Questioning for Teaching and Learning

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Questioning for Teaching and Learning

• Chapter 7

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Purposes For Using Questioning

• To politely give instructions.
• Example might be, Alexandria, would you please
  turn out the lights so we can show slides?
• To review and remind students of classroom
  procedures.
• Example might be, Class, I think we need to
  review the procedure for listening when someone
  else is talking. What is the procedure that we
  agreed on?
• To gather information.
• Example might be, How many of you have finished
  youre the assignment.

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Purposes For Using Questioning (cont.)

• To discover student knowledge, interests, or
  experiences.
• To guide student thinking and learning.
• It is this category of questioning that is the
  focus of this chapter.
• They are used to clarify a student response,
  develop appreciation and student learning,
  diagnose, emphasize major points, probe more
  deeply into a students thinking, and show
  relationships, such as cause and effect.

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Questions to Avoid Asking

• Questions calling for simple responses such as
  yes or no have little or no diagnostic value.
• It is even more important to avoid using
  questions that embarrass a student, punish a
  student, or in any way deny the students
  dignity.
• Questions that embarrass tend to damage the
  students self-esteem.
• Questioning is an important instructional tool
  used only for academic reasons.

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Types Of Cognitive Questions A Glossary

• Clarifying Question
• A clarifying question is used to gain more
  information from a student to help the teacher
  better understand a students ideas, feelings,
  and thought processes.
• Examples of clarifying questions are What I hear
  you saying is that you would rather work alone
  than in your group. Is that correct?

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Types Of Cognitive Questions A Glossary (cont.)

• Convergent-Thinking Question
• Also called narrow questions are low-order
  thinking questions that have a single correct
  answer.
• What is the name of the first battle of the
  Civil War?

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Types Of Cognitive Questions A Glossary (cont.)

• Cueing Question
• If you ask a question to which no students
  respond or to which their inadequate responses
  indicate they need more information, then you can
  ask a question that cues the answer or response
  you are seeking.
• You are going backward in your sequence to cue
  the student.
• For example, How many legs do crayfish, lobster,
  and shrimp have? If there is no accurate
  response, then one might cue the answer with the
  following information and question, The class to
  which the animals belong is class Decapoda. Does
  that give you a clue about the number of legs
  they have?

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Types Of Cognitive Questions A Glossary (cont.)

• Divergent-Thinking Question
• (Also known as broad, reflective, or thought
  questions) are open-ended, high-order thinking
  questions.
• Examples are, What measure could be taken to
  reduce crime in our neighborhood?

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Types Of Cognitive Questions A Glossary (cont.)

• Evaluative Question
• Convergent or divergent, some questions require
  students to place a value on something or to take
  a stand on some issue.
• If the teacher and the students all agree on
  certain premises, then the questions would be a
  convergent question.
• If original assumptions differ, then the response
  is more subjective and therefore the question
  would be divergent.
• Example, Should women be allowed to choose
  whether or not to have abortions?

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Types Of Cognitive Questions A Glossary (cont.)

• Focus Question
• Refer to page 272 in textbook as an example.
• Probing Question
• Requires student thinking to go beyond
  superficial first-answer or single-word
  responses.
• Example, Why, Siobhan, do you think every
  citizen has the right to have a gun?

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Socratic Questioning

• 5th century B.C., Socrates, the great Athenian
  teacher, used the art of questioning so
  successfully.
• Socrates strategy was to ask his students a
  series of leading questions where they had to
  look carefully at their own ideas and think
  rigorously for themselves.
• He did not impose his own notions on the
  students. Rather, he encouraged them to develop
  their own conclusions and draw their own
  interferences.

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Socratic Questioning (cont.)

• His questions were open-ended, causing divergent
  rather than convergent thinking.
• However, we must remember that Socrates used this
  method in the context of a one-to-one
  relationship.
• This technique may work, but it is difficult
  because the essence of the Socratic technique is
  to build question on question in a logical
  fashion so that each question leads the student a
  step further.

