How to use the Show-Me Standards 1.1

This will be a continuing description of how to use the Show-Me standards. It will proceed in order of the four goals and the forty-three sub-goals. This is part 1 of Goal 1.

Goal 1: Students in Missouri public schools will acquire the knowledge and skills to gather, analyze and apply information and ideas.

part 1: Students will demonstrate within and integrate across all content areas the ability to
develop questions and ideas to initiate and refine research

The heart of this subject is question framing. (Useful pieces on question framing are here and here.) We all know the familiar list of question to ask, who, where, when, how, what, and why. But which are the important questions to ask to support research?

Who, where, and when are fact based questions, so they will not sustain inquiry (except in some sophisticated questions, see below) and will not challenge the researcher. Often they can be answered conclusively by recourse to one authority. If I can look up the answer in a reference book, its not a good question.

How is a very profound question (except in science, where its often technical) that is often far beyond most students capacity. Unless a student is capable of collecting a lot of smaller questions under one large how, thinking profoundly about what it all means, and managing the length, a how question should be re-phrased to turn it into a what or why question. How questions presuppose a knowledge of what and why questions or a capacity to provide what and why answers en route to a how.

The best questions for most students are what and why questions. A what question explains the nature of a thing by assembling its characteristics in a meaningful way. Every student is capable of a what question, although the best students will provide much more interesting and abstract answers to a what than will the struggling student. A barely satisfactory what answer is little more than a collection of descriptions of characteristics, including who, where, and when that is comprehensive and coherent. A proficient what answer will not only be factually accurate (which the the basic minimum requried, without which, no answer is passing) but will be meaningful as well.

Its good that a student can tell me who fought the American Civil War, when it happened, where important events took place, and organize other information of a factual nature about the Civil War. Its better what a student can do all of that and tell me what it means. There are no right answers to the meaning part of this question, but teachers must remember that there are wrong answers. The American Civil War is not a Marxist uprising of a working class against a capitalist class. Too often teachers will slide too far to either looking for one right answer (their own) or accepting any nonsense that comes along. Critical thinking, sound analysis, and solid research require that any thesis be based on the best explanation of the facts presented, while dealing substantively with facts that don't support the thesis.

A why question implies a firm grasp of what. If a student argues that the American Civil War was an economic struggle emphizing the tariff, its pretty easy to see how that student could begin to answer the question why did the American Civil War happen? To the student who has no answer to what, why will remain a mystery. Often, as in my example, a what will lead quickly to a why, but it is important to remember that while the direction of the thesis is clear, a why question requires more reserach, more interpretation of factual data (compared to description), and more experience handling ideas. A why is more advanced than a what, but not beyond a properly prepared student with adequate time.

Note that even though I am giving examples from older students, the same applies to younger students. If the issue at hand is animal locomotion, a middle elementary science subject, every student should be able to tell me what flying is an how a bird uses it. (eg, To escape predetors and to exploit resources unavilable to walkers and swimmers.) This would also be a reasonable answer to a why question, although a good why answer will also deal with the costs of flying, thereby explaining flightless birds, like penguins. A good why always takes more account of unsupportive facts than a what, because its more interpretive.

Finally, some students will demonstrate that they are capable of sophisticated question framing. If you find them attempting to cram a good when question into a what or why, free them up to ask the when question. A good when question is a question of periodization. Like a why, its assumes a clear what answer. For example, when does the Civil War become inevitable? This is a good question. It does have one weakness, it implies that it was inevitable. I'd rather weaken the word inevitable, rather than attach a qualifier, such as "if ever". If a student was willing to consider that the evidence might support the answer, "it wasn't," I wouldn't object too much to this title.

Who were the Populists? If the answer is at least as solid as I suggested for a what question, there is no need to rephrase the question to be "what is a Populist." A good who question is a description of a movement or group as compelling as a what, and should be an obvious springboard to more advanced work.

Where questions that fit this catagory also involve some interpretation of place. Attempting to identify regions in the five themes of geography is properly this kind of question. A good where question isn't based on one data-set. Where are the tropical rain forests is a good question of students are predicting their location based on a variety of climate factors, its not a good question if they are consulting a map. Some where questions can be parallel to why questions. Where are the rain forests threatened, presupposes an answer to why are rainforests threatened. This question takes the why version and locates it geographically. That may raise interesting questions when conditions vary on the basis of some new ingredient.

All students should be able to answer proper what questions, most students should be able to move on to why questions, and a few students will always ask interesting questions no matter what words they use.