Skip to main content

Main navigation

  • Home
Home
SIMville
Resources for SIM Professional Developers

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. The Question Exploration Routine
Question Exploration Book
Author(s): Janis A Bulgren, B. Keith Lenz, Donald D. Deshler, and Jean B. Schumaker

Publication Info: Edge Enterprises, 2001

Question Exploration Resources:

VIDEO

  • Review: Question Exploration - Jean Piazza
  • Supporting Writing with the Question Exploration Routine in Culpeper, VA
  • 2001 SIM Conference: Question Exploration Routine - Jan Bulgren, Keith Lenz
  • 2002 SIM Conference: Question Exploration Routine
  • Watch Session Video Session ppt

PPTs

  • Question Exploration Routine presentation  2021 (ppt)
  • Question Exploration Routine blank device (ppt)
  • QER ppt from 2011 Bulgren Session
  • Research Methods and Results
  • Question Exploration presentation for administrators - Rosalind Davenport
  • Device Google Slide: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1NSWpCCtXmpUOMzQvFwf61ni78SG4Q5Xa8ZKWTvr2BOk/copy?usp=sharing

MORE

  • Access Florida SPDG LiveBinder Assets (Key: CE QER)
  • Access Content Enhancement Routine Checklists
  • Strategram Volume 16 #2
  • Description of the Question Exploration Routine from the SIM website
  • Self-Guided Professional Development with the QE Multi Media Program, Guidebook and Coaching
  • PD Packet
  • Example QERs
  • More example QERs  - Minarik (google share, you have to log into Google to access)
  • DeMayo QER Breakdown guide
  • Tool to develop a 5 paragraph essay from QEG version 2 Example

MICROCREDENTIALS

  • Professional Learning
  • Fidelity of Implementation
  • Specialist

Stratenotes/Strategram

  • Strategram Volume 16 No. 2, March 2004

Assets from FLORIDA SPDG Livebinders:

Teacher can access Florida Live Binder assets. Share this link and password:

https://www.livebinders.com/play/play_shared_binder/722321?play_view=play. CE QER

Cue Do Review

The overall instructional process that guides use of the CE device with the Routine’s Linking Steps.  This instructional process involves:

Cue:  teacher announces the CE routine and explains its use, how it will help students and expectations for student participation

Do: teacher and class collaboratively construct the device using the Linking Steps that “connect” the content to the needs and goals of students

Review: Information presented in the device is reviewed and confirmed, use of the device is reviewed and confirmed, use of the device as a learning and study tool is modeled

The Cue Do Review Frame

Cue Do Review Checklist

Cue Do Review Video: https://vimeo.com/87006625/282c9bb95c

The Routine

Teacher presentation

Device Templates

2-sided portrait

2 page landscape

portrat

landscape

Device Checklist

fillable pdf

word

Examples

AP Bio Prompt Colorado River

Cooking Recipe

Expansion of the US

Moby Dick

Math Word Problem

People and Ecosystems

Simplifying Expressions (Math)

Unit Conversions (Chemistry)

 

QER to Scaffold Writing

  • Ozone QEG
  • Ozone Essay
  • Essay Template from QEG
  • Essay Template Example

QER with Multiple Choice

Please note that these materials are not part of the original research from KU-CRL, rather some strategies that have been employed by a number of teachers to use QER to support standardized assessment skills. 

