afrikan/black deep thought

WISDOM OF THE ANCESTORS

WHICH ENCAPSULATE THE

MAIN IDEAS OF THIS

PRESENTATION

"Simply put, Education is Power. When education is properly done, it opens the door to power. A True Education has one purpose, and one purpose alone; and that is to Train the Student to be a Proper Handler of Power. I cannot say it enough, education is all about power, and all education must lead to some kind of exercise of power. A proper education must, ultimately, improve one's understanding of what power is, how power manifests itself, and how one has to have power in order to be a total human being."

• "The only protection against injustice in man is POWER.....[Spiritual], Physical, Financial and Scientific."

• "The events which transpired five thousand years ago, five years ago or five minutes ago, have determined what will happen five minutes from now, five years from now or five thousand years from now. All history is a current event."

• “The Ultimate FUNCTION of Education is to secure the survival of a people.”

• “Knowledge must be wielded to a sense of purpose, people-hood and destiny. Then it becomes protective of your survival as a people. It is measured by how it protects your survival as a people, nationhood.”

• “What problems must we solve as an Afrikan people? Our problems include the problem of being dominated, not controlling our nations, being poor in the midst of affluence. What goals do we want to reach? What quality of life do we want to enjoy? What kind of people must we become in order to solve the problems that we must solve as a people? What institutions must we develop so that we can act in terms of our interests? What kind of social and educational experiences must we expose ourselves and young to become the kind of people we need to become to solve the problems we need to solve? Unless education, politics and economics are designed to solve our problems as a people they are pointless. What kind of education and knowledge and information and skills and so forth must we develop so that we can build the institutions, develop the relationships, attitudes to be the people we need to be?”

• Popular beliefs on essential matters must be examined in order to discover the original thought.

[Book: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions]

“A student…has constantly before him a number of competing and incommensurable solutions to these problems, solutions that he must ultimately examine for himself.”

[TO EXAMINE REQUIRES THE SKILL OF THINKING CRITICALLY AND CREATIVELY!]

• "Only the CURIOUS will learn and only the RESOLUTE will overcome the obstacles to learning. The quest quotient [ABILITY TO QUESTION] has always excited me more than the intelligence quotient [ABILITY TO MEMORIZE]."

• "Strange times are these in which we live when old and young are taught in falsehoods school. And the one man that dares to tell the truth is called at once a lunatic and fool"

[Book: The Prince]

“And it ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than TO TAKE THE LEAD IN THE INTRODUCTION OF A NEW ORDER OF THINGS. Because the Innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new.”[CHANGE IS SELDOM WELCOMED BY THOSE WITH A VESTED INTEREST IN THE STATUS QUO!]

• “Anyone can produce a new fact; the thing is to produce a NEW IDEA.” [Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic

Among the Azande]

• “Trivia are not knowledge. Lists of facts don't comprise knowledge. Analyzing, hypothesizing, concluding from data, sharing insights, those comprise knowledge. You can't Google for knowledge.”

BRITISH ROTE MEMORIZATION• “…What is called education… it is mainly ROTE

LEARNING, the ability to MEMORIZE phrases, concepts and other required data. THINKING is neither required or expected. CRITICAL ANALYSIS and EVALUATION of subject matter are not required. But the ability to ABSORB AND RECALL is required. The brilliant scholar, then, is one who can readily quote authorities and remember well his bibliographical sources.” [Dr. Chancellor Williams, The Destruction of Black Civilization: Great Issues of a Race From 4500 B.C. to 2000 A.D.]

• “…Far from acting as a liberator, Western formal education came to most countries as part of IMPERIALIST DOMINATION. It was consistent with the goals of imperialism: the economic and political control of the people in one country by the dominant class in another. The imperials powers attempted, through schooling, to train the colonized for roles that suited the colonizer.”

ORIGINS & PURPOSE OF METHODOLOGY• “The spread of schooling [in Afrika] was carried out in

the context of imperialism and colonialism-in the spread of mercantilism and capitalism- and it cannot in its present form and purpose be separated from that context…Schooling promoted change from one hierarchy to another-from the traditional hierarchy of the colonized culture to some form of the hierarchy of European mercantilism or capitalism…The structure of schools..was based in large part on the needs of metropole investors, traders and culture….schools used to develop indigenous elites which served as intermediaries…used to incorporate indigenous peoples into the production of goods necessary for metropole markets; they were used to help change social structures to fit in with European concepts of work and interpersonal relationships…” [Martin Carnoy, Education as Cultural Imperialism.]

SKILL SET EMPHASIZED

• Knowledge [Information] – Recall or recognize information, ideas and principles in the approximate form in which they were presented.

• Comprehension – Understanding the main idea of material heard, viewed or read. Interpret or summarize the ideas in own words.

• PURPOSE: TRAINING; PERFORMANCE AS AUTOMATON, MIDDLE LEVEL MANAGER

• INADEQUATE SKILLS FOR LEADERSHIP & DEVELOPMENT!

