QUESTIONING SKILLS

Here are some interesting statistics!

A high school teacher averages 395 questions/day.

An elementary school teacher asks about 348

questions/day.
 Questioning Skills
Classroom questioning is the cornerstone of any
effective teaching strategy.
Questioning is a critical skill that can be learned and
used in any discipline or grade level, or with any teacher
personality.
Questioning promotes
student involvement,
enhances learning,
and motivates students.
When students are actively engaged, they tend to
misbehave less and learn more.
 Why ask questions?
To evaluate student readiness
To assess completion of assignments
To develop critical thinking skills
To encourage insights
To encourage independent learning
To determine students prior knowledge
To evaluate students attainment of goals
 Importance ofQuestioning
How you phrase your questions will determine
the type of student response that you will
receive.
For example, asking your students to state the colors
that they see in the classroom will yield a much
different response than asking them to compare and
contrast the schedules of all students in the class.
The first question is a low-level question; the latter
question is an intermediate-level question.
If you want your students to engage in more than
low-level thinking, you need to ask questions that
require more than simple memorization and recall.
 Importance ofQuestioning
It is thus very important
that you take time
phrasing the questions
you will ask.
When developing a
plan with a lot of
discussion and/or
questions (as in
Microteach II), include
your key questions in your lesson plan.
 Question Levels
Effective teachers adjust the questions to fit the
needs of the students.
Different types of questions are effective at
different times, depending on the characteristics
of the learner and the topic being taught.
Ask questions that allow you to reach your
instructional goal most efficiently. For example,
if the goal is for students to be able to
differentiate between things, you need to give
them activities that require them to different
between those things.
 Question Levels
Effective teachers direct their instruction toward
a clear and specific goal.
Sadly, 70-90% of questions asked of students are
low-level questions.
 Low-Level Questions
Require the student to memorize and recall
information.
Level of Blooms Taxonomy: Knowledge

Example:
What is the capital
of Florida?
Intermediate-Level Questions
Require the student to process information.
Levels of Blooms Taxonomy:
Comprehension, Application, and Analysis

Example: State in your own

words the moral of the story.
Other Examples of Intermediate-Level
Questions
Requesting the student to state an idea or
definition in his/her own words.
Requiring the student to determine the
solution to a problem.
Other Examples of Intermediate-Level
Questions
Asking the student to observe and describe
an object or event.
Requiring the student
to compare and
contrast two or more
objects, statements,
illustrations, or demonstrations.
 High-Level Questions
Require a lot of cognitive processing from
the student.
Levels of Blooms Taxonomy:
Synthesis and Evaluation

Example: Imagine you were a

Pilgrim. Describe what your
typical day might be like.
 Levels of QuestionsReview
Low-level: Collecting and recalling information
Verbs: Define, List, State, Count, Identify,
Name
Intermediate-level: Processing information
Verbs: Paraphrase, Describe, Solve, Compare
High-level: Creatively using or evaluating
information in new situations
Verbs: Imagine, Predict, Hypothesize, Judge
Who is Dr. BenjaminBloom??
He was a teacher,
thinker, & inventor
He worked at a college
He created a list about
how we think about
thinking you may
want to read that again!

1913-1999
The levels of thinking
There are six levels of learning
Knowledge
according to Dr. Bloom
The levels build on one another.
Comprehension
The six levels all have to do with
thinking. Application
Level one is the lowest level of
thinking of thinking Analysis

Level six is the highest level of

thinking Synthesis

Evaluation
 1
What do we mean by
Questioning Techniques?

Methods used for

constructing and presenting
questions in order to promote
effective discussions and
learning or to elicit
 Whats the purpose of using Questioning
Techniques?
*To interest, engage and challenge pupils.
*To check on prior knowledge and connect it to a new topic.
*To stimulate recall and use of existing knowledge
and
experience in order to create new understanding and
meaning.
*To focus thinking on key concepts and issues.
To extend pupils thinking from the concrete and factual to
the
analytical and evaluative.
*To lead pupils through a planned sequence
which progressively establishes key
understandings.
*Topromote reasoning, problem solving,
evaluation and the formulation of hypotheses.
*To promote pupils thinking about the way they
have learned.
Why do you think we have
about?
chosen this topic to talk
.Interaction
The most common form of interaction between teacher and pupil.

