Colavito McKie Educ.

423: Teaching Science to Children Michiko McClary, Instructor April 9, 2014 Effective Questioning During my time in Mrs. Wallaces third grade classroom, I noticed quite few lessons where she posed effective questions to students pertaining to the material in which she taught. In a brief one-on-one interview with Mrs. Wallace, she stated that the types of questions she uses in the classroom are effective for various reasons. Questions given to students in her classroom fall in one of the following categories: open-ended, multiple choice, true or false, inquiry, investigative, and scenario based. After our interview, I reviewed some of the types of questions she posed for students to answer and evaluated the questions based on Blooms Taxonomy during a few of her science lessons. Some of the questions I observed Mrs. Wallace asking her students included: If matter has three states of matter, what are they? How do you know these three states of matter? (Open-ended questions) Why would water be a liquid form of matter, but not flour or sugar? (Open response question) If we mixed sugar with water and Kool Aid, what form of matter would be represented? Will the sugar remain the same of will the sugar turn into a mixture? Why? (Open response question)

Would rain be considered a state of matter? Why or why not? (Open-ended response question)

If rain and sand or dirt mixed bonded together, what would the solution be called? Would this particular solution be a state of matter? If so, which category would it fall into? (Open response question)

In obtaining answers from students throughout various lessons, I noticed that Mrs. Wallace provided students with ample time to answer questions. A good percentage of her students were attentive and able to answer the questions. Other students may have been distracted and because so, may not have understood the questions or expected method of response required answering the questions. If I had to measure an appropriate amount of wait time for Mrs. Wallace, then I would probably acknowledge about a one to two minute wait given to a single students in attempting to answer a question, before other students were able interfere or assist with the most appropriate response. In a given class discussion and/or lesson, Mrs. Wallace does demonstrate evidence of being able to provide students with numerous opportunities to receive feedback in the answers they respond with. Accepting and extending responses are used at every level to challenge students to continue thinking about solutions to scientific problems and/or situations. Probing questions occur in the class when students work in groups or individually during lab activities in the classroom, outside, or in the schools science lab.