Questions and inventiveness.
To ask a question is to see both backward and forward – to make sense of a thing and what you know about it, and then extend outward in space and time to imagine what else can be known, or what others might know.
To ask a great question is to see the conceptual ecology of the thing.
TeachThought
Questions or questioning?
It is important to distinguish between questions and questioning. They are not the same. Although they are partners in inquiries. Key differences are set out in the table.
Inventiveness processes
Ideas and actions
Frame of questions
Frame of questions
Frame of questions
Frame of questions
Key features
Inventiveness is a two-cycle process.
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Cylce # 1 - Discover and design
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Cycle # 2 - Develop and enact
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The diamond shapes, in the diagram below, denote the two cycles. They are co-joined with the direction of flow denoted by the arrows.
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Points of movement are determined by stages in the evolution of different inventive processes.
Key stages
Inventive processes evolve through three 'touch-stone' points.
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Clarifying challenges, problems and tasks in terms of the prevailing situation and conditions
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Developing strategic designs synthesized from and customized to specific contexts
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Producing nuanced outcomes that reflect the best of what could or should be.​
Key aspects
Each cycle, represented by the two diamond shapes, involves.
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Opening up - to research, investigate and explore extant situations, and generate ideas.
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Closing down - to select practicable options and decide on best action.
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The two strategies are linked and mutually supportive. With tension between them provoking imagination and creativity.
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Questions
An 'engine room' for bringing inquiry, learning and discovery.
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Asking questions can be general or specific.
The choice depends on intention and circumstance.
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Generic generative questions (GGQs) have the potential to be applied across all areas of human experience and endeavour. These questions direct inquiries.
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Consequent questions (CQs) emerge when GGQs are translated into the context and content of specific subject matters. These questions shape agendas for investigation
Pointed questions (PQs) are narrowly focused to elicit defined responses. These questions are specific to aspects of the context which are of interest or concern.
GGQs, CQs and PQs are a package.
Together they form a 'frame of questions' through which inventiveness can flourish. The frame is an evolving process, not a mechanism.
The package is at the centre of each cycle in the diagram above with the iterative flow indicated by the arrows.
The movement in the design and discovery cycle is towards - generating ideas, possibilities and potential solutions. The process is imaginative.
The movement in the develop and enact cycle is towards - developing actions, processes and products. The process is creative.
Starting an inventiveness process
Review the situation, needs and intentions to decide on whether to begin with a 'discovery and design' cycle or a 'develop and enact' cycle. The two cycles represent two different mindsets. Yet they tend to evolve from one to the other over time. In most inventiveness processes a 'discovery and design' cycle comes first. The process is continuous.
In either cycle the four elements for an inquiry - analysis of the situation, selection of GGQs, investigation of CQs, and pursuit of PQs - form a practicable means through which inventiveness can be generated.
Right questions
The effectiveness of inquiry and inventiveness processes depends on asking the 'right questions'. Here is a useful strategy.
Step # 1
Select two or three generic generative questions (GGQs). Click here for a list of 12.
Step # 2
Identify consequent questions (CQs), and where necessary pointed questions (PQs), for each GGQ you have selected.
Identifying consequent questions around selected GGQs can be challenging. Here are some useful strategies.
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If you need
Think through potential CQs and PQs from different perspectives
Sensemaking
This life-long process is driven by curiosity and its agent questions. Together they represent 'question sense' through which people come to understand their experience and address the challenges embedded in their everyday lives. When enacted through a mindset of inventive inquiry human capacity flourishes.
"Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will". (Mahatma Gandhi)
Thinking growth!
Questions, curiosity, inquiry, learning, climate, change, teaching, Resources, community, development, expertise, talents, challenge, collaboration, project, co-design, co-construction,