4th graders put their big life questions into a box. They’re profound, funny and very weird.

I’m guessing you’ve heard of a “question box.” If you haven’t, it’s simply a tool sometimes used by teachers to illicit discussion around different subjects. This teaching strategy falls under the category of active learning or student engagement. The idea behind the premise is to find instructional activities that energize students to think, investigate, discuss, and create, solving problems as they struggle through complex questions and make decisions that enhance their overall student learning.

One teacher posting under the name @goatsnsheeps on Reddit, put this strategy into action with their fourth grade class. They created a box for the students to place any type of question they wanted answered into, and some of the students' responses are amazing.

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Here are some of my favorites:

“Why do my feet swet?”

“Who was the first person on erth?”

“How does our body work? How does it bend easily?”

"When did people discover beautiful art?"

“Why is ADHD a thing?”

“Who invented homework?”

These questions are rather insightful and the simplicity and honesty behind each one is quite remarkable. Some of them lean more towards personal while others just feel very curious.

When asked in the chat if the teacher answers these questions, they responded, “I do! I answer every single one as best I can.” In fact they answer them every day at the end of class with a slideshow, "I usually only take 5-10 minutes to research each question, then type up an answer that they can understand. But I do get on average 6 questions a day in the box, so I have my work cut out for me."

Comments by readers were mixed. Some focused specifically on what they deemed to be an unsatisfactory writing level.

"I'm concerned about 4th graders who can't spell single syllable 4-5 letter words."

"4th grade or 4 years old?"

"When I was in fourth grade we were writing cursive and taking typing classes."

"Why are these 4th graders so bad at spelling?

A child could understand thatmedia1.giphy.com

Others seemed inspired by the questions from the students.

"These are awesome! Some really good questions."

"Yes, hello, I'm not one of your students, but when will you be posting the answers?"

"My heart slightly broke over the ADHD question- I hope it's not because the kiddo or a family member is struggling hard with it."

"'When did people discover beautiful art?' Is such an endearing and innocent question that most likely has an equally beautiful answer."

She gets it. Image from Canva - Photo by Sergey Nivens.

An overall concern for what and how students are being taught in schools is not an unfamiliar issue for parents and communities. With standardized testing and the advent of search engines and computers to fill in the gaps for kids, are they getting a worthy and challenging education?

Standardized Testing, #2 pencil and eraserImage from Canva - Photo by Achira22's Images

The teacher explained in another Reddit comment that the handwriting issues for some of the students are linked to some factors related to even larger problems—one of their major difficulties being the disparity in intelligence. They say it's not meant to be derogatory, but rather that, in general education, it's considered better to keep all the kids together. When they get to high school there are honors and gifted programs to cater to each child more specifically.

Whatever your thoughts may be about how the kids are being taught, it seems that this teacher is attempting to round out the students' education by filling in the gaps in an interactive and fun way. Question box? Good box.