RESULTS OF ROTE MEMORIZATION

• SENSE OF CULTURAL, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC,

SOCIAL & THEOLOGICAL DEPENDENCY:

COGNITIVE DEPENDENCY - DEPENDENT THINKING!

• INABILITY TO FORMULATE NEW IDEAS!

• FEAR OF TAKING INITIATIVE!

TOWARDS A METHODOLOGY OF INSTRUCTION FOR

WISDOM OF THE ANCESTORS ON TEACHING & LEARNING

• There are two kinds of error: blind credulityand piecemeal criticism. Never believe a word without putting its truth to the test; discernment does not grow in laziness; and this faculty of discernment is indispensable to the Seeker. Sound skepticism is the necessary condition for good discernment; but piecemeal criticism is an error.[AFRIKAN NILE VALLEY PROVERB 4500 BCE]


• An answer brings no illumination unless the question has matured to a point where it gives rise to this answer which thus becomes its fruit. Therefore learn how to put a question. [AFRIKAN NILE VALLEY PROVERB 4500 BCE]

• What reveals itself to me ceases to be mysterious—for me alone: if I unveil it to anyone else, he hears mere words which betray the living sense: Profanation, but never revelation. [AFRIKAN NILE VALLEY PROVERB 4500 BCE]


• Concerning EDUCATION: all cognition comes from inside; we are therefore TAUGHT only by ourselves, but the TEACHER gives the keys. [AFRIKAN NILE VALLEY PROVERB 4500 BCE]

• Concerning the ‘WAY OF EDUCATION': the LEARNER has need of a TEACHER to guide him and lift him up when he falls, to lead him back to the right way when he strays. [AFRIKAN NILE VALLEY PROVERB 4500 BCE]


• Understanding develops by degrees. [AFRIKAN NILE VALLEY PROVERB 4500 BCE]

• An answer if profitable in proportion to the intensity of the quest. [AFRIKAN NILE VALLEY PROVERB 4500 BCE]

• In every vital activity it is the PATH [METHOD, WAY] that matters. [AFRIKAN NILE VALLEY PROVERB 4500 BCE]


• We mustn't confuse mastery with mimicry, knowledge with superstitious ignorance. [AFRIKAN NILE VALLEY PROVERB 4500 BCE]

• Experience will show you, a TEACHER can only point the way. [AFRIKAN NILE VALLEY PROVERB 4500 BCE]

• By knowing one reaches belief. By doing one gains conviction. When you know, dare. [AFRIKAN NILE VALLEY PROVERB 4500 BCE]


• The seed cannot sprout upwards without simultaneously sending roots into the ground. [AFRIKAN NILE VALLEY PROVERB 4500 BCE]

• The seed includes all the possibilities of the tree. The seed will develop these possibilities, however, only if it receives corresponding energies from the sky. [AFRIKAN NILE VALLEY PROVERB 4500 BCE]


• To teach one must know the nature of those whom one is teaching. [AFRIKAN NILE VALLEY PROVERB 4500 BCE]

• Whoever does not inform his children of his grandparents has destroyed his child, marred his descendants, and injured his offspring the day he dies. Whoever does not make use of his ancestry has muddled his reason. Whoever is unconcerned with his lineage has lost his mind. Whoever neglects his origin, his stupidity has become critical. Whoever is unaware of his ancestry his incompetence has become immense. Whoever is ignorant of his roots his intellect has vanished. Whoever does not know his place of origin, his honor has collapsed. [15th Century Timbuktu Poem]


• True TEACHING is not an accumulation of knowledge; it is an awakening of Consciousness which goes through successive stages. [AFRIKAN NILE VALLEY PROVERB 4500 BCE]

• To know means to record in one's memory; but to understand means to blend with the thing and to assimilate it oneself. [AFRIKAN NILE VALLEY PROVERB 4500 BCE]

HOW?

• HOW DO WE AWAKEN INDIVIDUAL CONSCIOUSNESS? [TO EDUCATE IS TO EDUCE –TO DRAW OUT OF THE STUDENT THAT WHICH THE CREATOR HAS GIVEN THEM – THEIR PURPOSE FOR BEING.] BLOOMS TAXONOMY PROVIDES AN OUTLINE TO ACCOMPLISH THIS TASK!

• HOW DO WE BLEND WITH THE INFORMATION? [COGNITIVE CULTURE – THE WORLD IN YOUR HEAD SHAPED BY CONCEPTS. IDEAS BECOME INCARNATE WITHIN US AND RESHAPE US!]

CONSCIOUSNESS

WORLD-VIEW

• Any word, thought or social, political, economic and religious aspect of reality is filtered through the lens of what is called a world-view. A world-view, which is a group as well as an individual phenomenon, encompasses mental pictures of reality, that rest upon the use of shared assumptions about how the world works.

