“Does it weigh more than a soccer ball?
To pass the time on a long family road trip last week, I introduced my children to the game of twenty questions. They quickly learned the value of a good question when they used up ten questions and were not much closer to correctly guessing the object I was thinking about.
Contrast that with the stories of Jesus’ ministry we’ve been reading at our supper table. It stands out to us how many times Jesus gives a stunning question that reveals truth as a reply to a question intended for undermining authority, attacking character, or achieving malicious objectives.
I’m convinced excellent questions lead to excellent learning. In a culture of information flow that leans much further toward passive consumption than active creation, it is exceptionally important for us to grow students’ capacity to formulate questions that do the following:
Connect. When students ask questions that attempt to see how one part of God’s world is connected to another, they understand more of how majestically it was created and appreciate it at a deeper level. A recent example of a question heard in a primary question recently was “What happens to all the leaves in the forest? Where do they go if no one rakes them up?”
Renew. A deeper level question that asks students to see what God’s original plan was for a part of creation, how very good it was, and how they might be part of renewing it is transformational for their future communities. An example I heard of this recently as “Why are bee populations in decline and what can farmers do about it?”
Discern. Learning to ask as much about what isn’t being said as what is, what justice looks like in an area of life, and digging deep with questions to identify bias and perspective is powerful. An example I heard this week is “What is the author presuming everyone agrees about?”
I’m thankful for Christian Education at LCES that challenges our children to delight in God’s world and ask quality questions that leads them further in to it.
SJ
To pass the time on a long family road trip last week, I introduced my children to the game of twenty questions. They quickly learned the value of a good question when they used up ten questions and were not much closer to correctly guessing the object I was thinking about.
Contrast that with the stories of Jesus’ ministry we’ve been reading at our supper table. It stands out to us how many times Jesus gives a stunning question that reveals truth as a reply to a question intended for undermining authority, attacking character, or achieving malicious objectives.
I’m convinced excellent questions lead to excellent learning. In a culture of information flow that leans much further toward passive consumption than active creation, it is exceptionally important for us to grow students’ capacity to formulate questions that do the following:
Connect. When students ask questions that attempt to see how one part of God’s world is connected to another, they understand more of how majestically it was created and appreciate it at a deeper level. A recent example of a question heard in a primary question recently was “What happens to all the leaves in the forest? Where do they go if no one rakes them up?”
Renew. A deeper level question that asks students to see what God’s original plan was for a part of creation, how very good it was, and how they might be part of renewing it is transformational for their future communities. An example I heard of this recently as “Why are bee populations in decline and what can farmers do about it?”
Discern. Learning to ask as much about what isn’t being said as what is, what justice looks like in an area of life, and digging deep with questions to identify bias and perspective is powerful. An example I heard this week is “What is the author presuming everyone agrees about?”
I’m thankful for Christian Education at LCES that challenges our children to delight in God’s world and ask quality questions that leads them further in to it.
SJ
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