Elaborating and Open-Ended Questions

Today we used a map and a photograph to talk about elaborating and open-ended questions.

Here are some of the intriguing questions that students asked about the map of the Crusades:

Nikki: The map shows that Christians controlled more land than Muslims at the time of the Crusades.  If Christians already controlled more land, why did they fight the Muslims to try to conquer even more land?

Bertie: Why did the Crusades last so long (108 years)? Don’t most wars last more like 5 years or 10 years?

Pallavi: During the 108 years, did any other countries (in addition to the ones shown on the map) get involved in the Crusades?

Next we looked at a photo of the Kabaa, and these are some of the questions that students asked:

Gia: What do people do when they come to this place?

Henry: Why are so many people visiting this place?

Ryan: How do people get there?

And here's a great example of an open-ended question:

Lucas: Does a person choose his religion, or does the religion choose the person? Lucas said that a version of this question is posed in the Harry Potter books.

Musical bonus question: Halle's question about Let it Go inspired a lively debate:

Halle: Why is Let it Go such a popular song?

Students had a variety of possible answers to Halle's question:

Nikki: The song is so popular because it's part of a very successful movie.

Mason: No, no ... the song is so popular because of its message (girl power!).

Thomas and Gresh: No, no ... the song is so popular because it's really, really catchy, with a great beat!!

I think Thomas and Gresh's answer was the most popular. I loved hearing the variety of ideas.