WORLD-VIEW

• In essence, a world-view is a Cognitive Culture, or the mental organization in each individual's mind of how the world works. The common aspects of our individual cognitive culture make up the cultural world-view of the group, which shapes the social culture, which is the way people relate to one another in daily activities, and how they cooperate together for the perceived good of society.

WORLD-VIEW & BLOOMS TAXONOMY

• BLOOM’S TAXONOMY OF COGNITIVE BEHAVIOR IS A TYPOLOGY WHICH SUGGESTS A MEAN’S FOR SHAPING & ADDING TO A WORLD-VIEW [COGNITIVE CULTURE] BY ENHANCING COGNITION OR COGNITIVE ABILITY THROUGH THE DEVELOPMENT OF

ONE’S LATENT POWER OF CRITICAL AND CREATIVE THINKING!

BLOOMS TAXONOMY TYPES OF LEARNING/EDUCATIONAL DOMAINS

• Cognitive Domain: Mental Abilities [Shaped by Culture – Hence COGNITIVE CULTURE (Knowledge/Information-IN-FORMING/SHAPING)

• Affective Domain: Emotional Areas (Attitude/Way of Thinking/Addition to World-View/Perceptual Paradigm)

• Psychomotor Domain: Physical Skills (Skills)

COGNITIVE DOMAIN

• The Cognitive Domain (Bloom, 1956) involves knowledge and the development of intellectual skills. This includes the recall or recognition of specific facts, procedural patterns, and concepts that serve in the development of intellectual abilities and skills.

LEVEL 1: COGNITIVE DOMAIN

• Knowledge: Recall Data or Information.

• Key Words: defines, describes, identifies, knows, labels, lists, matches, names, outlines, recalls, recognizes, reproduces, selects, states.


• Comprehension: Understand the meaning, translation, interpolation, and interpretation of instructions .

• Key Words: comprehends, converts, defends, distinguishes, estimates, explains, extends, generalizes, gives an example, infers, interprets, paraphrases, predicts, rewrites, summarizes, translates.


• Application: Use a Concept in a new situation or unprompted use of an Abstraction [THEORY/WHAT IF?]. Applies what was learned in the classroom into novel situations in the Afrikan Global Community.

• Key Words: applies, changes, computes, constructs, demonstrates, discovers, manipulates, modifies, operates, predicts, prepares, produces, relates, shows, solves, uses.


• Analysis: Separates material or concepts into component parts so that its organizational structure may be understood. Distinguishes between Culturally Defined Facts and Inferences.

• Key Words: analyzes, breaks down, compares, contrasts, diagrams, deconstructs, differentiates, discriminates, distinguishes, identifies, illustrates, infers, outlines, relates, selects, separates.


• Synthesis: Builds a structure or pattern from diverse elements. Put parts together to form a whole, with emphasis on creating a new meaning or structure.

• Key Words: categorizes, combines, compiles, composes, creates, devises, designs, explains, generates, modifies, organizes, plans, rearranges, reconstructs, relates, reorganizes, revises, writes.


• Evaluation: Make judgments about the value of ideas or materials.

• Key Words: appraises, compares, concludes, contrasts, criticizes, critiques, defends, describes, discriminates, evaluates, explains, interprets, justifies, relates, supports.

AFFECTIVE DOMAIN

• The Affective Domain (Krathwohl, Bloom, Masia, 1973) includes the manner in which we deal with things Emotionally, such as Feelings, Values [CULTURE], Appreciation, Enthusiasms [TO BE POSSESSED BY SPIRIT – FOR EXAMPLE: OF A CULTURE], Inspiration, Motivations, and Attitudes.

LEVEL 1: AFFECTIVE DOMAIN

• Receiving Phenomena: Awareness, willingness to hear, selected attention.

• Key Words: asks, chooses, describes, follows, gives, holds, identifies, locates, names, points to, selects, sits, erects, replies, uses.


• Responding to Phenomena: Active participation on the part of the learners. Attends and reacts to a particular phenomenon. Learning outcomes may emphasize compliance in responding, willingness to respond, or satisfaction in responding (motivation).

• Key Words: answers, assists, aids, complies, conforms, discusses, greets, helps, labels, performs, practices, presents, reads, recites, reports, selects, tells, writes.


• Valuing: The worth or value a person attaches to a particular object, phenomenon, or behavior. This ranges from simple acceptance to the more complex state of commitment. Valuing is based on the internalization of a set of specified values [CULTURE], while clues to these values are expressed in the learner's overt behavior and are often identifiable.

• Key Words: completes, demonstrates, differentiates, explains, follows, forms, initiates, invites, joins, justifies, proposes, reads, reports, selects, shares, studies, works.


• Organization: Organizes values into priorities by contrasting different values, resolving conflicts between them, and creating an unique value system. The emphasis is on comparing, relating, and synthesizing values.

• Key Words: adheres, alters, arranges, combines, compares, completes, defends, explains, formulates, generalizes, identifies, integrates, modifies, orders, organizes, prepares, relates, synthesizes.