.Challenge
Provide motivation by encouraging students to actively participate
in learning.
.Influence
Influence can cause integration of the four skills.

.Progress
Asking questions help teachers to promote the
level of the pupils.
.Assessment
The teacher can assess the effectiveness of her own teaching.
 Questions
tions ) :

There are two definitions that are used to describe closed questions. A common
definition is:

A closed question can be answered with either a single word or a short

phrase.

A closed question can be answered with either Yes or No.

They should be used with care too many closed questions can
cause frustration and shut down conversation.

Closed Questions have the following characteristics:

- They give you facts.
- They are easy and quick to
a-nTshweyerk.eep control of the conversation with the
questioner.
 Questions:

These are useful in getting another person to speak.

( Theyre likely to receive a long answer. ) They often
begin with the words: What , Why, When , Who
Sometimes they are statements : tell me about ,
give me an example of
They can provide you with a good deal of
information.

Open questions have the following characteristics:

- They ask the student to think and reflect.

- They will give you opinions and feelings.

- They hand control of the conversation to the respondent.

 Questions:

A tag question is a special construction in English.

It is a statement followed by a mini-question whether
it is positive or negative. The whole sentence is a
"tag question", and the mini-question at the end is
called a "question tag".

We use tag questions at the end of statements to

ask for confirmation. They mean something like: "Am
I right?" or "Do you agree?" They are very common
in English.
 Questions:

Inference questions ask you to find the

inferences and assumptions made in the
passage. The main goal of the entire test is
to assess your ability to go beyond what is
on the page. Its not unusual to face two or
more inference questions in each passage.

Ex. They went out at 6.

They came back at 10.

How long did they stay out?

 Techniques of asking a question:

1. The Default: 2. The Volunteer:

Ask a question Ask a question

Pause Pause

Call on a student Wait for a raised hand

Use for
Master this
conceptually
technique and use
challenging
it as your standard
questions.
 3. Jump Ball: 4. The Choir:

Ask a question Ask a question

Pause Pause

Any body Every body

Use for conceptually Use for simple but

challenging questions important points that
and when you need a everyone should know
fast answer
When a student asks a question:
*Clarify it , if necessary.
* Whenever possible, help the student answer
the question himself.
* Ask other students to answer the question.
* Defer until later, if possible.
* Answer it yourself, only as a last resort
* But, never let a students question go
unanswered.
 5
What are the characteristics of a good question?

Short
Properly Directed
Thought Provoking

Common A good unambiguous

Vocabulary question
should Relevant
be
Comprehensive
Related to the objectives
Straight forward
Clearly stated
 effective questioning should :

1.Reinforce and promote the learning objectives.

2.Include staging questions to draw pupils towards key
understanding or to increase the level of challenge in a lesson as it
proceeds.
3. Involve all pupils.
4. Engage pupils in thinking for themselves.
5. Promote justification and reasoning.
6. Create an atmosphere of trust where pupils opinions and ideas
are valued.

7. Show connections between previous and new learning.

8. Encourage pupils to speculate and hypothesize.

9. Encourage pupils to ask as well as to receive questions.

10. Encourage pupils to listen and respond to each other as well as
to the teacher.
 General Strategies For Asking Questions:

1.When planning questions, keep in mind your lesson goals.

2. Avoid asking leading questions.
3. Follow a yes or no question with an additional question.
4.When you plan each class lesson, include notes of when you will
pause to ask and answer questions.
5.Ask a mix of different types of questions and use keywords of
questioning like: Who, Why, What, Where, When. .
6. Wait for students to think and formulate responses.
7. Encourage students to ask questions at any time.
8. Scatter questions over the entire class.
9.Pose questions within the ability of the student to whom the question
is addressed.
10. Ask students to give complete answers.
11. Do not permit frequent group responses.
12. Avoid asking questions that can be answered by guessing.