Getting Started with Homeschooling
Practical Considerations for Parents of School-Aged Children
© Beverley Paine
Index
Homeschool
Australia
Divergent Questions
The skill of asking divergent, or open-ended, questions is fundamental to the development of creativity, and can lead to interesting ideas for learning activities. Research shows that by asking divergent questions you encourage several answers or possibilities, stimulate exploration of concepts and ideas, facilitate creative and critical thinking processes, promote open-minded attitudes and valuing of individual differences, and provide challenge. Some parents naturally do this, but most need to develop this skill over time as their children grow.
The following types of questions can help to open up a topic or idea:
- Quantity questions: list all the types, etc., how many....?
- Change questions: what would happen if ....?, how would it be different if ....?
- Prediction questions: predict what will happen, predict what would happen if ...., just suppose ...., what might the consequences be if ....?
- Point of view questions: would you expect .... - why, or why not? if you were the [other character, thing] how would things be different? Personal involvement questions: if you .... what would you do, how would you feel if ....?
- Comparative association questions: in what ways were .... and .... alike or different?
- Valuing question: if a particular thing were to happen, what decisions would you make?
The following list of words can help you develop creative ideas and activities, and provide a variety of ways in which you can ask children to think about the topic.
| just suppose ... | find new uses ... | compare ... | rank ... |
| invent ... | discuss ... | imagine ... | how else ... |
| create ... | debate ... | compose ... | how could you ... |
| list ... | how many other ... | predict ... | forecast ... |
| find another way ... | decide ... | design ... | speculate ... |
| convince ... | plan ... | make up ... | add to ... |
| improve ... | modify ... | hypothesize ... | combine ... |
| change ... | adapt ... | what if ... | infer ... |
| solve ... | rearrange ... | justify ... | explain ... |
| originate ... | substitute ... | retell ... | tell all about ... |
| take another point of view ... | what would happen if ... | how may different ways ... | what would it be like ... |
 previous page |
Excerpt from Getting Started with Homeschooling, Practical Considerations
© Beverley Paine, 1997
