Convergent Questions (from 2.4.15 Writing Critical Thinking Questions)
Convergent questions build Level 2 knowledge (understanding of concepts) and help students elevate their knowledge to Level 3 (applying knowledge to solve problems). Convergent questions require students to organize, interpret, analyze, and synthesize. They many have more than one correct answer, and the level of difficulty progresses within a sequence of questions. A good convergent question makes important connections, links concepts together, leads to better understanding, and requires that students reach conclusions.
Convergent questions emphasize organization and interpretation and ask students to understand key characteristics of new concepts or steps within a process. Such questions often require analysis, asking students to deconstruct a model to identify its components, describe their relationship, and consider alternatives.
Convergent questions can also require synthesis, asking students to combine features in the model, identify the main idea, conclude which idea is better and why, and which idea is supported by the model.
Criteria for writing convergent questions include that they are:
- Challenging: answers are not directly available in the resources (e.g., in the model, readings, lectures, and real-life experiences)
- Rich: allow for more than one correct answer or approach
- Integrative: make links between key information in the resources