Questioning

Effective questioning can be used to promote thinking skills.

Role model 

• Ask for questions and respond positively

• Answer student questions or say why not 

• Model good listening to student questions or any comment (see below for tips) 

• Never put the student down

Good listening

• Maintain eye contact with the pupil answering

• Use non verbal gestures to show you understand (nod, thinking, hands to go on)

• Listen & don’t interrupt even if they seem to be heading for an incorrect answer

(Pupil may realise themselves, you may have misunderstood, all pupils may learn from incorrect response.)

Active listening for adults

• Paraphrase a long answer & check with the pupil that you got it right.

• Use the pupil response to lead to the next question or to make a point

• If you don’t understand ask for more information or explanation

• Listen to the content, not simply the key words

• Pay attention to the pupil, not what comes next!

Types of questions

Closed- limited number of acceptable answers, most of which can be anticipated
Open- many acceptable answers, most of which can not be anticipated, but criteria exist to judge correctness (eg. high level: how do you think evacuees felt?)
Convergent- a finite range of acceptable accuracy answers (eg. Why did World War II start?)
Divergent- allows learners to explore different avenues to create alternative answers (eg. what were the effects of World War II?)

Levels of challenge in questions (Based on Bloom’s/Anderson’s Taxonomy) Hierarchy of challenge

"Can the students recall information?"

Remembering

• Recognise                       

• List

• Describe

• Identify

• Retrieve

• Name

"Can the students explain ideas/concepts?"

Understand

• Interpret 

• Exemplify

• Summarise

• Infer

• Paraphrase

"Can the students make use of new information in another familiar situation?"

Applying


• Implement

• Carry out

• Use

"Can the students differentiate between the constituent  parts? "

Analysing


• Compare

• Attribute

• Organise

• Deconstruct




"Can the students justify a decision or course of action? "

Evaluating


• Check

• Critique

• Judge

• Hypothesise




"Can the students generate new product ideas or ways of viewing things?"

Creating


• Design

• Construct

• Plan

• Produce




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