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00:00:02

[Ushani Cabral]

Hi.

[Will Rixon]

Hi, Ishani. Hi, how are you?

[Ushani Cabral]

I'm doing great.

[Will Rixon]

Yeah, ready to go?

Ready to knock them dead?

[Ushani Cabral]

All right.

[Will Rixon]

So Ishani, you're British Council Sri Lanka. Amazing. What made you want to be an English teacher to start with?

[Ushani Cabral]

Ah, so me becoming an English teacher, I was fond of teaching. I didn't know that I was good at it, but then I realised I was good at what I'm doing. And then, um, I thought English— teaching English here in Sri Lanka as a second language is really, really useful for the children, and there's a very high demand for it.

[Will Rixon]

Yeah, right. Yeah, yeah, I bet there is.

Um, wonderful. And you research spontaneous inquiry in children. Can you tell us about spontaneous enquiry? Or is that basically your talk, isn't it?

[Ushani Cabral]

Yes, so this is part of my research that I did for my master's program, and I was curious about the questions, all the questions the children ask, um, like moving from what, where, like, you know, what questions to all the way how and why questions they develop, and why, why all of these questions, especially at that particular young age, which kind of lowers down as they grow older.

00:01:25

Right.

[Will Rixon]

Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for submitting for New Voices, Mushani. It's great to have you here. I will give you the— I'll give you the stage.

You're very welcome.

[Ushani Cabral]

All right. Hello, everyone. I hope you all can hear me. Yes.

All right, cool. So I'm Mushani Cabral and I'm from Sri Lanka. So what I'm going to present today is going to be based on my research work that I did for my master's program.

And the title goes as Nurturing Children's— sorry, sorry for that— Nurturing Children's Intrinsic Questioning and How to Understand Their Curiosity as Adults and How to Respond to Them Appropriately. All right, so here are some questions that children ask at home or even in the classroom. So they're just not a request for an answer itself, but it is the beginning of inquiry. Um, I would be— I would highly appreciate if you can share any of the questions that you have come across in your classes or back at home that the students would ask, um, and even questions that you found really interesting you can share in the chat.

00:03:05

So these are some questions that students and children have asked. Yes, yes, I can see some responses.

Yeah, why does the sky Why is the sky far away? How did I get there?

Should we eat less meat? Yes, obviously. So it's really interesting about these questions that children ask at a very young age, and it's all out of curiosity. Um, and also I would like to ask you another question. Um, so how many questions do you think preschoolers ask adults or maybe their peers, uh, within a duration of maybe 1 hour, how many questions do you think they ask?

You can type a number in the chat.

Interesting, interesting. Yes, you guys are almost close. Yes, so according to a research conducted by Schoonard, it has been mentioned that children ask around 70 to 80 questions per hour. That's really interesting. So the question is, do we answer these questions too quickly?

00:04:20

All right, so this session, in this session, we will be looking at how teachers can create an inviting classroom where children feel encouraged to share questions without suppressing the young scientists within them. And this is based on research work and classroom practice, moving from findings to more practical strategies that will help everyone, hopefully. Um, all right, so let me give you an overview of what will be covered during this session. We will be first looking at why questioning matters, and then my study at a quick glance— have a quick glance of my study. And then we will be looking at the findings, how age versus question complexity develops, and when do questions emerge, appropriate adult responses, and then I will be sharing with you guys a practical model that you could implement at home or maybe in the classroom, and then finally to end up with some useful tips.

00:05:30

Alright, to get started, can you share in the chat Why do you think questioning matters, especially in early childhood?

Yes, yes, they arouse— it arouses curiosity, it develops their critical thinking, engages pupils, encourages discovery. Some great answers there. Thank you, everyone. So let me take you through.

Yes, so it helps to notice gaps in their understanding, and also it moves from passive receivers of information to more active seekers of knowledge. Questioning helps children to make sense of their immediate world by asking early what and where questions to identify objects, to label them, and also to develop deeper reasoning skills as they grow older, asking more why and how questions. And also, from a language perspective, it helps them to, of course, grow their vocabulary and sentence structure, allowing them to express uncertainty more clearly. And finally, It builds their confidence when questions are welcomed and valued.

00:07:07

All right, so let's take a quick glance at what my study was on. So the research was on— the aim of the research was how 3 to 8-year-old children express inquiry through questioning at home and preschool settings, and how adult responsiveness shapes these interactions within social and technological contexts.

Um, I used phenomenological qualitative research, uh, which was conducted in the Western Province of Sri Lanka.

Um, and the participants of the research were 6 parents and 6 parents of 3 to 8-year-old children and 4 teachers, 2 from preschool and 2 from lower primary.