• Internalizing values (characterization): Has a value system that controls their behavior. The behavior is pervasive, consistent, predictable, and most importantly, characteristic of the learner. Instructional objectives are concerned with the student's general patterns of adjustment (personal, social, emotional).

• Key Words: acts, discriminates, displays, influences, listens, modifies, performs, practices, proposes, qualifies, questions, revises, serves, solves, verifies.

PSYCHO-MOTOR DOMAIN

• The Psychomotor Domain (Simpson, 1972) includes Psychological Direction of Physical movement, Coordination, and use of the Motor-skill areas. Development of these skills requires practice and is measured in terms of Speed, Precision, Distance, Procedures, or Techniques in Execution.

LEVEL 1: PSYCHO-MOTOR DOMAIN

• Perception: The ability to use sensory cues to guide motor activity. This ranges from sensory stimulation, through cue selection, to translation.

• Key Words: chooses, describes, detects, differentiates, distinguishes, identifies, isolates, relates, selects.


• Set: Readiness to act. It includes mental, physical, and emotional sets. These three sets are dispositions that predetermine a person's response to different situations (sometimes called mindsets).

• Key Words: begins, displays, explains, moves, proceeds, reacts, shows, states, volunteers.


• Guided Response: The early stages in learning a complex skill that includes imitation and trial and error. Adequacy of performance is achieved by practicing.

• Key Words: copies, traces, follows, react, reproduce, responds.


• Mechanism: This is the intermediate stage in learning a complex skill. Learned responses have become habitual and the movements can be performed with some confidence and proficiency.

• Key Words: assembles, calibrates, constructs, dismantles, displays, fastens, fixes, grinds, heats, manipulates, measures, mends, mixes, organizes, sketches.

LEVEL 5: PSYCHO-MOTOR DOMAIN• Complex Overt Response: The skillful performance of

motor acts that involve complex movement patterns. Proficiency is indicated by a quick, accurate, and highly coordinated performance, requiring a minimum of energy. This category includes performing without hesitation, and automatic performance.

• Key Words: assembles, builds, calibrates, constructs, dismantles, displays, fastens, fixes, grinds, heats, manipulates, measures, mends, mixes, organizes, sketches. NOTE: The Key Words are the same as Mechanism, but will have adverbs or adjectives that indicate that the performance is quicker, better, more accurate, etc.


• Adaptation: Skills are well developed and the individual can modify movement patterns to fit special requirements.

• Key Words: adapts, alters, changes, rearranges, reorganizes, revises, varies.


• Origination: Creating new movement patterns to fit a particular situation or specific problem. Learning outcomes emphasize creativity based upon highly developed skills.

• Key Words: arranges, builds, combines, composes, constructs, creates, designs, initiate, makes, originates.

ADDITIONAL PSYCHOMOTOR DOMAINS

• Imitation — Observing and patterning behavior after someone else. Performance may be of low quality.

• Manipulation — Being able to perform certain actions by following instructions and practicing.

• IMITATION & MANIPULATION: ARE DIRECT RESULTS OF FOCUS ON KNOWLEDGE & COMPREHENSION ONLY!

ADDITIONAL PSYCHOMOTOR DOMAINS

• Precision — Refining, becoming more exact. Few errors are apparent.

• Articulation — Coordinating a series of actions, achieving harmony and internal consistency.

• Naturalization — Having high level performance become natural, without needing to think much about it.

• Perception — Response to stimuli such as visual, auditory, kinesthetic, or tactile discrimination.

EXPECTATIONS OF TEACHERCRITICAL/CREATIVE INSTRUCTORS CREED

• I will be interested, excited and enthusiastic about you, the course and the material.

• I will demonstrate for you that this material is relevant to your life.

• I will Challenge you to THINK about the subject.

• I will always QUESTION you.


• I will always ask questions, give activities and assignments that will require you to clarify a problem, make observations relevant to the solution of the problem, and make generalizations based on your observation.

• I will always engage you in defining, questioning, observing, classifying, generalizing, verifying, applying and evaluating concepts, information and problems.


• I will always ask for the REASONS and CAUSES of a problem.

• I will encourage you to interact with each other.

• I will always focus on the PROCESS OF THINKING.

• I will not accept a single statement as an answer.

• I will help you to be an EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE PROBLEM-SOLVER.


• I will encourage you to engage in Contingent Thinking.

• I will help you to depend on yourself as a thinker.

• I will not judge the quality of your thinking, you will.

• I will help you to develop your own criteria for judging the quality, precision, and relevance of ideas.


• I will always assume that you are in the continual process of acquiring skills, assimilating new information, formulating or refining generalizations.

• I will draw out of you latent and potential talents.

• I will have confidence in your ability to learn.

• I will have confidence in my ability as a Professor.


• I will Control my Thinking.

• I will Control my Actions.

• I will be abiding, adamant, persevering, faithful and relentless in my Purpose of helping you to develop your God-given Critical/Creative Thinking Skills.

