1. Thinking & Questioning
Costa's Levels of
Thinking & Questioning

2. LG & EQ
Questions/ Key Terms
Notes
Learning Goals
Explain the difference between higher and lower-level questions.
Practice writing questions from each of Costa’s 3 levels.
Essential Question
How can inquiry/questioning help me to better understand what I’m learning in my classes?

3. A Few Quotes About Questions
Questions/ Key Terms
Notes
* A question is an invitation to think.
* “The quality of the thinking is given in the quality of the question.”
“Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.” -- Voltaire
High-quality questions reflect and lead to high-quality, rigorous thinking. This is what is required of college students, therefore…..
Questions are verbs….and they force your brain to do something. Because of this, there is a unique power in questions.

4. Where Questions Fit In To The Work You Are Doing…
Questions/ Key Terms
Notes
Cornell Notes Tutorials
“N” Note key ideas
To write questions
On the left.

5. The Three Story House The Three-Story Intellect
Questions/ Key Terms
Notes
The Three-Story Intellect
By Oliver Wendell Holmes
There are one story intellects,
Two-story intellects and
Three-story intellects with skylights.
All fact collectors who have no aim
Beyond their facts are one-story men.
Two-story men compare, reason, generalize,
Using the labor of fact collectors as their own.
Three-story men idealize, imagine, predict--
Their best illumination comes from above the skylight.

7. Level One Questions Recall and comprehension of factual knowledge.
Questions/ Key Terms
Notes
Recall and comprehension of factual knowledge.
Define
Describe
List
Name
Identify
Recall
Reporter Q’s (Who, What, When, Where, Why, How?)

9. Level One Questions (Examples)
Questions/ Key Terms
Notes
1. What is a republic? (Define
2. Describe why Rome was a good place to build a city in the ancient world.
3. What are the organelles in a plant cell? (List
4. Who was the first emperor of Rome? (Name
5. What are the coefficients in the following variable expression: 2x - 3y = 24 (Identify
6. What organelle makes food in a plant cell?
7. Who is the protagonist in Riki Tiki Tavi?
8. What football team wears silver and black?

10. Level Two Questions
Questions/ Key Terms
Notes
Level 2 questions require level 1 knowledge. You go through level 1 to get to level 2.
Analyze Explain (Why?)
Compare Sequence
Contrast Summarize
Group/Classify Synthesize
Infer

11. How can you group the following NFL teams?
Saints Raiders Falcons Seahawks
Ravens Steelers Titans Dolphins
Colts Giants Jets Patriots
Bengals 49ers Eagles Browns

12. Level Two Questions (Examples)
Questions/ Key Terms
Notes
What are the steps used to solve 2-step variable expressions? (Sequence)
How were the Roman monarchy and empire alike? (Compare)
How are plant and animal cells different? (Contrast)
How can the data be put into graphic form? (Illustrate)
Summarize the story of Romulus and Remus.
What does Caesar’s murder suggest about Roman society? (Infer)

13. Level Three Questions
Questions/ Key Terms
Notes
This is “off the page” thinking and questioning that applies the knowledge in new ways.
Apply If…Then
Evaluate Hypothesize
Imagine Create an analogy
Judge/Critique Recommend
Predict/Speculate
Create or Invent/Design

15. Level Three Questions (Examples) Now we’re thinking!
Questions/ Key Terms
Notes
Was killing Caesar the right thing to do? Did it help or hurt Rome? (Judge/Evaluate)
Design an experiment to test out the following hypothesis:
Create an analogy to describe the structure of a plant cell. How is it like a medieval city?
Is it ethical for scientists to experiment on animals? (Judge)
Imagine you were a character in “The Giver.” What advice would you give Jonas?
What would happen to your answer if you doubled the coefficients? (Speculate)
Using the Pythagorean Theorum, what is the length of the missing side of this right triangle?

16. Inquiry in a Bag Activity
Questions/ Key Terms
Notes
Each table has a paper bag in the center.
Place a personal item into the bag (don’t worry, you’ll get it back in 5-10 minutes).
Pass the bag around -- Each group member should remove and study an item from the bag.
Using what you have learned today about Costa’s Levels of Questions, write a level 1, 2, and 3 question. What level and what type? (ex. Level 2,How are phones today different than those from 10 years ago? Contrast)
Each person will share their questions: Group should determine if the levels and verb are correct.

17. Postcard Activity
Questions/ Key Terms
Notes
1. Each person should have received a piece of a post-card today.
2. Find the other students in class who “complete your picture,” tell them “you complete me,” and sit at a table group together. This is who you will be working with today.
3. Assemble your puzzle and tape it to the chart paper.
4. Write a level one, two, and three question about your picture.

18. Fairytale Inquiry
Questions/ Key Terms
Notes
You will once-again practice asking questions from each of Costa’s three levels: this time the questions will be based on a well-known fairy-tale…….
1. Read the fairy tale to re-aquaint yourself with the story.
2. Write a level 1, 2, and 3 question about the fairy tale.
3. Share your questions with your partner, discuss your answers, and determine whether they are correctly written.

19. The AVID Expectation
Questions/ Key Terms
Notes
When writing questions about main ideas from your notes, you should write level 2 or 3 questions because to answer them will imply and require level 1 information.
AVID Tutorial questions must come from either level 2 or level 3.