Blog Post # 6

Asking Questions to Improve Learning



General Strategies for asking questions

• follow a yes or no type question with additional follow up questions.
•  aim for direct, clear and specific questions 
•  avoid leading questions which are questions that lead students to their answers.
•  when planning questions keep course goals in mind.
• only ask one question at a time
• when planning for class include notes on when you will pause to ask and answer questions.
• ask a mix of different types of questions. (closed or open)

3 Types of Questions

• Closed questions- can be answered finitely by either “yes” or “no.”

• Open questions- questions that will solicit additional information from the inquirer, they are broad and require more than one or two word responses

• leading questions- leading question is phrased in such a way that it suggests its own answer and therefore discourages students from thinking on their own

Responding effectively

• wait for students to think and formulate responses
• do not interrupt students' answers
• show interest in students' answers
• develop responses that keep students thinking
• if a student gives a wrong or weak answer, point out what is incorrect or weak.

Reasons to ask "open questions"

•   to assess learning
•   to ask a student to clarify a vague comment
•   to prompt students to explore attitudes, values, or feelings
•   to prompt students to see a concept from another perspective
•   to ask a student to refine a statement or idea
•   to prompt students to support their assertions and interpretations
•   to direct students to respond to one another
•   to prompt students to investigate a thought process
•   to ask students to predict possible outcomes.
•   to prompt students to connect and organize information.
•   to ask students to apply a principle or formula.
•   to ask students to illustrate a concept with an example.

Use Blooms Taxonomy- Bloom identified six types of cognitive processes and ordered these according to the level of complexity involved. you should combine questions that require lower-order thinking to assess students’ knowledge and comprehension with questions that require higher-order thinking to assess students’ abilities to apply, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate.

 Always refine your questions!!

Three Ways to Ask Better Questions

Good questions:

• make students think
• encourage participation
• improve caliber of the answers that students give and the questions that they ask

 

 
 3 actions to achieve favorable outcomes:

• prepare questions-  When you write out a question, you can make it clearer,  not just the wording, but clearer conceptually.

• play with questions- Playing with the question means leaving it unanswered for a while and using some strategies that encourage students to think about it.

• preserve questions-  Good questions can be kept. They can be  revised or refocused so that they accomplish the good question goals even more effectively

 

 

 

Questions are a great tool for teachers to keep their students involved in the classroom. Questions are an easy way to gauge what student comprehended from the lessons. We cannot assume that all students know the answers but we can give all students the tools to use to find the answers to all questions. This is why the question is more important than the answer. With the right question, we can win the interest of students. If we use the right questions as a tool to teach our students, the answers are unlimited, and they conduct their own activities to find the appropriate information to answer the questions asked.

When preparing for class teachers compose specific questions that they will ask their students. These questions will increase student participation and encourage active learning.

When teachers ask questions in the classroom, they are modeling a process that students can and should use themselves; encourage your students to use the questioning strategies to assess what they have learned, and to help develop their thinking skills.

 The right questions will let us know if the students do or do not understand what is being taught.