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Sunday, September 11, 2011

Curbing Learned Helplessness with Questions

I am nearing the completion of my Master of Arts in Teaching Mathematics and in the midst of my action research project.  My problem/purpose/question is to determine if a focus on reasoning and sense making tasks in the classroom will help my students become independent learners.  Since my classes range from 3 to 20 students, I fear that my students' access to me has created a culture of learned helplessness.  For example, if a student has a question, I am able to respond immediately and the student has little time to problem solve independently.  I have been working on giving better responses (more questions) to questions and stalling a bit before I acknowledge the raised hand.  I plan to use my Algebra and Geometry classes as the research subjects during the third quarter, but I have been practicing my questioning strategies with my 7th, 8th, Applied Math, and PreCalc students.  I have discovered that it is becoming more natural for me to ask a question in response to a question.  Some of my favorites include:

  • Why?
  • How can you start?
  • What have you tried?
  • Does it (the solution) make sense?
  • Is there another solution?
  • Walk me through what you did.
  • Try drawing a picture.
While the questions themselves are not particularly profound, they have lead to a dialogue between my student and myself.  These dialogues have enriched my practice and I believe are helping my students understand and retain the concepts rather than just getting through a task or an assignment.

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