Libraries Director

The Power of Effective Questions

Allison Peters Jensen·

“Take the attitude of a student, never be too big to ask questions, never know too much to learn something new.” – Og Mandino

Take a minute and look at the image above. What questions come to mind?

In my time at Colorado Academy, I’ve noticed that when students cast wide nets with open-ended questions, they move from problem to solution with lots of active learning in between. Curiosity, one of the core principles of our curriculum, is exercised in the act of asking open-ended questions.  

When I was a new librarian, the public library system that I worked for required that librarians participate in a Reference Interview training workshop called Effective Reference Performance (ERP). This method teaches librarians to ask a series of open-ended questions in response to a library patron’s initial reference question. The theory is that the first question that a patron asks is not always their specific question. By expressing curiosity and employing open-ended questions, a librarian is more likely to successfully meet the needs of the patron by truly understanding the patron’s query and delivering the specific book or information needed.  

The ERP method is one I still use regularly. Here’s how a recent reference interview went with a Colorado Academy Lower School student:

Librarian: Hello, may I help you find something?

Child: I am looking for a dog book.

Librarian: Can you tell me a little bit more about what you are looking for?

Child: A book with a dog that works, a dog that has a job.

Librarian: So it sounds like you are looking for a book with a working dog. Can you tell me a little bit more?

Child: I heard that some dogs have jobs with the police or the army. I want to learn about that.

Librarian: Okay, you would like to learn about dogs that have jobs in the police or the military. Is that correct?

Child: Yes.

Librarian: Great. Let’s look for books like that.

By asking the student to expand on the initial request a few times, the exchange transforms from wanting a book about dogs to specifically wanting to learn about police and military dogs. If I had gone with the student’s first question and handed them a general dog book, then the student would have left the library without the information desired. 

Last year while collaborating on the Fifth Grade capstone project, Travis Reynolds, the Lower School technology teacher, introduced me to a method of questioning developed by The Right Question Institute called QFT: Question Formulation Technique. QFT is a multi-step system that helps students practice asking questions. The technique is fun and engaging and makes use of the many different skills of our learners: collaboration, observation, attention to detail, and also big-picture thinking.  

I was able to draw connections between QFT and the ERP system I learned long ago as a new librarian. To begin a QFT activity, I projected an image (see image above) on the whiteboard, and groups of Fifth Grade students spent four minutes brainstorming and recording as many questions as possible about the image. Since there are no wrong questions in the QFT method, the students exercised their courage muscles by asking every single question that came to mind. They practiced kindness by not judging any questions asked by members of the group.  

Towards the end of the QFT process, students had a chance to rewrite their questions, aiming for as many open-ended questions as possible. The last step was to prioritize their questions, thinking about what kinds of questions would elicit answers with the most information and depth to explain the image presented. These last steps mirror the steps a librarian takes in the ERP method to ensure that they truly understand a patron’s reference question.  

Open-ended questioning can be useful in many settings. Questions can guide students through a project-based learning experience and help them develop excellent solutions for the problem presented. Asking open-ended questions can be useful in social settings to make connections with other individuals and help teams solve real-world problems. Ultimately, asking open-ended questions can have a meaningful impact on a seemingly small task: finding the right book at the right time for a student.  

To circle back to the library interview with the student who wanted to learn about dogs that work with the military and police, I recently learned that March 13 is National K9 Veterans Day. If you would like to read more about this topic, and a few related titles, we created a list of titles available in the Colorado Academy Libraries.  

Primary Grade Students

Middle Grade Students

Image Citation: “Great Molasses Flood.” Britannica School, Encyclopædia Britannica, 21 Jun. 2017. school.eb.com/levels/high/article/Great-Molasses-Flood/629881. Accessed 16 Feb. 2023.