"What does it mean to learn? Most of us eventually realize that genuine learning is less about delivering the right answers and more about asking the right questions. In an age of automation, questioning is a uniquely human skill, one we should foster in school and in life. This book is an essential read for educators at every level."
― Daniel H. Pink, author of ‘WHEN’, ‘DRIVE’, and ‘A Whole New Mind’
"For teachers around the world there is a moral urgency to work with young learners in innovative ways that nurture agency, curiosity, agile thinking and problem solving. The role of questions in this cannot be underestimated."
― Kath Murdoch. Consultant in Education and Author of ‘The Power of Inquiry.’
Why does engagement plummet as learners advance in school? Why does the stream of questions from curious toddlers slow to a trickle as they become teenagers? Most importantly, what can teachers and schools do to reverse this trend? Beautiful Questions in the Classroom has the answers. This inspirational book from Warren Berger and Elise Foster will help educators transform their classrooms into cultures of curiosity. The book explores the importance of questioning and how inquiry leads to learning, innovation, and personal growth.
Readers will find:
- Strategies to inspire bigger, more beautiful student questions
- Techniques to help educators ask more beautiful questions
- Real-world examples, case studies, practical ideas, and question stems
- Videos showing strategies at work
Great teachers help students to ask bigger, more beautiful questions. This book will prepare and inspire educators to develop a powerful teaching approach that creates a classroom full of student driven inquiry.
Warren Berger is the creator of the popular website AMoreBeautifulQuestion.com and author of The Book of Beautiful Questions: The Powerful Questions That Will Help You Decide, Create, Connect, and Lead (Bloomsbury, 2018) and A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas (Bloomsbury, 2014)―all focusing on the power of inquiry to improve your daily life.
Before focusing on questioning, Warren wrote the internationally acclaimed Glimmer: How Design Can Transform Business and Your Life (Penguin Press, 2009), published in several editions worldwide. Business Week named Glimmer one of the “Best Innovation & Design Books of the Year.”
Warren writes for a wide variety of publications, including Fast Company and Harvard Business Review, and was a longtime contributor at Wired magazine and The New York Times.
He has appeared on NBC’s Today, ABC’s World News Tonight, and CNN, and as an expert on NPR’s All Things Considered. As a speaker, Warren has keynoted at the Oracle Connect Conference, the Cusp Conference, the Fuse Conference, the Design Thinkers Conference, and the International Women’s Forum in Rome. He has spoken about questioning, and conducted questioning workshops, with the NASA Space Center, the U.S. Army, General Electric, Starbucks, Microsoft, Disney, and many other organizations. The education world has particularly embraced the power of questioning. He has been a guest lecturer at the University of Virginia, the University of Oregon, University of South Carolina, Bowling Green State College, New York’s School of Visual Arts, and Virginia Commonwealth University, where he gave the 2011 commencement address for graduating business students.
Elise Foster is a leadership coach who enables education and industry leaders to tap into capability and unlock potential inside their organizations. She has conducted significant research in the field of leadership within education systems and is coauthor of
The Multiplier Effect: Tapping the Genius Inside Our Schools. She has a deep passion for helping leaders become better equipped to navigate the increasingly complex demands of work and life. She works with leaders to make lasting change, by uncovering and making sense of the underlying beliefs preventing them from fully realizing their personal leadership vision. She has found that often, if not always, curiosity and the art of asking questions are central to making progress in the areas of leadership, innovation, and change.
Elise has had the privilege of sharing the research and ideas behind multiplier leadership with school leaders at national conferences, such as the conference of the National Association of Elementary School Principals; local districts, including Gwinnett County Public Schools and Chicago Public Schools; and universities, including the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Arizona State University. When she is not working with education or industry leaders, she delights in learning alongside her school-age daughter and her daughter’s classmates as a classroom volunteer and Girl Scout leader. She has taught and coached students at Indiana University (Kelley School of Business) and as a management fellow at Harvard University. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering from Virginia Tech and a master’s in education from Harvard University.
