Asking Questions in the Classroom

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Asking Questions in the Classroom
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• M.O. Thirunarayanan, Ph.D.
• August 21, 2008

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Let Us Start With a Question

• Someone asked Benjamin Franklin the following
  question soon after he discovered electricity
• Of what use is this thing called electricity?

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Why Ask Questions?

• Questions make students think.
• Enable students to focus on a topic.
• Allows teacher to check if students know the
  content.
• Questions can be used to initiate and facilitate
  discussions.
• Questions improve student learning.

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What Kinds of Questions?

• Questions that result in closed or yes or no
  responses.
• Open-ended questions that result in more
  thoughtful responses.
• Low level and High level questions

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Other Ways of Classifying Questions

• Convergent and divergent questions
• Questions that are based on Blooms taxonomy the
  cognitive domain.
• Questions that are based on Blooms taxonomy
  the affective domain.

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Blooms Taxonomy

• Knowledge
• Comprehension
• Application
• Analysis
• Synthesis
• Evaluation

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Blooms Taxonomy

• Knowledge
• observation and recall of information
• knowledge of dates, events, places
• knowledge of major ideas
• mastery of subject matter
• Question Cueslist, define, tell, describe,
  identify, show, label, collect, examine,
  tabulate, quote, name, who, when, where, etc.
• (Source http//www.coun.uvic.ca/learning/exams/bl
  ooms-taxonomy.html)

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Blooms Taxonomy

• Comprehension
• understanding information
• grasp meaning
• translate knowledge into new context
• interpret facts, compare, contrast
• order, group, infer causes
• predict consequences
• Question Cues summarize, describe, interpret,
  contrast, predict, associate, distinguish,
  estimate, differentiate, discuss, extend
• (Source http//www.coun.uvic.ca/learning/exams/bl
  ooms-taxonomy.html)

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Blooms Taxonomy

• Application
• use information
• use methods, concepts, theories in new situations
  
• solve problems using required skills or knowledge
  
• Questions Cues apply, demonstrate, calculate,
  complete, illustrate, show, solve, examine,
  modify, relate, change, classify, experiment,
  discover
• (Source http//www.coun.uvic.ca/learning/exams/bl
  ooms-taxonomy.html)

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Blooms Taxonomy

• Analysis
• seeing patterns
• organization of parts
• recognition of hidden meanings
• identification of components
• Question Cuesanalyze, separate, order, explain,
  connect, classify, arrange, divide, compare,
  select, explain, infer
• (Source http//www.coun.uvic.ca/learning/exams/bl
  ooms-taxonomy.html)

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Blooms Taxonomy

• Synthesis
• use old ideas to create new ones
• generalize from given facts
• relate knowledge from several areas
• predict, draw conclusions
• Question Cuescombine, integrate, modify,
  rearrange, substitute, plan, create, design,
  invent, what if?, compose, formulate, prepare,
  generalize, rewrite
• (Source http//www.coun.uvic.ca/learning/exams/bl
  ooms-taxonomy.html)

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Blooms Taxonomy

• Evaluation
• compare and discriminate between ideas
• assess value of theories, presentations
• make choices based on reasoned argument
• verify value of evidence
• recognize subjectivity
• Question Cuesassess, decide, rank, grade, test,
  measure, recommend, convince, select, judge,
  explain, discriminate, support, conclude,
  compare, summarize
• (Source http//www.coun.uvic.ca/learning/exams/bl
  ooms-taxonomy.html)

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Wait-Time

• Do not bombard students with questions.
• Wait time 1 Wait 3 to 5 seconds after asking a
  question
• Wait-time 2 Wait 3 to 5 more seconds after the
  student responds to the question.

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Some Practical Tips for Asking Questions

• Put students at ease by asking easy questions at
  the beginning of the semester.
• Build students self-confidence by asking
  questions that they can answer.
• Slowly build up the level of difficulty of
  questions.
• This way, students will not feel threatened or
  overwhelmed by questions.

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Practical Tips (Continued)

• Both men and women should get challenging
  questions.
• Students of diverse backgrounds should be asked
  equally challenging questions.
• Avoid selecting the same students when it come to
  asking questions.

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Practical Tips (Continued)

• Ask the question first, and then select a
  student.
• Give students an option to pass if they are
  unable to or do not wish to answer the question.
• Start a discussion
• Do not ask any questions?

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What Questions Do You Have?