Questioning Techniques

Sandy MacutSC High School Principal

Today’s Essential QuestionsHow do students

benefit when questioning is used as an instructional strategy?

How can teachers improve the use of questioning strategies?

If students don’t like answering questions why should we ask them?

How can I get my students to answer questions without violating the Geneva Convention?

Why do you ask questions?

47% managerial

43% informational

10% higher-order

National Educational Service

QuestioningTeacher provides focused feedback

and questions to students that : Activate prior knowledge Probe students’ conceptual

understanding Lead to deeper understanding

Progressing from simple questions to more difficult ones

that require reasoning helps students develop cognitive

abilities and critical thinking skills.

(Kappa Delta Pi, Fall 2005)

Why Questioning MattersInstruction which includes posing questions

during lessons is more effective in producing achievement gains than instruction carried out without questioning students.

Oral questions posed during classroom recitations are more effective in fostering learning than are written questions.

Questions which focus student attention on the most important points of the lesson result in better comprehension than questions which do not.

Questioning makes student thinking visible and provides immediate feedback to the teacher.

What Are Good Questions?

They help students make sense of the content/topic.They are open-ended, whether in answer or approach.

There may be multiple answers or multiple approaches.They empower students to unravel their

misconceptions.They not only require the application of facts and

procedures but encourage students to make connections and generalizations.

They are accessible to all students in their language and offer an entry point for all students.

Their answers lead students to wonder more about a topic and to perhaps construct new questions themselves as they investigate this newly found interest.

Question their background knowledge first!

Guide students from the known to the unknownUse cues, questions, and organizers to set the

stage for learningBefore new knowledge can be incorporated

into student’s existing schema, the schema must be activated

Start by asking what students already knowFocus on content that is most important, not on

what students will find most interesting (hopefully you can make important content interesting!)

You can discover and clear up misconceptions by taking time to ask questions before you begin a unit of study!

BLOOM’S REVISED TAXONOMYCreatingCreating

Generating new ideas, products, or ways of viewing thingsDesigning, constructing, planning, producing, inventing.

 EvaluatingEvaluating

Justifying a decision or course of actionChecking, hypothesising, critiquing, experimenting, judging

  AnalysingAnalysing

Breaking information into parts to explore understandings and relationshipsComparing, organizing, deconstructing, interrogating, finding

 ApplyingApplying

Using information in another familiar situationImplementing, carrying out, using, executing

 UnderstandingUnderstanding

Explaining ideas or conceptsInterpreting, summarizing, paraphrasing, classifying, explaining

 RememberingRemembering

Recalling informationRecognising, listing, describing, retrieving, naming, finding

 

Webb’s Depth of Knowledge are:

DOKWebb's Depth of KnowledgeDepth of Knowledge is the degree of depth or complexity of knowledge standards and assessments require; this criterion is met if the assessment is as demanding cognitively as the expectations standards are set for students.

DOK is NOT.....about Verbs - Verbs are not always used appropriately.about "difficulty" - It is not about the student or level of difficulty for the student - it requires looking at the assessment item not student work in order to determine the level. DOK is about the item/standard - not the student.

DOK is....about what FOLLOWS the verb. What comes after the verb is more important than the verb itself. It is about the complexity of mental processing that must occur to answer a question.

Remember DOK...Descriptive, not a taxonomyFocuses on how deeply the student has to know the content in order to respond.Not the same as difficulty.

Handouts

Hess’ Cognitive Rigor Matrix & Curricular Examples: Applying Webb’s Depth-of-Knowledge Levels to Bloom’s Cognitive Process Dimensions – Reading

Hess’ Cognitive Rigor Matrix & Curricular Examples: Applying Webb’s Depth-of-Knowledge Levels to Bloom’s Cognitive Process Dimensions - Writing

Wait-time

Average wait time teachers allow after posing a question is one second or less

Students whom teachers perceive as slow or poor learners are given less wait-time than students teachers perceive as more capable

For lower cognitive questions successful wait time is 3 seconds

For higher cognitive questions the more wait time teachers give, the more engaged students become and the better they perform

For students, 3+ seconds wait time :

Improves achievementImproves retentionIncreases number of higher cognitive responsesIncreases length of responsesIncreases number of unsolicited responsesDecreases failure to respondIncreases amount of quality evidence used to

support inferencesExpands variety of responsesIncreases student-to-student interactionsIncreases number of questions posed by students

And for teachers, 3+ second wait time:

Increases flexibility of teacher responses (teachers listen more and engage students in more discussions)

Increases expectations for students usually perceived as slow

Expands the variety of questions askedIncreases number of higher cognitive

questions asked

Research by the Department of Labor says students spend…

22% reading and writing 23% speaking 55% listening

A question is useless if you do not LISTEN carefully to the response. IT IS WHAT YOU DO WITH THE RESPONSE THAT COUNTS!

Effective Questioning

To be an effective questioner, it is better to

use the student’s response to guide your next question than to use your question to

guide the student’s response.

How to respond to student answers:

Use student responses to form your next question and narrow the focus of the discussion

Probing questions help you know how deeply the student is thinking

Teacher redirection and probing help student achievement when they focus on clarity, accuracy, plausibility of student responses.

How do students feel about questions?

Generally they fear them, which stops learning

We usually only ask a 2nd question when the first response was wrong = students have an aversion to the 2nd question

If redirection/probing are vague or critical (“That’s not right; try again”; “Where did you get an idea like that?”) students may not continue to respond and achievement does not improve.

Your response to their answers will determine whether or not they continue to

answer!

Acknowledge correct responsesListen carefully to student responses!Praise of student responses should be

sincere and credible and should be used sparingly.

Establish community where all answers are accepted as a gift – model this for your students

Teach students how to state their opinions – civic discourse

I think, I feel, I believe . . .Support with reasons, facts, details

Use reasonable tone of voice – good manners

Don’t Forget:Ask questions that focus on most important

elements of the lessonAsk questions before and after material is read

and studiedScaffold lower ability students: ask lower

cognitive questions, gradually transitioning to higher cognitive questions. Ensure student success during questioning experiences.

Teach students strategies for making inferences.3 seconds for lower cognitive questionsMore than 3 seconds for higher cognitive

questionsAllow generous wait time for lower ability

students

Self-reflection

Review today’s essential questions:How do students benefit when questioning is used as an instructional strategy?

How can teachers improve the use of questioning strategies?

Classroom Questioning Article

“School Improvement Series” Close-up #5 by Kathleen Cotton http://educationnorthwest.org/webfm_send/569