DQ2: HELPING STUDENTS EFFECTIVELY INTERACT WITH NEW KNOWLEDGE Element 11 Strategies for Helping Students Elaborate on New Information General Inferential Questions Simply put, these are questions that cause the student to speculate about something. They require the student to use their existing knowledge and combine it with the information gained from the critical-input experience to deduce meaning or forecast what will happen in the future. The answer to an inferential question will not be found written in the text or taken directly from a presentation. The student will have to surmise the answer from clues given he will need to read between the lines. There are two types of inferential questions. Default questions require the student to depend on background knowledge and experience to determine the answer. An example taken from A Handbook on the Art and Science of Teaching is after the class watches a brief video introducing deserts, the teacher could ask the following questions: What kind of organisms do you think we will find here? How do these plants and animals survive this harsh environment? What are some things you know about deserts? The other type of inferential question is a reasoned inference. The student constructs the answer based on logical thought and speculation of the content presented. The student is often asked to state how they arrived at their answer. These answers are developed based on the new material or critical-input experience, not on their prior knowledge of the subject. The teacher could ask the following reasoned inference question to build a student definition of new vocabulary presented in a critical-input experience: Based on what you heard in the introduction of the material, what do you think the following terms mean? The answers will not come from prior knowledge, but from the critical-input experience presented by the teacher. A Bank of General Inferential Questions is provided on the next page. Following that is an example of an inferential worksheet using reasoned inference questions. 1
Inferential Questions Things and People: What action does this thing usually perform? What action is usually performed on this thing? How is this thing usually used? What is this thing part of? What is the process for making this thing? What particular taste, feel, smell or sound does this thing have? What particular color, number (or quantity), location, or dimensionality does this thing have? How is this thing usually sold? What particular emotional state does this person have? Does this thing have a particular value? When this thing is used, does it present a particular danger to other things or to people? What is it? Actions: What thing or person usually performs this action? What effect does this action have on the taste, feel, sound, or look of this thing? How does this action typically change the emotional state of a person? How is the value of a thing changed by this action? How does this action change the size or shape of a thing? How does this action change the state of a thing? Events: What people are usually involved in this event? During what season or time of year does this event usually take place? On what day of the week does this event usually take place? At what time of the day does this event usually take place? Where does this event usually take place? At what point in history did this event take place? What equipment is typically used in this event? How long does this event usually take? States: What is the basic process involved in reaching this state? What changes occur when something reaches this state? Internet Resource found through Google Search http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&sqi=2&ved=0cguqfjad&url=http%3a%2f%2fgets.gc.k12.va.us%2fvste%2f2008 %2F9Questions_Cues_AdvOrganizers%2FInferential_Questions.doc&ei=RQqcT4TcA8aZ0QHD-4D6Dg&usg=AFQjCNEvWlMeSbDtuVtONIyuscGYbSQaLw 2
Making Inferences 1 Directions: Read each passage and then respond to the questions. Each question will ask you to make a logical inference based on textual details. Explain your answer by referencing the text. Every day after work Paul took his muddy boots off on the steps of the front porch. Alice would have a fit if the boots made it so far as the welcome mat. He then took off his dusty overalls and threw them into a plastic garbage bag; Alice left a new garbage bag tied to the porch railing for him every morning. On his way in the house, he dropped the garbage bag off at the washing machine and went straight up stairs to the shower as he was instructed. He would eat dinner with her after he was presentable, as Alice had often said. 1. What type of job does Paul work? 2. Describe Alice: What in the text supports your description? 3. What relationship do Paul and Alice have? Why do you feel this way? 3
Valerie opened up the letter from the military department. She felt the pit of her stomach drop to the bottom of the earth before she even opened it. She knew it was news about John. As she read the first line, she thought of all of the lunches she had packed him and all the nights she tucked him in his bed and warded off the nighttime monsters. The man carrying the flag put his hand on her shoulder. She thought of the day that John signed up for the military. Her tears wet the letter. She stopped reading after the first line. 4. What does the letter say? 5. What is Valerie s relationship to John? What in the text supports your description? Tommy! Mom called out as she walked in the front door. Tommy, she continued shouting, I sure could use some help with these groceries. There was still no reply. Mom walked into the kitchen to put the grocery bags down on the counter when she noticed shattered glass from the picture window all over the living room floor and a baseball not far from there. I m going to kill you, Tommy! Mom yelled to herself as she realized that Tommy s shoes were gone. 6. What happened to the window? 7. Why did Tommy leave? What in the text supports your description? 4
Ruby sat on the bed she shared with her husband, holding the letter. There was something thrilling and, at the same time, terrifying about the letter. Taking a deep, thoughtful breath, Ruby read the letter yet again, reassuring herself that, at least in one person s eyes, she did have what it takes to reach her goals. After all these years of waiting and summoning her courage, scrimping and saving, was she finally going to take the opportunity she had been denied those many years ago? Ruby tucked the letter back under the mattress. No, today wasn t the day to tell Max. She had to wait until just the right moment; a good day when Max was full of smiles and hope and good humor. Maybe once spring arrived, carrying with it the promise of sunshine and more work, she would muster the courage to approach her husband. 8. Why does the letter mean so much to Ruby? What in the text supports your idea? 9. Why doesn t Ruby tell Max about the letter? What in the text supports your idea? 5