Effective
Questioning
NQT+1
Aims of this session…
O To explore why we ask questions
O To consider what type of questions we ask
O To develop our understanding of what is
effective questioning
What is Effective Questioning?
And what is the purpose of it?
Facts
O Questioning plays a critical role in the way teachers guide
the class, engage students with the content of the lesson,
encourage participation and foster understanding.
O Questioning has deep implications on the way that students
receive and process information presented and discussed in
class.
O Research has shown that typical teachers ask between 300-
400 questions per day; however quantity and quality are not
the same.
O There is both an art and science to the "asking of
questions.".
Facts continued..
O Questioning is most effective when it allows
pupils to become fully involved in the learning
process.
O While you are planning your lesson it is
absolutely vital that you think about the types of
questions you will be asking your pupils.
O You also need to be clear on what the intended
outcomes of your questions/answer session
should be.
The purpose of questioning..
O to interest, engage and challenge pupils;
O to check on prior knowledge and understanding;
O to stimulate recall, mobilising existing knowledge and
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experience in order to create new understanding and
meaning;
to focus pupils’ thinking on key concepts and issues;
to help pupils to extend their thinking from the
concrete and factual to the analytical and evaluative;
to lead pupils through a planned sequence which
progressively establishes key understandings;
to promote reasoning, problem solving, evaluation
and the formulation of hypotheses;
to promote pupils’ thinking about the way they have
learned
Classroom tactics…
O Create a climate where pupils feel safe to make
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mistakes
Using a ‘no hands’ rule
Probing
Telling pupils the big question in advance
Building in waiting time
Allowing time for collaboration before answering
Placing a minimum requirement on the answer
Video
O This video gives examples and discussion
points of Blooms Taxonomy of questioning
based on the underlying notion of "cognitive
demand.”
O How and when to use questions as an
effective pedagogical tool
O http://cet.usc.edu/resources/cet_videos/2
005/asking_effective_questions.html
Question 1
Which is the better show
‘X-Factor’ or ‘Strictly
Come Dancing?’
What type of Question is this?
Question 1- Rephrased
O In your group try to come up with a
rephrased question that leads to a more in
depth answer.
1. Summarize…..
2. Compare and Contrast
3. Add a why….
Examples
O Is X-Factor better than Strictly?
Or
Is strictly better than X-Factor?
Answers: Yes or No
Could you answer the question if I say is X-Factor
better than Strictly?
Answers: Yes or No
O Why is X-Factor better than strictly?
Answers: open question have to give opinion
Open & Closed Questions
O Most common reason for asking questions
is to check pupils have learnt facts.
-These require short sharp answers
‘Closed Questions’
These only have one correct answer, pupils are
recalling information. Pupils either know the
answer or not, no real thought is required.
-This is a good way to recap prior-learning.
Open & Closed Questions
O Open questions have several possible answers.
These questions are used to develop
understanding
‘Open Questions’
-These questions are more complexed than closed
questions, they are designed to extend pupils’
understanding of a topic. To understand them the
pupil has to think and manipulate information
using knowledge, logic and imagination.
- Open questions can not usually be answered
quickly. Pupils need time to gather information,
discuss ideas and plan answers.
FACTUAL
designed to establish knowledge of essential facts
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What time did you set off?
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How long did it take you to reach Grandma’s
house?
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At what point in your journey did you meet Mr
Wolf?
DIVERGENT
designed to broaden the scope of the question
to work outwards rather than inwards
to elicit a range of different answers
such questions can be imaginative and provocative
• Are all wolves like this?
• What would have happened if the woodcutter had
got up late that morning?
• Should Grandma be allowed to continue to live
alone in a wood where there are wolves with malign
intent?
CONVERGENT
designed to dig deeper, gain greater insight
probe beneath the surface
designed to come to a common understanding
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Did your mother often ask you to go Grandma’s
house?
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How did you feel when you first saw the wolf?
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Did you immediately notice something different
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about your grandma’s appearance?
EVALUATIVE
designed to draw some more general conclusions
from the incident - not just at an individual but a
broader more conceptual one
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• Has the time come to eradicate the wolf
population?
• Girls need greater levels of protection and greater
levels of parental supervision – than boys. Do you
agree?
• How we can prevent further occurrences?
Choice….
O Learning tip….
O Give pupils a choice .
‘Blooms Taxonomy’
OWhat is this?
Questioning Techniques
O What different ways could you set up
questions/discussions in your classroom.
O In groups try to come up with a variety of
different techniques.
O Think about all types of learners, visual,
auditory
Say what you see..
Say what you see…
Urbaniziation
O Urbanization is the physical growth of urban
areas which result in migration and even
suburban concentration into cities,
particularly the very large ones .
O Urbanization is closely linked to
modernisation, industrialisation and the
sociological process of rationalization.
1. Visual Stimuli
Provide visual stimuli to support your question/answer sessions
Use photographs, drawings, prints and video clips as the bases for
‘entry’ or ‘starter’ tasks. Make use of animated clipart as visual clues
for some of your questions; for example, if you were attempting to get
the pupils to show their understanding of the term ‘urbanization’ you
could start by displaying walking cartoon figures. Hopefully the pupils
would be able to deduce from this image that urbanization involves the
movement of people. The next animation you could display would be of
a city with factories belching out smoke. With a little teasing you would
be able to get the pupils to understand that urbanization involves
people moving to urban areas to work in factories. At this point you
could display the definition of urbanization in textual form.
O The point about this strategy is that pupils will have already arrived at
the answer before any text has been displayed.
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Research (Wragg and Brown 2001) Suggests that
lessons where the questioning is effective are likely
to have the following characteristics
O Questions are planned and closely linked to the
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lesson objectives
Open questions dominate
Closed question are used to check factual
understanding
Sequences of questions are planned so that
cognitive level increases as the questions go on
Pupils ask their own questions and seek their own
answers. They are encouraged to provide feedback
to each other
The classroom climate is one where pupils feel
secure to take risks and make mistakes
Learning walk reflections
O In your trios reflect upon the different
techniques that you saw. What worked and
why?
O Use sheet A to support
Sharing of good practice
O In your trios chose a couple of the
techniques to share back to group
Planning…
Chose one new technique for Questioning from
your learning walks and plan for a lesson next
week where you could apply this.
Feedback
Thank you