis tags) and create examples of their own.
• Annotate a conversation. Do you know of a YouTube video that exemplifies open-ended questioning? Consider incorporating it into a Hypothesis YouTube annotation assignment, and ask students to reflect upon what makes the conversation interesting and/or engaging. What questions made a difference in their learning?
• Wonder “what if.” Encourage students to practice hypothetical and counterfactual thinking in their annotations, for example, What if the world ran out of rare earth minerals? What if the Treaty of Versailles had been different?
• Use conversational roles. In Hypothesis small reading groups, assign students to different reading roles: discussion leader, connector, advocate, predictor, and so on to practice different kinds of questioning.
• Get metacognitive! Ask students to describe the kinds of questions they find useful to developing conversation. How might they use these judgments to develop their own questioning skills? 
• Encourage self-reflection. At the beginning of the course, ask students to write a statement of “learning ethos,” in which they reflect on their values and dispositions as learners. This exercise may promote a deeper commitment to classroom conversations.
• Connect course readings to bigger questions and real-world contexts. What does this week’s short story have to say about the meaning of happiness? What implications does this unit’s case study have for real-world solutions to poverty, climate change, or global health challenges? Creating an inquiry-driven classroom may require instructors to reconsider how their course content relates to “big picture” questions that provoke student curiosity and attention about the world outside of the classroom. 

If your class is struggling to develop student-driven discussions, consider trying out one of these strategies and/or attending a Hypothesis school partner workshop to learn about additional ideas for using Hypothesis in your classroom!