Use your words: Facilitating learning

Early childhood practitioners can use carefully chosen prompts and questions to facilitate deeper learning as children explore and experiment. They can also support rich thinking and conversations as they share their findings with peers and adults. When adults ask purposeful questions to prompt a child to recall an activity or demonstrate understanding, this can help children make connections between previous experiences and current ones.

Below are some examples of phrases that adults can include in conversations to encourage critical thinking--an important 21st century skill prized by science and engineering professionals. Some of the phrases are more appropriate for an older child with a more developed thinking ability.

For some early care providers, this type of conversation may be new or unfamiliar. As a beginning point, a caregiver might select two or three of the suggested phrases, write them on a card or sticky note as a reminder and try to use them at least once a day as she interacts with children. After some time, this inquiry-rich language will become a habit within the home or program. This intentional teaching practice greatly improves the quality of learning for children of all ages.

While investigating and working with data

  • Tell me what you are doing.
  • That's a great question. How can you find out?
  • How did you decide what materials to use?
  • Slow down. Look carefully. What do you notice? Write that down. Sketch that so you remember it.
  • Is this what you expected to happen? How so? What is surprising you?
  • I can tell you are thinking deeply. What are you thinking about?
  • What might be another explanation?
  • I bet we all have different thoughts about …
  • Let's think about this for a little while and come back later to work on it again.
  • Why did you start over?
  • Your brain is like a muscle, so the more you exercise it, the better it works. Explaining your ideas may take a lot of effort at first, but you'll get better at it the more you do it.
  • This is really tricky. But I haven't seen much you couldn't do if you put your mind to it.

While recalling past events and connecting experiences

  • When or where have you seen/heard this before? Who else has seen/heard this before?
  • What else do you know about….?
  • Based on your experience, what do you think is going to happen?
  • How is this similar to _____? How does it seem different from ______?
  • What does that word sound like?

While sharing learning with others

  • Would you like to share your idea?
  • Take a moment to think, and let me know your thoughts about …
  • Why don't you show everyone your first attempt (prototype) and then the design you ended up with?
  • How did you figure that out?
  • If you were explaining this to a younger child, what could you compare it to that they might understand?
  • What did you learn by seeing others' work?

Early childhood practitioners can also coach children to help one another refine their thinking. The phrase "iron sharpens iron" is true. As one child describes a finding and offers an explanation, another child can listen and respond, offering ideas which may help the original speaker to think more deeply. Children can use the sentence starters to the right. These are appropriate for both large group discussions and one-on-one peer conversations. For older preschool and school-age children, it may be helpful to have these written on a sign to remind children of ways to express their ideas.

Phrase starters for children to use as they interact and critique one another's work:

  • I agree with ____ because …
  • I want to say more about _____...
  • That's true because …
  • I understand what you're saying, but I have a different point of view …
  • What evidence can you give to support your opinion?
  • I have another idea or reason to consider …

With school-age children, if there is a sense of trust already established among the group, practitioners could poll children to get their opinions about a peer's finding. Polling can be interactive and active: "Clap twice if you agree with what Cheri has concluded," or "Stand up if you think Sam's explanation is correct."

References:

  • Lemov, Doug . 2010. Teach Like a Champion. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

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