• I will identify with the Higher Ideals of: Harmony, Balance, Reciprocity, Righteousness, Propriety, Truth and Justice.


• I will have evidence of having a Mission in life.

• I will have deep insight.

• I will persevere in helping you with the work you will do.

• I will be ready and prepared to teach.

EXPECTATIONS OF STUDENT

• I expect you to accept responsibility for your learning. My role as the Professor is to facilitate your development as an independent critical and creative thinker. Be an active thinker.

• I expect you to have confidence in your ability to learn.

• I expect you to enjoy solving problems.

• I expect you to rely on your own judgment.

• I expect you to not be afraid of being wrong.


• I expect you to think carefully before giving an answer.

• I expect you to look at things your point of view and other points of view.

• I expect you to have a respect for ‘facts’.

• I expect you to be skilful in distinguishing between statements of a ‘fact’ and other types of statements.


• I expect you to know how to ask ‘meaningful’ questions.

• I expect you to be persistent in examining your own assumptions.

• I expect you to use definitions, metaphors and analogies as instruments of your thinking.

• I expect you to be cautious and precise in making generalizations.


• I expect you to continually verify what you believe.

• I expect you to be a careful observer.

• I expect you to recognize that language tends to obscure differences and control perceptions.

• I expect that you do not need to have an absolute final irrevocable resolution to every problem.


• I expect you to Control Your Thinking.

• I expect you to Control Your Actions.

• I expect you to be abiding, adamant, persevering, faithful and relentless in your Purpose.

• I expect you to Identify with the Higher Ideals of: Harmony, Balance, Reciprocity, Righteousness, Propriety, Truth and Justice.


• I expect you to have evidence of having a Mission in life.

• I expect you to have deep insight.

• I expect you to have confidence in my ability as a Professor.

• I expect you to persevere in the challenging work you will do.

• I expect you to be ready and prepared to learn.

IMPLEMENTATIONTHROUGH

CRITICAL/CREATIVE THINKING

GUIDELINES 1: PURPOSE

1. All reasoning has a PURPOSE.

• Take time to state your purpose clearly.

• Distinguish your purpose from related purposes.

• Check periodically to be sure you are still on target.

• Choose significant and realistic purposes.

GUIDELINES 2: PROBLEM SOLVING

2. All reasoning is an attempt to FIGURE SOMETHING OUT, TO SETTLE SOME QUESTION, TO SOLVE SOME PROBLEM.

• Take time to clearly and precisely state the question at issue.

• Express the question in several ways to clarify its meaning and scope.

• Break the question into sub questions. • Identify if the question has one right answer, is a

matter of opinion, or requires reasoning from more than one point of view.

GUIDELINES 3: ASSUMPTIONS

• All reasoning is based on ASSUMPTIONS.

• Clearly identify your assumptions and determine whether they are justifiable.

• Consider how your assumptions are shaping your point of view.

GUIDELINES 4: POINT OF VIEW

4. All reasoning is done from some POINT OF VIEW.

• Identify your point of view.

• Seek other points of view and identify their strengths as well as weaknesses.

• Strive to be fair-minded in evaluating all points of view.

GUIDELINES 5: INFORMATION

5. All reasoning is based on DATA, INFORMATION and EVIDENCE.

• Restrict your claims to those supported by the data you have.

• Search for information that opposes your position as well as information that supports it.

• Make sure that all information used is clear, accurate, and relevant to the question at issue.

• Make sure you have gathered sufficient information.

GUIDELINES 6: CONCEPTS/IDEAS

6. All reasoning is expressed through, and shaped by, CONCEPTS and IDEAS.

• Identify key concepts and explain them clearly.

• Consider alternative concepts or alternative definitions to concepts.

• Make sure you are using concepts with care and precision.

GUIDELINES 7: INFERENCES & CONCLUSIONS

7. All reasoning contains INFERENCES or INTERPRETATIONS by which we draw CONCLUSIONS and give meaning to data.

• Infer only what the evidence implies.

• Check inferences for their consistency with each other.

• Identify assumptions, which lead you to your inferences.

GUIDELINES 8: IMPLICATIONS

8. All reasoning leads somewhere or has IMPLICATIONS and CONSEQUENCES.

• Trace the implications and consequences that follow from your reasoning.

• Search for negative as well as positive implications.

• Consider all possible consequences.

QUESTIONINGTHE HEART OF CRITICAL THINKING

WHAT IS A QUESTION?

QUESTIONS

• Questions are Factual, Interpretive and Evaluative. They are Factual in that they have only one correct answer according to one POINT OF VIEW. They are Interpretive in that they provide an answer and draw conclusions and make prescriptions from a POINT OF VIEW, and must be supported with evidence. They are Evaluative in that they ask for some kind of opinion, belief, and statement of consequences.