And the tools that I used were semi-structured questionnaires for the parents and interviews for the teachers.

00:08:09

I used a thematic analysis to analyse the data and triangulation to ensure that the data that has been gathered makes sense across parents and also teachers.

All right, one of the key findings of my research include children's questioning behaviour becomes more complex with age, from concrete noticing to more scientific, social, and moral inquiry as they grow older. So as I stated earlier, this was a research on 3 to 8-year-olds. And something that fascinated, you know, a fascinating finding was that generally 3 to 5-year-old kids tend to ask questions that are more concrete and sensory and that are within their immediate environment. For example, where do ants go? Or Why do the lights turn on and off?

00:09:22

Then usually roughly between 4 to 6-year-olds, they tend to ask questions more on routines and social context, like, do I have school? Why do people live in different houses?

And then 6 to 8-year-olds tend to ask questions that are more scientific and explanatory. For example, what is the biggest planet in the solar system? Or why do elephants have trunks? And then as they grow older, they tend to ask more questions that are, that do have moral value and abstract. For example, why do some animals eat other innocent animals?

I saw a similar question that was typed in the chat. Yes. And how did we come into this world? So it's really interesting to see how this questioning behaviour changes over time as they grow. So it is clearly evident that questioning is developmental, which is also shaped by language and relationships and the context that they are exposed to. 

00:10:35

All right, so another finding of my research include, uh, where do these inquiries begin? Um, it's, it's just a surprise that they begin in small ordinary moments. For example, during car rides, or maybe during bedtime, or it could be during mealtime, or outdoor, outdoor play, and in the classroom. It's, it's It seems to be very interesting when, when teachers bring new classroom objects, that is when questioning tends to happen again. So as you can see, curiosity is not confined to this formal classroom setting.

It can be triggered by routines, to new exposure, to new experiences. Yes, new and sudden experiences.

00:11:31

So some of the factors that influence quality of adult response include at home is one-to-one attention, time pressure if both the parents are working, routines, if there are clear routines established at home for bedtime, for mealtime, and cautious use of technology.

Here I have to point out that, you know, seeking for technology responses, it has— the data I've collected, it has shown that it is always adult-mediated.

00:12:51

Then if you— ah, yes. So if you look at the constraints that teachers have in school, They include whole class and group management and curriculum pacing, and also circle time, puppets, and bringing realia to the classroom, and also the digital literacy of the teacher, and if the teacher is using any scaffolding strategies that help to help the students to ask questions.

Right, so we will be looking at this in particular, how scaffolding might help to create a more inviting environment for asking questions.

Right, rather than responding to a child saying, "Not now," a better option would be, "Good question." And rather than saying, "I do not know, what do you think?" So you bounce back, bounce the question back at the kid.

Rather than saying, "Because it just does," a better way would be, "Let's find out together." Rather than ignoring the question, we could give a hint, model an example to help the child find the answer by themselves. And rather than giving a quick final answer, it's always best to scaffold and ask follow-up questions.

00:13:55

So ignoring questions— one of the teachers during the interviews mentioned that ignoring questions shut down their connection with you.

So here is a 5-minute inquiry routine just a very simple model that you could implement in the classroom or even at home. First, you validate the question, you say, "Good question," and then you could redirect the question back at the child asking, "What do you think?" rather than giving a response straight away to see how the child views it, and then Based on the response that the child gave, you could scaffold on it by giving them a hint or by modeling or making comparisons with a similar experience that they had, and finally, of course, asking follow-up questions such as, "What do you think now?" Reflecting on the whole journey of learning, the process.

00:15:05

All right, uh, we have come almost to the end, and here are some useful tips for you to take away from this session. Um, as I mentioned earlier, it's always important to praise the question. Um, this helps them to— it boosts their confidence. It, it makes them feel that their question has been— is is being valued.

And then you return it gently, "What do you think?" And you give a hint, you scaffold it, and of course you could make a question space in the classroom. For example, use the circle time or use the whiteboard to put up the questions the students ask, or maybe use a box or a jar where the students could write the questions and put into that, and you solve a question at a time It doesn't have to— you don't have to solve all of them, but you could try doing it one by one.

00:16:09

Use low-pressure mediators such as puppets, story characters, or objects. Children love them, talking to puppets.

And search together safely.

Yes. So I would like to invite you all try just one thing and see how it works for you in the classroom or maybe at home. Um, yes, so that's it from me. Thank you very much, everyone. Hope you enjoyed.

[Will Rixon]

Thank you so much, Ishani. Absolutely wonderful.