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I view the motivating question as a sort of intellectual nail driven into the wall of the world and to which the student is tied by some sort of intellectual “rope.” Once the motivating question has been really accepted (that is, thoroughly understood and accepted), the student is “tied” to that nail by her/his own rope of intent to finish. When students encounter an obstacle, they can pull themselves past it, always choosing a solution that moves them closer to the objective. This is a far different dynamic than the student trying to respond to my suggestions of what to do next. Once this approach was in place, I no longer felt I was trying to push ropes.¹

I strongly recommend figuring out the “motivating question” for each experiment as a way of focusing attention on what must really be done. There are other advantages that accrue from working to answer a question as opposed to working to take data or study something. I hope they will become clear in this chapter.