Questioning is a CRITICAL skill for teachers because it is:
- The most Common form of interaction between the teachers and pupil,
- An element of virtually every type of model of lesson,
- A key method of providing appropriate challenge for all pupils,
- An important influence on the extent of progress made
- The most immediate and accessible ay for a teacher to assess learning
How is questioning useful?
- To interest, engage and challenge pupils.
- To check on prior knowledge.
- To stimulate recall and use of existing knowledge and experience in order to create new understanding and meaning.
- To focus thinking on key concepts and issues.
- To extend pupils’ thinking from the concrete and factual to the analytical and evaluative.
- To lead pupils through a planned sequence this progressively establishes key understandings.
- To promote reasoning, problem solving, evaluation and the formulation of hypotheses.
- To promote pupils’ thinking about the way they have learned.
- It is easy to fall into the trap of:
- asking too many closed questions;
- asking pupils questions to which they can respond with a simple yes or no answer;
- asking too many short-answer, recall-based questions;
- asking bogus ‘guess what I’m thinking’ questions;
- starting all questions with the same stem;
Pitfalls of questioning
- pursuing red herrings;
- dealing ineffectively with incorrect answers or misconceptions;
- focusing on a small number of pupils and not involving the whole class;
- making the sequence of questions too rigid;
- not giving pupils time to reflect, or to pose their own questions;
- asking questions when another strategy might be more appropriate.
Bloom’s taxonomy of questioning
Knowledge - describe, identify, who/when/where.
Comprehension - translate, predict, why?
Application - demonstrate how, solve, try it in a new context.
Analysis - explain, infer, analyse.
Synthesis - design, create, compose.
Evaluation - assess, compare/contrast/judge.
Planning for Questioning
Ensure that examples of effective questions are included in the lesson plans.
Use Bloom’s taxonomy to ensure that you are asking questions which demand more than recall of knowledge and demonstration of understanding.
Share key questions at the start of the lesson – a different way of sharing objectives.
Ensure that these key questions are answered by the lesson. The plenary can be based upon these questions.
Forewarn pupils about some key questions: ‘Later in this lesson I am going to ask you a question about ….’
Stop during the lesson to check whether these key questions have been answered. ‘Have we answered this? Discuss with your partner. What else do we need to know?’
Ensure that there is a balance between asking and telling.
Asking Open Questions
Make sure that the question has more than one possible answer.
Do not have a single ‘right’ answer in your head that pupils have to get to!
Follow up answers with words and phrases like ‘Explain’, ‘Why?’, ‘What makes you think that?’ and ‘Tell me more’, to provide greater challenge, encourage speaking at greater length and get pupils thinking around the question in greater depth.
As part of the development of their enquiry skills, encourage pupils to ask their own questions.
Use techniques such as ‘What do you already know about…?’ ‘What do you want to know?’ ‘What questions will help you to find out?’ ‘How will you find out?’
Using Questioning to Develop Collaborative Work
Begin a lesson by giving pairs of pupils a question to answer from last lesson.
Ask pairs to discuss a question for a minute before they answer.
Set up ‘Who wants to be a millionaire?’ structures for groups and individuals – ask a friend, ask a group, ask a class – to seek discussion and support for answers.
Make questions a normal part of the lesson. ‘Earlier this lesson I asked you two questions. Turn to your partner and see if you are ready to answer them yet.’
Get one group or pair to set questions for another group or pair to answer.
Treat Questions Seriously
Give pupils time to answer; count a few seconds in your head to allow slower pupils to form a response and put up their hands.
Allow pupils time to research answers to more complex questions, either individually or collaboratively.
Provide structures to enable pupils to find answers and to form their own questions. Sorting and matching exercises are useful for this.
Encourage pupils to seek answers to their own questions.
Treat all answers with respect and give pupils credit for trying. |
Classroom Management