It's been a year and a half since the introduction of the Question Box, and new folks have arrived here and there, so I worry that not all you parents know about The Question Box. In each classroom I have placed a Science Question Box (hand made and finished in clear coat to bring out the natural wood grain, in proper Montessori style). The students are to stuff it with any and all questions that occur to them. On Wednesdays I open it and try to answer the questions.
The original plan was to try to answer them as I pull them out, a big flying game of high-risk Stump the Chump. This year I tried a variation on the protocol, where I read all the new questions out so each child could know that his question had been acknowledged; then I picked one or three to answer this week or to follow up on later.
I don't like how the variation has worked. I think they first thrill to hear their very own question, then they are let down when they do not get air time right away. Or, worse, they are slighted when I read five fascinating questions and then choose only one to actually pursue.
I have noticed the older group has been providing questions at a much lower rate than both (a) the younger group, (b) last year's performance by the older group. Just in time I come to a paragraph in my How To Be A Montessori Elementary Teacher book that informs me of a tendency observed in all children as they enter the Second Plane (roughly age 6-12), a lowered desire to dive into new subject matter or to inquire madly in all directions. As a consolation prize, they develop more interest in a prolonged, deeper inquiry. Their Science Specialist would be well advised to surf on this developmental change.