 

Modifications for Multiple Choice Questions:
Box 1 - Include the question stem plus all answer choices
Box 4  - have students write how they would answer the question if it was short answer rather than multiple choice
Box 5 - type in all answer choices, have students compare their "Box 4" answer to the choices and also employ skills such as marking off incorrect answers to support choosing the best answer.  Emphasize with students that in order to "pick the best answer" ALL answer choices must be analyzed.
  • Sample QEG
  • QEG Foldable
Implementation Checklist

Fillable form

Choosing good questions

Choosing a Good Critical Question

Tips for how to write or identify a good critical question:

Question starts with how or why (avoid Who, What, Where, When) Question is a Level 2 or Higher (see Costa's Levels of ?'s in the subtab), avoid Level 1 questions (which have answers you can point to in the book)   Answer to the question involves multiple pieces and mulitple steps in thinking 

 

Tips for where to find good critical questions:
  • See page 19 in the Guidebook
  • Older textbooks have LOTS of Level 1 questions (it can be really hard to answer and still be Level 1) so be cautious in using this resource for critical questions
  • See the "Good Critical Questions" Box on page 20 in the Guidebook 

Costa's Levels of Questions

Classifying 7's practice activity

QER Guidebook Highlights

Word Doc

Research

  • Bulgren, J., Minarik, D., & Washburn, J. (2024). Higher order thinking and reasoning through primary source document analysis. In S. Waring (Ed.), Teaching with primary sources for cultural understanding, civic mindedness, and democracy (pp. 47-63). Teachers College Press

  • Question Exploration Routine Research
  • Bulgren, J.A., Marquis, J.G., Lenz, B.K., Schumaker, J.B., & Deshler, D.D. (2009). Effectiveness of question exploration to enhance students' written expression of content knowledge and comprehension. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 25, 271-289. Using an experimental design, this study found positive results in regard to the effectiveness of the Question Exploration Routine and Question Exploration Guide for enhancing student performance in terms of comprehension of content and quality of written responses.
  • Bulgren, J.A., Marquis, J.G., Lenz, B.K., Deshler, D.D., & Schumaker, J.B. (2011). The effectiveness of a question-exploration routine for enhancing the content learning of secondary students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 103(3), 578-593. In this study, students--including subgroups of students--who were taught using the Question Exploration Routine and Question Exploration Guide earned higher test scores than those taught using a lecture-discussion method.
  • Schumaker, J.B., Fisher, J.B., Walsh, L.D, Lancaster, P.E. (2020) Effects of Multimedia versus Live Professional Development on Teachers' and Students' Performance Related to the Question Exploration Routine. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 00(0), 1-21. In each of two studies, teachers were assigned to Virtual Workshops using a compuyterized pfrofessional development program and an Actual Workshop group that participated in face-to-face professional development, including discussion, feedback, and collaboration.  Both groups' posttest scores with regard to implementation and planning of the  routine were significantly greater than their pretest scores.  The posttest knowledge scores of the whole groups of students and the subgroups of students with LD being taught by both groups of techers were significantly higher than their pretest scores.
  • Schumaker, J. B., & Fisher, J. B. (in press). 35 years on the road from research to practice: A review of studies on four Content Enhancement Routines for inclusive subject-area classes, Part I. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice. Advance online publication. 1 -16. https://doi.org/10.1111/ldrp.12258

The University of Kansas
KU Center for Research on Learning
1200 Sunnyside Ave, Haworth 3107
Lawrence, Kansas 66045
simpd@ku.edu
785-864-0626

Search form

The University of Kansas prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, national origin, age, ancestry, disability, status as a veteran, sexual orientation, marital status, parental status, gender identity, gender expression, and genetic information in the university's programs and activities. Retaliation is also prohibited by university policy. The following persons have been designated to handle inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination policies and are the Title IX coordinators for their respective campuses: Associate Vice Chancellor for the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX, civilrights@ku.edu, Room 1082, Dole Human Development Center, 1000 Sunnyside Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66045, 785-864-6414, 711 TTY (for the Lawrence, Edwards, Parsons, Yoder, and Topeka campuses); Director, Equal Opportunity Office, Mail Stop 7004, 4330 Shawnee Mission Parkway, Fairway, KS 66205, 913-588-8011, 711 TTY (for the Wichita, Salina, and Kansas City, Kansas medical center campuses). 

The University of Kansas is a public institution governed by the Kansas Board of Regents.

User account menu

  • Log in

Footer menu

  • Contact
Clear keys input element