This document discusses the importance of questioning as a means of cross-border communication and collaboration. It presents three techniques for working with questions - creative questioning, map of questions, and positional questioning - which can help groups clarify interests, discuss differences, and self-organize. The document argues that the ability to raise and discuss meaningful questions should become a core modern skill, but it is currently lacking in education. It proposes integrating questioning techniques into project-based learning to help develop this skill.

1. Ability to raise questions as a
modern skill
Vira Danylova, Vadim Karastelev
ISSS2017
The uncreative mind can spot wrong answers, but it
takes a creative mind to spot wrong questions.
Antony Jay

2. Problem of collaboration with the
Other
One of the issues, relevant for modern society, is the
need to cooperate with people who speak another
language (either literally or metaphorically), have
different life experiences and worldviews.
This problem is aggravated by the fact that the most
fundamental beliefs are not usually discussed - they are
too obvious for those who believe in them and too
incomprehensible for those who believe in different
things. Their dissimilar “languages” and hidden contexts
frequently lead to misunderstanding and conflicts.

3. Questions is an important mean of
cross-border communication
Communication can help. In such situations it is
necessary to discuss not only ways and processes of
working, but also interests, goals and frameworks of
different participants.
We assume that an important place in such
communication is occupied by questions that participants
ask each other. This assumption is based on the
communicative practice of the Moscow Methodological
circle (Maracha, 2014; Rozin, 2017) and experience of
Organizational-Activity games (Shchedrovitskii &
Kotel’nikov, 1988; Rotkirch, 1996), in which the exchange
of questions was very important. It helps participants to
understand the issue as a whole, to find a solution and to
coordinate their actions further.

4. “Vertical” and “horizontal” questioning
It is possible to distinguish between two strategies
for raising and using questions.
The first of them can be called a “vertical”
questioning. The peculiarity of it is that functions of
asking questions and answers to them are divided
between different participants of the
communication.
The opposite strategy can be called “horizontal”. In
this case, each participant has the right to ask
questions and he/she chooses to whom the
question is addressed.

5. Direction of our work
We focus on conditions, forms of organization, and the
technique of “horizontal” questioning. We assume, that
“horizontal” questioning allows people to manifest their
interests and expectations in the most conflict-free
manner. The discussion and substantiation of questions
makes it possible to clarify general framework and tasks.
Such questioning practices are an important condition for
self-organization of teams and communities. Hence, they
can be relevant for the current issues of civil initiatives
and public self-organization.
In recent years we have developed three techniques of
working with questions: Creative questioning, Map of
questions, and Positional questioning.

6. Creative questioning
Creative questioning is a kind of communicative
games. Basic requirement of this game is simply to
discuss a chosen topic for a certain time (usually 20-
25 minutes), using only interrogative form of the
sentence. During the discussion participants move
around the room depending on how they relate to
the questions being raised.
This game helps to restore the semantic space of
abstract issues and to discover a personal meaning
within them. The procedure is the most effective
for discussing fundamental ideas and common
frameworks.

7. Map of questions
Drawing up a map of questions gives an opportunity to
present interests of various participants and discuss
relations between them. The procedure includes three
main steps: a) formulating by each of participants several
questions on the common issue being discussed, b)
placing these questions in a common space, grouping
them, c) discussing grounds for such grouping and
relations between the groups established.
This work allows participants to get acquainted with each
other's interests and see how these interests position
itself in the general field of work. It is especially useful
when the problem is complicated by contrasting views of
stakeholders.

8. Positional questioning
The positional exchange of questions suggests that before
the beginning of process several positions (functions in a
common activity) are identified. The procedure is that
each of participants determines which questions he
should answer to from the position that he occupies, and
asks questions to those who are important for his
activities. That exchange of questions is an effective tool
for both self-organization (to formulate questions that no
one except you can answer) and the organization of
interaction (expressing what you expect from others in
the form of questions). This technique is especially useful
in public self-organization (for example, of a group of
volunteers) to solve a particular practical problem.

9. Questions as a mean of group self-
organization
Even a relatively short (2-3 hours) discussion using these
techniques allows the participants:
• to raise the common problem more precisely,
• discuss common values,
• clarify individual interests and preferences,
• discuss the differences in understanding and attitudes
without getting into conflict.
Active work with questions makes people more proactive and
independent.
Due to such sessions, the working relationships are rapidly
developing in the communities. Participants begin to
understand each other better. Those who put the most
meaningful questions get authority in the group.

10. Questions and modern education:
problems
Questions can help people to develop new forms of collaboration and
to manage with new situations. However, all this will be possible only
if the ability to ask relevant and meaningful questions will become a
mass phenomenon in society.
Currently almost no one teaches this, and even those who understand
the importance of questions have little opportunity to learn how to
put them.
School teachers are most afraid of questions. As a result, during the
time of schooling, students do not learn to work with questions and
also get used to avoiding them.
Some university students have opportunity to learn to raise questions
in the framework of scientific research. But this is not enough for
modern life. In our time, people should be able to use questions within
the framework of collective intelligence and collaboration in new
situations.

11. Questions and modern education:
proposals
We believe that the ability to work with questions should
become a form of modern literacy. It should be trained,
starting with school. As practical steps it is possible to
propose:
• to develop methods for testing the ability of a
person to raise questions and use them in the
organization of individual and team work;
• to develop small courses and trainings that teach
how to work with questions;
• to integrate "horizontal" questioning with modern
methods of learning, in particular, with project-based,
problem-based and team-based learning.

12. References
Dillon, J. T. (1990) The Practice of Questioning. London and New York, NY: Routledge.
Habermas, J. (1992) Between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of
Law and Democracy, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Maracha, V. (2014) System-Thinking-Activity Approach: Thinking Response to Global
Challenges. In EMCSR | 2014. Book of Abstracts. Available from:
http://emcsr.net/book-of-abstracts/
Rothstein, D. and Santana, L. (2011) Make Just One Change: Teach Students to Ask
Their Own Questions. Harvard Education Press.
Rotkirch, A. (1996) The playing -80's - Russian Activity Games . In Danny Saunders,
Fred Percival and Matti Vartiainen (eds): The Simulation and Gaming Yearbook Volume
4: Games and Simulations to Enhance Quality Learning. London: KoganPage. Pp. 34-
40. Available from: http://www.fondgp.ru/lib/int/10.
Rozin, V.M. (2017) The Moscow Methodological Circle: Its Main Ideas and Evolution. In
Social Epistemology: A Journal of Knowledge, Culture and Policy. Vol. 31, 2017. Pp. 78-
92. Available from:
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02691728.2016.1227395
Shchedrovitskii, G. P. and Kotel’nikov, S. I. An Organization Game as a New Form of
Organizing and a Method for Developing Collective Thinking Activity. In Soviet
Psychology, Vol. 26. 1988. Pp. 57-88. Available from: http://www.fondgp.ru/lib/int/0

13. About authors
Vira Danylova, PhD in
psychology, vice-principal,
Lyceum MIR. Kharkov, Ukraine.
Danilova.2007@gmail.com
Vadim Karastelev, PhD in
political science, a project
manager and trainer of NGO
Moscow Helsinki Group.
Moscow, Russia.
vprutin@gmail.com

14. Thank you!