Assignment:
Comprehension questions: Designed to check reader's understanding by eliciting information about the content or structure of a text.
For example: What is the main idea of the passage?
How does the author define X?
Where is the main idea of the author's argument located?
Discussion questions: Designed to foster critical thinking by asking the reader to analyze and/ or evaluate the text or to draw comparisons between texts.
For example: The author defines cultures as essentially open and subject to change. What evidence does he provide to support this claim? How convincing is his evidence? What additional evidence could he offer to strengthen his claims?
Throughout the semester, we have been discussing the notion of culture. How does the author's understanding of this term fit with the definition we have elaborated in class? Would the author agree or disagree with our understanding of culture?
How does this author's definition of culture compare to the definition of culture presented in X's article. Which author provides a more convincing argument?
Why?
When writing discussion questions, it is important to keep the following points in mind:
1. Good discussion questions help people to think more critically about what they have read and to draw connections among various readings/ideas. They are not intended to check comprehension or to elicit details about the content of readings. In a graduate course, you should assume that your classmates have read the material.
2. Good discussion questions are thoughtful, focused, and challenging. They should offer people a point of departure and provide them with opportunities to think about the material in new ways.
3. When posing questions, it is important to think about the answers. Questions like, "What did you think about this article?" elicit answers like, "I enjoyed reading it" or "I found it boring and difficult to understand." While such questions can be useful in starting a discussion, they only ask for the reader's opinion. They do not demand critical engagement with the material.
Readings:
1. Perpetual Foreigners: Can an American Be an American?
By Shelley Wong
2. My Journey Into Racial Awareness
By Carmen T. Chacon