Using Question Cubes to Boost Reading Engagement

There are so many reasons to want our students to read: to acquire new knowledge, to improve vocabulary, to reduce stress, to build empathy, etc. However, getting students to engage with assigned reading can be challenging. What can we do to help students really engage with the texts? Utilizing question cubes, which incorporate all the benefits of collaborative learning, is an effective strategy. 

Question cubes

When we rely on worksheets, students often focus more on writing down answers than truly engaging with content. For some students, worksheets can feel repetitive and tedious. Furthermore, the answers to many of our pre-made worksheets are already online and are easily accessible to students who want a good grade but might want to avoid the demanding work that it takes to wrestle with a complicated text.

Like worksheets, question cubes use pre-made question sets, but they lead to a much different kind of engagement. Reading seems like such a solitary activity that incorporating collaborative learning strategies, like using question cubes, might seem counterintuitive. However, research has shown repeatedly the value of interactions with others in student engagement.

Collaborative learning increases social skills, promotes creativity, develops higher-level thinking skills, and overall leads to a better learning experience, which in turn leads to deep learning. Educational theorists like Lev Vygotsky, with his social learning model, and Maria Montessori, with her focus on child-centered learning and collaborative play, understood the importance of social interaction in learning. Contemporary theorists like John Hattie and Robert Marzano continue to support these findings.

Writing prompts for question cubes: When making question cubes, I often use questions that include a combination of Bloom’s Taxonomy levels. For example, in an English course these questions could ask students to identify themes throughout the text, to analyze their development over the course of the text, and to draw inferences, while citing relevant evidence to support responses. In science or social studies courses, these questions might ask students to recall specific details, discuss the global impact, or identify implications for further research.

Constructing the cubes: I prefer to make my cubes out of card stock, but it is not necessary—printer paper will work fine. I also make sure to copy each question set on a different color of paper, color-coding each one. Once the cubes are copied, I cut, fold, and tape each one together. While students can construct their own cubes, I have found that even some high school students struggle with this task, which can be problematic if there are not any backup copies. I distribute one cube randomly to each student. Students then form groups where each group has one of each of the question sets—that way each group has access to all questions. 

Using the Cubes for Instruction

Students take turns rolling their cubes to reveal the questions that the group will answer. I usually tell my students that the oldest student will roll first. Sometimes I switch it up and assign the youngest or tallest or shortest student. After a student rolls, he or she will read the question and initiate the discussion. During these discussions all group members should come to a unanimous agreement before recording the answer. This promotes collaboration and ensures that each member feels comfortable with the final response.

Discussions should be long enough to allow for everyone’s input but concise enough to keep the activity moving efficiently. Additionally, the group will need to assign a scribe to record their final agreed-upon answer. I am old-school; I always have students respond to question cubes on paper. I find that when I have students use Google Docs, they simply divide the number of required responses between themselves and type their answers into one document without coming to a collective group answer for each question—which defeats the purpose of the activity. Additionally, I request that students use the Claim, Evidence, Reasoning (CER) model to answer each question. 

Depending on many factors, like available class time, text difficulty, and class dynamics, I decide how many questions that the groups should answer. It is rarely all the questions on the cubes, so not all groups will answer the same ones. Because of this, I like to debrief with a whole class discussion of all questions. Doing this creates a sort of randomized jigsaw activity where some groups have become experts on some of the questions and other groups rely on these newly minted experts to glean information and insight.  

I get positive reviews from students about this activity too. One student said, “It’s a fun way to do questions,” and another said, “It’s better than when you put questions up on the board.” I have also heard, “I like that you let us work with other people in class.”

The real question, though, is whether question cubes improve my students’ text comprehension. When I have asked my students about this, some have said, “It gave me a better understanding of what inferences I’m supposed to take away,” and “It helped me understand the reading because it broke it down further and it just made so much more sense.” Another student said the cubes “made me think back to the text and use context clues to better understand the story a little better.” All in all, the activity creates more student engagement, and it also helps my students walk away from a text with a better understanding of it.

Question cubes allow students to discuss the text in smaller groups, giving all students a chance to share their thoughts, develop collaboration and communication strategies, and practice their analysis skills. Moreover, question cubes encourage student responses that deepen understanding of the text, safeguard equity and student voice, and expand students’ capacity for academic risk-taking, thus fostering deeper engagement and learning.