I remember a seminar from Teacher's college that really got me thinking about the kind of questions different students ask about assignments. The seminar was specifically on a method called 4mat and upon reflection for writing this blog post, I've realized that I interpreted the method rather differently than the depth to which it is intended to be used.
The idea that really stuck with me was that different students need different kinds of information about an assignment in order to work autonomously. The students who are brave enough to ask the questions they need can often be grouped into 3 categories: What? How? Why?
My misinterpretation is that 4mat describes these questions as being what motivates a student to learn, while I simply saw them as questions that the students need answered in order to get started with their task.
Those who ask "What?" - What-students want a minimal amount of information about the task at hand. These students want to get started as soon as possible and will flourish if given the opportunity to get creative within the guidelines you set. If the guidelines are too specific, or it takes too long to explain them these students can quickly loose interest in the task altogether.
Those who ask "How?" - How-students need examples. They want instructions to be specific and detailed so that they can meet them to the best of their ability and will ask a lot of reassurance-seeking questions. It is sometimes difficult for these students to get started by themselves and they benefit greatly from a gradual release of responsibility (I do, we do, you do).
Those who ask "Why?" - Why-students aren't satisfied with knowing "what" an assignment is and "how" it should be done. What they really want to know is how the assignment is meaningful. The easiest way to show them this is through a good lesson set-up and/or an interesting hook.
Those who ask "What if?" - Ok, honestly I feel like if a student is asking "what if" they're really asking "why" or "how". That's not to say that no one can benefit from seeking to refine the guidelines of a task at hand or that trying to foresee and prevent possible issues is not important. However, if a student is unable to get started and is asking you "what if", chances are they need something else answered and you need to do a bit of digging to find out what it is.
I enjoy the idea that part of the lesson planning process should involve seeking to predict the questions that students might ask.