- Academic Integrity and the Role of the TA
- Responding to Student Diversity
- The First Class
- Time Management in the Classroom
- Your Relationship with the Course Instructor
- Questioning Techniques
- Ice-breakers: Getting to Know Your Class
- What Comes Before Marking?
- Preparing Students for Exams
- Handling Common Student Complaints
- Humanities & Social Sciences Classes
- Ways to Help Your English Language Learner Students
- Effective Lab Teaching
- Marking
Questioning Techniques
You can view a PDF of the following information here.“The cutting edge of knowledge is not in the known but in the unknown, not in knowing but in questioning”.
Ralph Thompson, Classroom Communication, pg. 61, 2003
Why questioning
Define what you want to accomplish by posing the question. Hyman [1] and Rasmussen [2] illustrated some of the pedagogical goals of questioning:
Diagnose --- level of understanding
Involve --- student
Test --- knowledge
Review --- key points
Stimulate --- creativity
Modify --- perception of the subject
Types of questions
Andrews [3] classified questions into four categories that are summarized in the table below:
|
Criterion |
Relates to |
Type |
Examples [2] |
|
Question
level |
Cognitive
level required to answer |
Low
level memory
knowledge High
level analysis
synthesis evaluation |
Who are the main characters in
Hamlet? What about Laertes’ role… could
he be left out of the book and would it still be Hamlet? |
|
Convergence
or divergence |
Number
of acceptable answers |
Convergent One Divergent Multiple |
What’s Hemingway’s main point
in “A Farewell to Arms”? What are some of the messages
that you perceive in Hemingways’ “A Farewell to Arms”? |
|
Structure |
Whether
context is provided |
Unstructured
Open Structured Specifically
directed |
What did you think of the play? What are some things that made
you feel good or bad as you read through the play? |
|
Straightforwardness |
Amount
of information in the question |
Multiple
Several
questions in one Straightforward Single
question |
What are some of the reasons
that Tolstoy is condemning him? I mean… what seems to be condemning
him? What
is the main problem, according to Tolstoy? At the end of the story, we
have a
religious solution. A couple of you earlier said you didn’t think that
quite
fit with the rest of the story … do you still feel that way after
discussing
it? What’s the problem there? What are some of the reasons that Tolstoy is condemning him? |
Another classification of questions according to the type of information requested was proposed by Riegle [4] and is detailed below:
Type |
Information Requested |
Example |
|
A – Empirical Causal Teleological Functional Non-normative
judgment Descriptive |
Cause Aim Function Estimate,
prediction, ranking or grading Properties Examples Classifications Labels
or names Summaries Reviews Procedures
or processes Chronology Relationship Comparisons Contrasts |
What caused World War I? Why did Nixon visit China? Why does the liver secrete
bile? Who will win the election? What are the properties of
iron? What are some examples of
homonyms? Is iron and organic or
inorganic compound? Who is the president of France? What were the major points of
this book? What have we said so far? How is paper manufactured? What sequence of events lead
to…? How is spelling ability related
to reading ability? What do these words have in
common? Contrast materialism with
idealism? |
|
B – Analytical Linguistic Logical Mathematical |
Definition Law of
logic Law of
mathematics |
What does “ambiguous” mean? Does that conclusion follow? What is 6x7? |
|
C – Normative Judgment |
Evaluations,
justifications |
Should smoking be allowed? |
|
D – Preferences |
Likes
and dislikes |
Do you like ice cream? |
|
E – Metaphysical |
About
supernatural beings |
Does God exist? |
Before questioning: planning [2,5]
- Effective questions need advance preparation. These are some suggestions for planning questions.
- Decide the purpose of your question
- Select the content of your question
- Carefully choose the level of difficulty of the question ensuring that the learner has the necessary information and skills to answer it
- Phrase the question carefully using vocabulary familiar to the students
- Include high level, divergent, structured, and straightforward questions
- Anticipate possible student responses
- Write your main questions in advance
The way questions are formulated can significantly affect student’s engagement in discussion. These are some tips to formulate good questions:
Ask |
Avoid |
|
Questions
starting with: How, what, where, why, when, so
what, what if |
Questions
starting with: Tell me…..,
Describe for me….. |
|
Divergent
as well as convergent questions |
Ambiguous
or unclear questions |
|
Open-ended
questions Why is carbon
monoxide considered a pollution? |
Yes and
No questions Is carbon monoxide considered a
pollutant? |
|
Only one
question at a time What is the difference between
fission and fusion? |
Double-barreled
questions What is the difference between
fission and fusion, and how is electrical power generated from these
reactions? |
|
Student’s
input question What could Bob have done to
improve his focus? |
Guess
what I am thinking question What should Bob have done to
improve his focus? |
|
A mix of
questions involving all cognitive levels How does Milton’s description
of Satan in lines 617-634 compare with depictions of the Devil you
know from
the movies or television? |
Information
retrieval question What metaphor does Milton use
to describe Satan in lines 617-634? |
|
Questions
that motivate exploration What musical styles does hip-hop
draw from and how? |
Questions
with answers already known What is hip-hop music? |
|
Answerable
questions What does the evidence suggest
about the cause of dinosaur extinction? |
Unanswerable
questions Why did the dinosaurs become extinct? |
After questioning: responding [1, 2, 8]
Effective questions need advance preparation. These are some suggestions for planning questions:
- Wait time. Count slowly to ten or fifteen before breaking away from the silence following a question.
- If there is no answer, inquire whether the learners would like more time to think about the question or whether the silence reflects a need for clarification or restatement.
- Create an expectation for long wait times by saying something like: Take a minute to think about this question. Then I’ll take answers.
- Avoid staring at certain learners (e.g. those who more frequently answer your questions) while waiting for an answer. Keep your eyes moving by sweeping the room from side to side.
- Reinforce good responses. Praise the student in a strong, positive way for a correct or excellent response.
- Make comments pertinent to the specific student response.
- Build on the student’s response.
- Reinforce participation on a continuous basis and in a variety of direct and indirect ways. Praise the student for asking a question.
- Answer the student’s question directly as often as possible.
- Let the student know if a question leads to a new area.
- Let students correct each other.
- Avoid the Yes, but.... reaction.
- Encourage student debate.
- Do not use implicit discouragement e.g. We discussed that issue yesterday or That question is not really on target or Where we were before we got sidetracked?
References
The material of this teaching tip was adapted from:
[1] Ronald H. Hyman, “Questioning in the College Classroom”, in Classroom Communication pp. 73-88, Neff and Weimer (Eds.), 2003.
[2] Ray V. Rasmussen, “Practical Discussion Techniques for Instructors”, AACE Journal, 1984, 12(2), pp. 38-47
[3] Andrews, J.M. “The verbal structure of teacher questions: Its impact on discussion.” POD Quarterly, 1980, (3.4). pp. 129-163.
[4] Riegle, Rodney P., “Classifying Classroom Questions” in Philosophy of Education, Strike (Ed.), 1976.
[5] Stephanie Goodwin and colleagues, “Planning questions”, in Classroom Communication pp. 89-92, Neff and Weimer (eds.), 2003.
[6] www.youthlearn.org/learning/approach/inquiry.asp
[7] www.mhhe.com/socscience/english/tc/discussion.htm
[8] cirtl.wceruw.org/diversityinstitute/resources/resource-book/lecturing.htm
Compiled by Sabina Di Risio, TATP Trainer ©2006