QUESTIONS

• There are these four ways of answering questions. Which four? There are questions that should be answered categorically [straightforwardly yes, no, this, that]. There are questions that should be answered with an analytical (qualified) answer [defining or redefining the terms]. There are questions that should be answered with a counter-question. There are questions that should be put aside. These are the four ways of answering questions.[Buddha]

TYPES OF QUESTIONS

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

• These are the questions which give meaning and purpose to our lives in relation to one another and the group [I AM LAKINI WE ARE], Our Collective Spirit [WE ARE ALL MINUTE EXPRESSIONS OF THE CREATOR], Our community [THE NATION], Our People [AFRIKANS- AT HOME & ABROAD]. These Questions are central to our lives. They help to define what it means to be human.

EXAMPLE

• Can famine be prevented?

• How does the past affect the future?

• Is history a history of progress?

HYPOTHETICAL QUESTIONS

• These are questions designed to explore possibilities, probabilities and test relationships. They usually project a theory or an option out into the future, and ask What if?

• Hypothetical Questions are especially helpful when trying to decide between a number of choices or when trying to solve a problem.

EXAMPLE

• What do you think would happen if ________ occurred? [IF THEN QUESTIONS]

TELLING QUESTIONS

• Telling Questions lead us right to the target. They are built with such precision that they provide sorting and sifting during the gathering or discovery process. They focus the investigation so that we gather only the very specific evidence and information we require, only those facts which "cast light upon" or illuminate the main question at hand.

EXAMPLE

• What is the Human Development Index for Tanzania for the year 2011 and how has the number changed in the past 20 years?

PLANNING QUESTIONS

• Planning Questions require that we think about how we will structure our search, where we will look and what resources we might use such as time and information.

EXAMPLE

• Sources: Who has done the best work on this subject?

• Sequence: What are all of the tasks which need completing in order to generate a credible product which offers fresh thought backed by solid evidence and sound thinking?

• Pacing: How much time is available for this project?

ORGANIZING QUESTIONS

• Organizing Questions make it possible to structure our findings into categories which will allow us to construct meaning.

EXAMPLE

• How shall we use the different Human Development Index numbers for the past 20 years to gain meaning? [Compare and Contrast]

PROBING QUESTIONS

• Probing Questions take us below the surface to the "heart of the matter.“ These questions are based on 1) Logic - We check to see if there is any structure to the way the information is organized and displayed. 2) Prior Knowledge - We apply what we have seen and known in the past to guide our search. 3) Trial-and-Error - Sometimes, nothing works better than plain old "mucking about."

EXAMPLE

• Once the data is collected what should be done with the it?

SORTING & SIFTING QUESTIONS

• Sorting & Sifting Questions allow us to cull and keep only the information which is pertinent and useful. Relevancy is the primary criterion employed. We create a questions which allows all but the most important information to slide away. We then place the good information with the questions it illuminates.

EXAMPLE

• Which parts of this data are worth keeping?

CLARIFICATION QUESTIONS

• Clarification Questions lead to the defining of words and concepts so as to clear up any ambiguity.

EXAMPLE

• How did they gather their data? Was it a reliable and valid process? Do they show the data and evidence they claim to have in support of their conclusions? Was is substantial enough to justify their conclusions?

STRATEGIC QUESTIONS

• Strategic Questions focus on Ways to Make Meaning. Closely associated with the Planning Questions formulated early on in this process, Strategic Questions arise during the actual hunting, gathering, inferring, synthesizing and ongoing questioning process.

EXAMPLE

• How can I best approach this next step?, this next challenge? this next frustration?

ELABORATING QUESTIONS

• Elaborating Questions extend and stretch the import of what we are finding. They take the explicit and see where it might lead. They also help us to dig below surface to implicit (unstated) meanings.

EXAMPLE

• What does this mean? What might it mean if certain conditions and circumstances changed?

UNANSWERABLE QUESTIONS

• Unanswerable Questions are the ultimate challenge. They serve like boundary stones, helping us to tell us when we have pushed insight to its outer limits. When exploring essential questions (most of which are unanswerable in the ultimate sense) we may have to settle for "casting light" upon them. When wrestling with these Unanswerable Questions we may never find Truth, but we may illuminate . . . extend the level of understanding and reduce the intensity of the darkness.

EXAMPLE

• How would life be different if . . .

INVENTIVE QUESTIONS

• Inventive Questions turn our findings inside out and upside down. They distort, modify, adjust, rearrange, alter, twist and turn the bits and pieces we have picked up along the way until we can shout "Aha!" and proclaim the discovery of something brand new.

EXAMPLE

• What does all this information really mean?

• Can any information be regrouped or combined in ways which help meaning to emerge?

• Can I display this information or data in a way which will cast more light on my essential question?

PROVOCATIVE QUESTIONS

• Provocative Questions are meant to push, to challenge and to throw conventional wisdom off balance. They give free rein to doubt, disbelief and skepticism.

EXAMPLE

• Where's the content? substance? logic? evidence?

• What is the source? Is the source reliable?

