Open vs.

Closed
Questions

What do you think?

 Closed Questions
 Askfor one correct answer
 Require a search for the fact(s)

 Comprehension questions
 Answer can be found in the text
 Research questions
 May need investigation using other sources
 Examples
 Thinkabout how you would answer
these closed questions:
 What is your name?
 Who is the protagonist in the novel?
 What did the protagonist do to solve the
mystery?
 In what era did the story take place?
 Open Questions
 More than one “correct” answer
 Usually require further investigation or
thinking
 Inquiry questions
 Need you to critique, analyze or reason
 Creative questions - “What if….?”
 Need you to use your imagination, think of
alternatives, new ideas
 Examples
 Have you ever experienced an event
similar to that in your novel?
 How would you change a traditional
fairytale to make it more appealing to
today’s children?
 What do you stand for?
 What could the protagonist have been
thinking to have…?
 Your turn!
 Generate questions
 Use the novel you are reading now and write as
many questions about the story as possible
 When you have as many questions as you can
think of, find a partner reading the same novel to
work with
 Have them answer your questions orally and
decide together if it was an open or closed
question
 Was it easy to decide? Why or why not?
 Use the quadrants

Literary
Reading speculation:
comprehension: Be creative, look
Find the answer for alternatives,
in the text! create new
outcomes!

Factual Inquiry:
knowledge: Think deeply. Use
Search for facts your experience
Рmay require and try to use
more reason to
investigation! substantiate!

*adapted from “Student Questions:Developing Critical and Creative Thinkers” (Scholl, 2005)
 Next Steps
 Ask yourself:
 Does this question ask for just a fact?
 Do I need to do more research to find the
answer?
 Can I be creative to answer this question?
 Decidehow to answer when you are
doing homework, quizzes, tests or just
sharing your thoughts in class!