The Interview Coloring Page

About this page

Curious Bunny has traded chasing questions for asking them politely, sitting across the table from a frog with notebook ready. Page 57 shows that not all data comes from measuring and counting. Sometimes researchers simply ask, then listen carefully and write down what they hear. Interviewing teaches patience, turn-taking, and respect for someone else's story, which are skills every 4 to 8 year old is still building. If you want to practice the same art of asking, try a few of these questions to ask while coloring and let your child play interviewer right back at you.

The research skill

Asking good questions and writing down the answers accurately is the skill of interviewing. Curious Bunny has the notebook ready while the frog sings its reply. Researchers learn that open questions, like "What do you like about the pond?", bring richer answers than yes-or-no ones. They also try to record what was actually said, not what they expected to hear. Interviews are one of the tools a researcher can choose when planning a study in Chapter 4, and your child will use the same skills later for book reports and class surveys.

Try it at home

Set up a pretend interview at the kitchen table with a stuffed animal or a willing family member. Help your child think of three questions, and nudge at least one toward "why" or "how" instead of yes or no. Your child asks while you take notes, or draws a quick picture for each answer if writing is still new. Afterward, read the notes back to the person interviewed and ask, "Did we get that right?" Checking with the source is exactly what careful interviewers do.

Talk about it while you color

• What question would you ask the frog if you had the notebook?
• Why do you think Curious Bunny is writing things down instead of just remembering?
• Who in your family would be fun to interview, and what would you ask first?