'Why' is probably the most powerful question we can ask, and once someone provides an answer, asking 'why' again is the best way to encourage the development of a line of argument… [An example lesson using this strategy] begins by asking students to examine the labels in their clothes…, to see if they can discover where their clothes were made… Gathering together students' responses invariably produces a list of countries, the majority of which are in the 'Third World'… Now the question, 'Why?' Why, when we are capable of making all the garments we are wearing here in the UK, are we buying our clothes and shoes from Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, China, Indonesia and so on? …The reponses are likely to include: 'they can make them cheaper'; 'cheap labour'; 'child labour'. Now ask 'why' again. Why can they make them cheaper? Why is labour cheap? Answers may include 'fewer rules and regulations about health and safety, the environment', 'high levels of unemployment so people are desperate for work'. Now ask 'why' again. Why are there fewer rules, why is there unemployment? The process should never end, and leads to deeper and deeper levels of understanding.
Using ‘why’ to explore issues
From: Fairbrass & Brown (2009) The Citizenship Teacher’s Handbook London Continuum pp37-38