• What's the point? Is there a point?

IRRELEVANT QUESTIONS

• Irrelevant Questions take us far afield, distract us and threaten to divert us from the task at hand. And that is their beauty! WHAT AT FIRST MAY LOOK IRRELEVANT MAY WITHIN IT CONTAIN NEW INSIGHTS.

DIVERGENT QUESTIONS

• Divergent Questions use existing knowledge as a base from which to BEGIN. They move more logically from the core of conventional knowledge and experience than irrelevant questions. They are more carefully planned to explore territory which is adjacent to that which is known or understood.

IRREVERENT QUESTIONS

• Irreverent Questions explore territory which is "off-limits" or taboo. They challenge far more than conventional wisdom. They hold no respect for authority or institutions or myths. They leap over, under or through walls and rules and regulations.

CONTINGENT QUESTIONS

• Contingent Questions are questions that are asked depending on the response given to a previous question.

DICHOTOMOUS QUESTIONS

• Dichotomous Questions have two possible responses.

HOW TO QUESTIONNILE VALLEY METHOD OF QUESTIONING

Conceptual Clarification Questions

• Get them to think more about what exactly they are asking or thinking about. Prove the concepts behind their argument. Basic 'tell me more' questions that get them to go deeper.

Conceptual Clarification Questions

• Why are you saying that? • What exactly does this mean? • How does this relate to what we have been

talking about? • What is the nature of ...? • What do we already know about this? • Can you give me an example? • Are you saying ... or ... ? • Can you rephrase that, please?

Probing Assumptions

• Probing of assumptions makes them think about the presuppositions and unquestioned beliefs on which they are founding their argument.

Probing Assumptions

• What else could we assume?

• You seem to be assuming ... ?

• How did you choose those assumptions?

• Please explain why/how ... ?

• How can you verify or disprove that assumption?

• What would happen if ... ?

• Do you agree or disagree with ... ?

Probing Rationale, Reasons and Evidence

• When they give a rationale for their arguments, dig into that reasoning rather than assuming it is a given. People often use un-thought-through or weakly understood supports for their arguments.


• Why is that happening?

• How do you know this?

• Show me ... ?

• Can you give me an example of that?

• What do you think causes ... ?

• What is the nature of this?

• Are these reasons good enough?


• How might it be refuted? • How can I be sure of what you are

saying? • Why is ... happening? • Why? (keep asking it -- you'll never get

past a few times) • What evidence is there to support what

you are saying? • On what authority are you basing your

argument?

Questioning Viewpoints and Perspectives

• Most arguments are given from a particular position. So attack the position. Show that there are other, equally valid, viewpoints.


• Another way of looking at this is ..., does this seem reasonable?

• What alternative ways of looking at this are there?

• Why it is ... necessary?

• Who benefits from this?

• What is the difference between... and...?

• Why is it better than ...?


• What are the strengths and weaknesses of...?

• How are ... and ... similar?

• What would ... say about it?

• What if you compared ... and ... ?

• How could you look another way at this?

Probe Implications and Consequences

• The argument that they give may have logical implications that can be forecast. Do these make sense? Are they desirable?

Probe Implications and Consequences

• Then what would happen?

• What are the consequences of that assumption?

• How could ... be used to ... ?

• What are the implications of ... ?

• How does ... affect ... ?

• How does ... fit with what we learned before?

• Why is ... important?

• What is the best ... ? Why?

Questions About the Question

• 1. And you can also get reflexive about the whole thing, turning the question in on itself. Use their attack against themselves. Bounce the ball back into their court, etc.

Questions About the Question

• What was the point of asking that question?

• Why do you think I asked this question?

• What does that mean?

QUESTIONS ABOUT QUESTIONS

1. Which of the questions can you answer with absolute certainty? How can you be certain of your answer?

2. What information will enable you to answer other questions with absolute certainty? Where will you get the information?

3. Which questions restrict you to giving factual information? Which do not? Which questions require no facts at all?

4. Which questions require the greatest amount of definition to answer them?


5. Which questions require the testimony of experts? What makes one an expert?

6. Which questions assume the answerer is the expert?

7. Which questions may have false assumptions?

8. Which questions require predictions as answers?

9. What kinds of information may improve the quality of a prediction?


10. What is the purpose of the question?

11. What are the sub-questions of the question?

12. Have you seen similar questions before?

13. What type of question is it? [Essential, Historical, Political, Economic, etc.]

14. What are the assumptions of the question?

15. What is the point of view of the question?

16. What data, information, and evidence are required to answer the question?


17. What are the concepts and ideas in the question?

18. What does the question infer?

19. What interpretations does the question make?

20. What are the implications of the question?

21. What are the consequences of the question?

UNIVERSITY IMPLEMENTATION

CURRICULUM ADJUSTMENT

• Critical & Creative Thinking

• Grammar

• Rhetoric

• Logic

• Arithmetic

• Geometry

• Music

• Astronomy

CRITICAL & CREATIVE THINKING

• Emphasizes thinking skill development.

