What to do With Student Questions You Can't Answer #12
If Only the Internet was Around in the 80's
What do you do when a student asks a question you don’t know the answer to, and how can you turn that into a positive experience?
Early in that first year of teaching, a regular concern of mine was what to do with student questions that I couldn’t answer. As examples, “Mr. Danna, why is the sky blue?”, or “Mr. Danna, how did Tycho Brahe get his gold nose (that was a classic)”, or “Dr. D., how do lasers work?” Now remember, Dear Reader, this is back in the pre-Internet days when information was not readily available. If you wanted to know something, you had to open a book or magazine and find it—which often meant a trek to the library! (gasp) I worried about the holes in my science content knowledge. Would I be exposed as a fraud for not knowing the answers? Would I eventually lose my position for lack of content knowledge? (In all fairness, it had been seven years since I had studied chemistry and physics.)
To avoid that dreadful predicament, I worked double time learning the physics and chemistry content I taught each day. My goal was to stay two textbook chapters ahead of the students and complete every problem and question scattered throughout each chapter. I also scoured the New York State Education Department chemistry and physics syllabi, working to develop content mastery in those areas. My canned response when a student asked a question I couldn’t answer: “That’s a great question, but let’s wait till we get to that topic in a few weeks”. My response usually placated the inquisitor. Wrong!
One late fall day, I was called out by a student for not answering his question. I remember hemming and hawing when my canned, “let’s wait till we get to that topic” response didn’t satisfy him and was at a loss of what to do. Should I own up and admit I don’t have the answer, or do I stand my ground and assure the student we will get to the topic shortly. All eyes were on me as I grappled with the predicament in which I found myself. I took a deep sigh and said, “I don’t know”. The student was most unforgiving and asserted I was the teacher and I should know the answer. Before I could respond to what seemed to me a logical assertion, another student stood up and said to the young man, “Honestly Chad, Mr. Danna can’t know everything there is to know about science.”. I looked at Liz and smiled. I thanked her and said to the student (and class) “Liz is right. I try to know all I can about science so I can be the best teacher for you all but I don’t know everything.”. The inquisitive Chad thought for a moment, and said, “Ok.”, and that was that. The burden of believing I had to know the answer to every possible question was lifted, and the opportunity to celebrate good questions and work with students to find solutions together became our standard operating procedure from that day forward.
Lessons Learned:
I can’t say if every new teacher feels pressure to be the expert on all subject matter, but I realized quickly that being honest and saying, “I don’t know” to student questions is “okay”. In fact, it offers the chance to recognize good questions and to figure out the answer together—easily done in the Internet Age. I also learned there are a lot of really nice students in class who want their teachers to succeed.
Research:
This study1 of 28 honors students demonstrated the power of teacher interactions and relationships on students’ academic motivation and interest. Strong interactions/relationships, course rigor and relevance, and teachers’ content knowledge promote student self-efficacy, engagement, and sense of support within the classroom. Teachers with strong content knowledge are best able to promote in-depth instruction that is rigorous, relevant, and extends beyond the textbook through meaningful class discussions.
Siegle, Del, et al. “Honors Students’ Perceptions of Their High School Experiences: The Influence of Teachers on Student Motivation.” The Gifted Child Quarterly, vol. 58, no. 1, 2014, pp. 35–50, https://doi.org/10.1177/0016986213513496.