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TEDx Talks - Encourage critical thinking with 3 questions | Brian Oshiro | TEDxXiguan

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Author: TEDx Talks
Categories: education
Tags: education
Views: 1 · Last viewed: 2026-10-13 08:12 UTC

Short Summary

Main recommendation: Teachers and others should move beyond simple "what" questions and use a sequence of higher-order questions (what, then why, then how) to build critical thinking and creativity in students. Speaker Brian Oshiro, a teacher evaluator, argues that most classroom questions he observed in China were lower-order, so students rarely practiced applying knowledge to uncertain, real-world problems.

Key Points

  • The three promised questions, in order: (1) "Explain what the three main causes of climate change are" as the foundation, then (2) "Why is climate change important for me, someone who lives here in Guangzhou?" to connect knowledge to personal life, then (3) "How do you know?", "How might your perspective be different from that of others?", and "How can you solve this problem?" to test and apply reasoning.
  • In his observations, about 90% of questions asked were lower-order, and three classes included no higher-order questions at all.
  • A "what" question alone can create a false sense of security, since students can answer it by searching the internet or reviewing notes.
  • Asking "why" and "how" questions carries risk for students, so schools should reward risk-taking and not only correct answers.
  • Critical thinking is a shared responsibility of teachers, schools, students, parents, and lifelong learners.

Details Worth Noting

  • Concrete instructions: Start with a "what" question to establish knowledge, then rephrase it so students must explain it (for example, change "What are three causes of climate change?" to "Explain what the three main causes of climate change are"). Next, ask "why" questions that link the material to students' own lives and local context. Finally, ask the three "how" questions: "How do you know?" (requires evidence and defense of the answer), "How might your perspective be different from that of others?" (builds empathy and common ground in debates), and "How can you solve this problem?" (synthesizes prior knowledge, ideally broken into manageable parts).
  • Practical adaptations the speaker suggests: parents can ask children to explain topics they are less familiar with, which consolidates the child's learning; teachers should check whether class activities advance critical thinking and drop those that do not; lifelong learners can use these questions to test their own assumptions.
  • The speaker notes that schools in China asked how to address the view that students were mostly rote learners who could not apply knowledge outside class.
  • The speaker says the "why" questions are harder because students feel exposed to judgment from classmates, so teachers must encourage them to take that risk.
  • The speaker cites Dr. Ken Robinson and other educators warning that schools risk becoming outdated for mid-21st-century challenges.

Bottom Line

Critical thinking grows when teachers and parents routinely push beyond recall, asking students to explain, connect, and defend their ideas, and when schools make it safe to answer incorrectly.