OVERVIEW

• Grammar, Rhetoric, and Logic are disciplines of moral nature by means of which the irrational tendencies are purged away. Geometry and Arithmetic are sciences of transcendental space and numeration, the comprehension of which provided the key not only to the problems of one's being; but also to those physical ones, which are so baffling today, owing to our use of the inductive methods. Astronomy deals with the knowledge and distribution of latent forces, and the destiny of individuals, places and nations. Music (or Harmony) means the living practice of philosophy i.e., the adjustment of human life into harmony with God, until the personal soul became identified with God.

GRAMMAR

• Is the key by which alone the door can be opened to the understanding of speech. It is Grammar which reveals the admirable art of language, and unfolds its various constituent parts—its names, definitions, and respective offices; it unravels, as it were, the thread of which the web of speech is composed. These reflections seldom occur to any one before their acquaintance with the art; yet it is most certain that, without a knowledge of Grammar, it is very difficult to speak with propriety, precision, and purity.

RHETORIC

• It is by Rhetoric that the art of speaking eloquently is acquired. To be an eloquent speaker, in the proper sense of the word, is far from being either a common or an easy attainment: it is the art of being persuasive and commanding; the art, not only of pleasing the fancy, but of speaking both to the understanding and to the heart.

LOGIC

• Is that science which directs us how to form clear and distinct ideas of things, and thereby prevents us from being misled by their similitude or resemblance. Of all the human sciences, that concerning man is certainly most worthy of the human mind, and the proper manner of conducting its several powers in the attainment of truth and knowledge. This science ought to be cultivated as the foundation or ground-work of our inquiries; particularly in the pursuit of those sublime principles which claim our attention.

ARITHMETIC

• Is the art of numbering, or that part of the mathematics which considers the properties of numbers in general. We have but a very imperfect idea of things without quantity, and as imperfect of quantity itself, without the help of Arithmetic. All the works of the Almighty are made in number, weight, and measure; therefore, to understand them rightly, we ought to understand arithmetical calculations; and the greater advancement we make in the mathematical sciences, the more capable we shall be of considering such things as are the ordinary objects of our conceptions, and be thereby led to a more comprehensive knowledge of our great Creator and the works of the creation.

GEOMETRY

• By this science, the architect is enabled to construct his plans and execute his designs; the general, to arrange his soldiers; the engineer, to mark out grounds for encampments; the geographer, to give us the dimensions of the world, and all things therein contained; to delineate the extent of seas, and specify the divisions of empires, kingdoms, and provinces. By it, also, the astronomer is enabled to make his observations, and to fix the duration of times and seasons, years and cycles. In fine, Geometry is the foundation of architecture, and the root of the mathematics.

MUSIC

• Is that elevated science which affects the passions by sound. There are few who have not felt its charms, and acknowledged its expression to be intelligible to the heart. It is a language of delightful sensations, far more eloquent than words; it breathes to the ear the clearest intimations; it touches and gently agitates the agreeable and sublime passions; it wraps us in melancholy, and elevates us in joy; it dissolves and inflames; it melts us in tenderness, and excites us to war. This science is truly congenial to the nature of man; for by its powerful charms the most discordant passions may be harmonized, and brought into perfect unison; but it never sounds with such seraphic harmony as when employed in singing hymns of gratitude to the Creator of the universe.

ASTRONOMY

• Is that sublime science which inspires the contemplative mind to soar aloft, and read the wisdom, strength, and beauty of the great Creator in the heavens. How nobly eloquent of the Deity is the celestial hemisphere!—spangled with the most magnificent heralds of his infinite glory! They spear-to the whole universe; for there is no speech so barbarous, but their language is understood; nor nation so distant, but their voices are heard among them.

COURSE MATERIALS

• Lecturer created Textbooks and Research Compendiums [A collection of articles and book selections which are pertinent to given course, accompanied by Higher Order Thinking Questions.]

REFERENCES• Bloom B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook

I: The Cognitive Domain. New York: David McKay Co Inc. • Dave, R. H. (1975). Developing and Writing Behavioral Objectives.

(R. J. Armstrong, ed.). Tucson, Arizona: Educational Innovators Press.

• Harrow, A. (1972) A Taxonomy of Psychomotor Domain: A Guide for Developing Behavioral Objectives. New York: David McKay.

• Krathwohl, D. R., Bloom, B. S., & Masia, B. B. (1973). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, the Classification of Educational Goals. Handbook II: Affective Domain. New York: David McKay Co., Inc.

• Pohl, M. (2000). Learning to Think, Thinking to Learn: Models and Strategies to Develop a Classroom Culture of Thinking.Cheltenham, Vic.: Hawker Brownlow.

• Simpson E. J. (1972). The Classification of Educational Objectives in the Psychomotor Domain. Washington, DC: Gryphon House.

• James, George G.M. (1954) Stolen Legacy.