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A Question-enabled Morning
by Rajiv Dholakia
Here are some sample questions that you might ask as you go through your day.
Keep a question notebook to keep track of all those questions :
- When you got up this morning you noticed that birds are chirping outside.
Hmmm...were they chirping in the night too or did they start chirping only when
it was daylight ?
- As you shiver out of bed, you wonder : Hmmmm...why is your head warmer than
your feet ? And why is it that you always feel the cold more than your
sister ? Why do flannel sheets feel warmer than regular sheets ?
- While brushing your teeth, you turn on the hot water tap and find that you
need to let the tap run (and waste water) before the water pouring out is warm.
You wonder why and if there's some way to get instant hot water out of that tap...
- And what is it with this silly toothpaste cap anyway, there's got to be a
better way...
- As your dog bounces up to lick you, you realize you forgot to feed him last
night ! If only you had a machine that would feed your dog on time...
- Your sister starts teasing you about something you wrote in your diary - how
dare she read it ! Maybe its time for you to invent a secret language or a
code to ensure that she never reads another page of your diary again.
- When your mom stops at the gas station, you see all these different
kinds of gasoline with different prices. Is one really better than the
other ?
- Darn those bug bites! Why are there so many mosquitoes on the soccer
field after it rains - does it rain mosquitoes ?
- You're at school and you realize that you forgot your trombone at home and
you are in trouble with your music teacher again. Wish there was some way
to positively remember things - how many small things can you remember anyway ?
Why can't you remember everything that you see and hear and that you decide
to remember ?
- Uuugh...those apple slices (because of those braces) you cut this
morning for snack have turned brown. Wonder if there's a way to
preserve those slices ?
- Back at home, you see some fruit in the fridge, some set outside to
ripen and you wonder - how fast can you ripen a banana ?
- That's a great ad for sports shoes you just saw on TV but do they really
make you jump higher and run faster ?
- Mom's always telling you not to eat so much candy - is it really true
that kids who eat more sugar have more dental problems ?
- That poem you read in class felt so familiar, just like other poem you
heard in 5th grade. What makes some poems so similar ? Is there
a formula for writing poems ?
Not all of these questions are science fair projects, but they are a place to
get started to narrow your interests down.
Once you have a good question or problem in hand, there are plenty of books
and resources at the school and local library or on
the internet to tell you how you might proceed on your quest in a systematic way
so that when you're done you can convince others of your results.
11/11/02
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Asking Questions.htm