Learning to Question, Questioning to Learn (Under Development)
To what extent do you and your students possess a shared understanding of what good questions and questioning processes look and sound like?
Studies conducted for well over 100 years about teachers’ use of questioning strategies show that there has been very little change in classroom practice, related to questioning, over all those years. The gap between research and practice remains. Research found that teachers ask too many questions and was actually teaching kids to answer, rather than how to ask great questions. Unfortunately once a question is answered, the inquiry process and learning STOPS! So why is it important to teach students the skills of quality questioning? Asking questions, not just answering them, is a life skill. It is connected to decision making and problem solving. There is more thinking and learning in asking questions than in answering them. Hence, the question is more important than the answer.
What are the characteristics of a quality question? How can we help our students understand the relationship between quality questions and learning?
Research reports that 75 to 80 percent of the questions posed in both elementary and secondary classrooms are at the recall or memory level. Most teacher questions are at the lowest cognitive level – known as fact, recall, or knowledge (remember) and unbeknown to the teachers. Therefore, quality questions are seldom by chance. Quality questions require purposeful thought and understanding of the cognitive levels of Bloom’s taxonomy (or Depth of Knowledge) and are purposely planned when writing lessons and developing units of instruction.
How do you promote equitable participation of ALL students in classroom questioning?
Research reports that most teachers call on students perceived as high achievers more frequently than they call on low achievers. Not all students are accountable to respond to all questions. Teachers frequently call on volunteers, and these volunteers constitute a select group of students. To what extent do you and your students believe that all students can respond to all levels of questions and can think and reason beyond rote memory? The challenge is engaging ALL students in answering questions. There are many strategies to ensure equitable participation by all students, including random calling, surveying, think-pair-share, student calling, echoing the question, extending responses, probing and more.
To what extent do you and your students demonstrate that all students’ answers deserve respect, that think time is important and recognize not all questions have one right answer?
Research reports that when teachers ask questions of students, they typically wait one second or less for students to begin their responses. Teachers typically wait less than one second after asking a question before calling on a student to answer. They wait even less time before speaking after a student has answered. Learn how the use of wait time benefits both students and teachers. Learn about Wait Time 1 and Wait Time 2 and why it’s the miracle pause that allows students to think and make connections across their schema and curriculum.
How do teachers assist students in surfacing and clarifying misconceptions and developing correct, deeper understandings?
Research reports that teachers frequently give a student the answer to a question that the student does not answer correctly or immediately. Worse yet, Research found that teachers often accept incorrect answers without probing; they frequently answer their own questions. Learn how to probe students’ responses, engage the silent two thirds in learning and thinking in your classroom so that misconceptions won’t rear their ugly heads later. Learn how interaction among students and teacher can help the classroom become a true learning community.
Do your students interact with one another and initiate questions?
Research reports that students ask less than five percent of the questions in both elementary and secondary classrooms. Research also found that students ask very few content – related questions. Learn how to intentionally teach students to generate questions and incorporate activities into your lesson plans to help students become better generators of questions. Examine your current questioning skill set and classroom culture to develop a plan of improvement that encourages and supports student questioning.