A Visit from Dr. Marc Aronson

Author visits always seem like a good idea--and I never back down from the opportunity. Over the summer, the MAME listserv received a post about Dr. Marc Aronson being available to visit schools during his time in Michigan for the MAME fall conference. I jumped at the chance--despite not actually knowing how I would get students prepared. It turns out I worried for nothing. Two wonderful teachers stepped up and did a great job of getting students ready for the visit and Dr. Aronson made two presentations: one to about 45 eighth graders and one to about 35 sixth graders.

I was most impressed with Dr. Aronson's ease with my students. Although many authors say they like large groups and lots of questions, that is not always the reality. It seemed to me that Dr. Aronson is most comfortable when he is interacting based on student questioning. He talked a lot about asking questions and curiosity as the way good research ends up happening and told our students that, "Behind every answer lurks a new question."

I love the idea that research is about curiosity. This makes me think that we need to spend even more time in schools encouraging kids to ask questions. It's not enough for them to learn content and have answers. Being able to think critically and ask questions that make them want to learn and know more are the skills we want to be fostering in order to prepare students for college and beyond.

What strategies are you using to get students asking good questions regarding topics they care about?