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Levels Of Cognitive Questions And Student Thinking

• You should structure and sequence your questions
  (and assist student in developing their own skill
  in structuring and sequencing their questions) in
  a way that is designed to guide students to
  higher levels of thinking.
• Recognize the similarity between these 3 levels
  of questions and the 6 levels of thinking from
  Blooms taxonomy of cognitive objectives.
• Questioning is just as useful by more practical
  to think and behave in terms of these 3 levels,
  rather than the 6.

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Levels Of Cognitive Questions And Student
Thinking (cont.)

• Lowest level (the data input phase) Gathering
  and recalling information.
• Sample key words and desired behaviors are
  complete, define, or recall.
• Intermediate level (the data processing phase)
  Processing information.
• Designed to draw relationships of cause and
  effect, to synthesize, analyze, summarize,
  compare, contrast.
• Sample key words compare, contrast, distinguish,
  explain.

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Levels Of Cognitive Questions And Student
Thinking (cont.)

• Highest level (the data output phase) Applying
  and evaluating in new situations.
• Sample key words are apply a principle, evaluate,
  judge, predict, and speculate.

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Guidelines For Using Questioning

• Preparing Questions
• Cognitive questions should be planned,
  thoughtfully worded and written into your lesson
  plan.
• Incorporate questions as instructional devices,
  welcomed pauses, attention grabbers, and checks
  for student comprehension.

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Guidelines For Using Questioning (cont.)

• Match questions with their purposes.
• Carefully planning questions allows them to be
  sequenced and worded to match the levels of
  cognitive thinking expected of students.
• To help students in developing their thinking
  skills, you need to demonstrate how to do this.

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Figure 7.1, P. 277 Examples of questions that
use appropriate cognitive terminology.
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Guidelines For Using Questioning (cont.)

• Implementing Questioning
• Ask your well-worded question before calling on a
  student for a response.
• The preferred strategy is to phase the question,
  allow time for all students to think, and then to
  call on Sean and other students for their
  interpretations of the authors meaning of the
  title.

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Guidelines For Using Questioning (cont.)

• Implementing Questioning
• Avoid bombarding students with too much teacher
  talk.
• To much questioning confuses students while
  allowing too little time for them to think.
• After asking a question, provide students with
  adequate time to think.
• In addition, by the time students have reached
  middle school, they have learned pretty well how
  to play the game -- that is, they know that if
  they remain silent long enough the teacher will
  probably answer his or her own question.

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Guidelines For Using Questioning (cont.)

• Implementing Questioning
• After asking a question, you should wait at least
  two seconds, and as long as nine.
• If for some reason, students have not responded
  after a period of two to nine seconds of wait
  time, then you can ask the question again (but do
  not reword, or students will likely to think of
  it as a new question.)
• Pause for several seconds, then you can call on a
  student, then another.
• Avoid answering your own question.

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Guidelines For Using Questioning (cont.)

• Implementing Questioning
• Practice calling on all students.
• Give the same minimum amount of wait time (think
  time) to all students.
• Show confidence in all students, and never
  discriminate by expecting less or more from some
  than from others.
• There may be cultural differences.
• Variation in wait time allowed should not be used
  to single out some students and to lead to lower
  expectations, but rather to allow for higher
  expectations.

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Guidelines For Using Questioning (cont.)

• Implementing Questioning
• Require students to raise their hands and be
  called on.
• Establish that procedure and stick with it.
• This helps ensure that you can call on all
  students fairly distributing your interactions
  with the students.
• Male students tend to be more vocal than female
  students.
• Another important reason so students can control
  their impulsivity.

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Guidelines For Using Questioning (cont.)

• Implementing Questioning
• Use strong praise sparingly.
• Strong praise from a teacher tends to terminate
  divergent and creative thinking.
• Strong praise can also cause students to become
  dependent on external sources of praise.
• One of your goals is to help students find that
  inner drive of intent or desire that causes them
  to want to learn.
• OK, that seems to be one possibility, keeps the
  door open for further thinking.

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Guidelines For Using Questioning (cont.)

• Implementing Questioning
• Avoid bluffing an answer to a question for which
  you do not have an answer.
• Encourage students to ask questions about content
  and process.
• Students should be encouraged to ask questions.
• There is no such thing as a dumb question.
• If a students question is really off track, out
  of order, consider this as a possible response
  That is an interesting question and I would very
  much like to talk with you more about it.