Asking Big Questions in RE – and keeping them Short!
23 January, 2015, Alan Brine
During the last week two sets of questions have come my way and left me thinking about the place of questioning and enquiry in the process of designing learning in RE.
Big Puzzling Questions – that are very short!
The first set came from Rebecca Boyle Suh’s recent post on questions in schools. She opens up with this anecdote:
“As I walked around an Essex primary school, I saw a question of the week all over the walls; ‘Why are the grown-ups in charge?’ The head said that the previous week it was ‘What makes the moon shine?’ and the following week would be ‘Why do we have wars?’ The children at this school were delving into the depths of philosophical enquiry ….. I certainly wish I had gone to this primary school and had my thinking skills fostered in this way”.
Big puzzling questions to tease the thought processes:
- When are we old?
- What’s the difference between thinking and dreaming?
- Why do people feel sad?
- What makes someone clever?
- Are there different kinds of love?
- Does my goldfish know who I am?
- Why can’t I tickle myself?
- What is art?
(Average length – 5 words!)
There are a growing number of resources supporting this use of ‘big’ questions in schools stimulated by Oscar Brenifer and Jacques Despres’ book: The Book of Great Philosophical Opposites. The CBebbies series ‘What’s the Big Idea’ has a similar thread.
Another great source of ideas is: Big Questions from Little People by Gemma Elwin Harris.
The link to the ‘Philosophy for Children’ movement is clear.
Rather Smaller, Less Puzzling Questions – that are very long!
The second set come from a variety of sources and are typical of the questions often used in RE schemes of work. These include questions like:
- What can we find out about Jesus from a story about him or a story he told?
- What is the Khalsa and what does it mean to belong to it?
- How does sharing food bind people together in a community?
- How special is the relationship Jews have with God?
- What is the best way for a Hindu to show commitment to God?
- How important is it that Mary was Jesus’ mother?
(Average length 12 words!)
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The contrast between the two types of questions is stark! Somehow I want RE to have more of the first kind BUT I am aware that we may need the second kind to help build structure into learning.
One difficulty with the first set is that they are very cross-curricular and, while they tease and intrigue, they could quickly run out of steam and lose focus. If we use some of those to structure RE will we be all over the place in no time? Great for circle time – but could they sustain a term’s topic?
But the second questions are just too long AND somehow too small and lack any real sense of excitement. Yes, they are enquires but are they the questions children are likely to ask or find fascinating? They are the kind of questions diligent professionals feel children ought to study to gain a body of knowledge and understanding.
Can we be creative with our thinking here? Some of those first set of BIG questions can morph into a subject-based enquiry. ‘What makes the moon shine?’ quickly takes you into science. ‘Why are the grown-ups in charge?’ takes us into citizenship.
Can we use genuinely BIG questions in RE which can quickly lead us into some decent subject-based enquiry? My guess is they will be very SHORT questions. So I offer some obvious examples.
- Are angels real?
- Does God really exist?
- What is religion?
- Where do we come from?
- Is praying a waste of time?
- Should holy books be trusted?
- Does my soul exist?
- Can anyone give me the answers to life?
- Why can’t I live forever?
- Why are rituals important?
- Are stories true?
- Who is wise?
- Is religion dangerous?
- What’s best, being good or being happy?
Maybe these need to be the BIG questions for RE. Learning ‘stuff’ about religions and beliefs can fit in as children explore these questions. BUT I would hope that the children are never far away from asking these more challenging and provocative questions. I like the idea of pupils being able to tell any visitor that ‘The BIG question we are exploring this term is: Can anyone give me the answers to life?’