Five top tips for skilful
questioning
Ideas to try out in your classroom tomorrow
Linda Evans
March 2014
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Five top tips
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Think about when, why and how you ask
questions.
Plan questions that promote higher-order
thinking.
Respond thoughtfully to pupils’ answers
Teach pupils to ask questions
Use techniques such as ‘If this is the answer,
what is the question?’
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1a. When? Why? How?
Most questions are asked when a teacher is settling down the class (class
management), recapping (testing memory) and checking understanding of
instructions and concepts etc (but in a limited way).
“Pose, pause and pounce" (no hands up) to get everyone thinking (individual
whiteboards for short responses).
Think about incorporating:
o Thinking time
o Talking partners (model the process) and
o Making sure verbal responses are audible.
There is a place for closed, low-level questions but your most able pupil may
be ‘switched off’ if there are too many!
Instead, think about:
o Philosophical inquiry and social learning (e.g.Belle Wallace’s TASC)
o Creating an environment where being right doesn't always matter
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o Encouraging ‘risk-taking’.
1b. Using questions for AfL
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What did you do this lesson/series of lessons?
What did you learn (i.e. you didn’t know before)?
What did you like about the lesson/why?
What did you not like/why?
What did you find most challenging/what made
you really think?
What would you do differently next time?
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2a. Good questions encourage pupils
to ‘think hard’
Reflect
Discuss
Think aloud
Good questions
Reason
Offer opinions
Speculate
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2b. Framing good questions
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Discussion/speculation: Do you agree - why? Is there a
different way? What would happen if…? What other
possibilities are there? How does this link to ..?
Reasoning and problem solving: What strategies/
materials/ tools can you use? What do you know/need to
know? Who can help? What are the alternatives? What are
the consequences?
Reflection: How do you know? Why do you think that? Can
you explain how…? What went well/could have gone
better? How will you use what you have learned?
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2c. Bloom’s taxonomy
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Knowledge (remembering)
Understanding
Applying
Analysing
Evaluating
Synthesising/ creating
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2d. Aide-memoire for HOTS
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Analyse: breaking down information into component parts: making
inferences; finding evidence e.g.
Why do you think …? What conclusions can you draw? How would you
categorise …? What is the function of …? What motive could there have
been to ?
Evaluate: making comparisons, judgments and recommendations on the
basis of established criteria e.g.
What is your opinion of …? Would it be better if …? How would you justify
…? How would you compare …? How would you prove that …?
Synthesise: creating new information, plans and ideas from previous
learning e.g.
What would happen if …? How could you change …? What facts can you
compile? Can you predict the outcome of …? How could you estimate the
result of…?
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2e. Planning worthwhile questions
Good questions need to be planned.
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Lesson plans
Subject department /phase meetings
Challenge cards
Question corners
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3a. Teachers responding to pupils
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Time
Modelling behaviour we want to nurture:
o Praise pupil questions that are well worded, unusual,
interesting, challenging or that indicate reflection
o Respond to a wrong, ‘stupid’ or unwelcome contribution
by inviting the speaker to think harder while you move to
someone else. (Explore the reasons for the response given,
if you think it may be based on a misunderstanding or a
related line of thought). Urge the rest of the class to
produce more thoughtful responses (i.e. valuing thought
rather than devaluing a ‘mistaken’ contribution).
Teacher confidence
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3b. Extending pupils’ answers
Questions should not stop once a question has been asked: draw on a
repertoire of probing questions to extend pupils’ thinking.
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Can you say a little more about that?
Why do you think that?
Can you explain how/why ?
Why did you decide to start like that/ do it that way/ include that…..?
How did you reach that answer/ decision ? How can you be sure?
What if…?
Who thinks something different?
Can you justify, give reasons why /evidence for /examples of ..?
Who can argue against…?
What do you think happens next?
How does this connect to…
Who would like to add to or ask a question about what has just been said?
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4a. Students asking questions
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‘Asking good questions is the basis for becoming a
successful learner.’ Guy Claxton
An ability to formulate questions is valuable encouraging an analytical approach and developing
communication skills
Beginning a lesson or topic by asking, ‘what questions
could we ask about X … what would you like to know,
how many questions can you ask?’ encourages curiosity
and gives pupils more ownership of their learning.
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4b. How many questions can you ask?
One mixed Y5/6 class came up with the following list of questions about
Mexico:
o Where is it? Is it an island or do other places join up to it?
o What are the people like, what language do they speak? Do they speak
English?
o Can you go there on holiday? How long does it take? How much does it
cost?
o What’s the weather like?
o What money do they use?
o Do they grow stuff? Do they make stuff?
o Is it a rich country or poor country?
o Who is in charge? Is there a queen or a president? Etc.
Encouraged to think further, the children generated questions such as :
o How is it different to living in this country? Is it nicer or worse?
o Would we like to go on holiday there? Why/why not?
o Why are there so many poor people?
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o If we had a million pounds to spend what would be the best way to help
them?
4c. Encouraging pupils to formulate
questions
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Pupils create a quiz at the end of a topic
Award marks for the quality of a question (older
pupils can assess this by identifying the HOTS involved in a good answer)
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Hot seating and interviewing
Devising a ‘question of the week’
‘Mantle of the Expert’
Playing ‘Twenty questions’
Designing crosswords
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4d. Questions to develop
metacognition and independence
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What am I trying to do?
What is my goal/ success criteria?
What information do I have?
What do I need to find out/do?
How will I do this? Who can help me?
What are the priorities/key points?
What is my plan?
Did I do as well as I could?
How can I use what I’ve learned?
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5. What’s the question?
Y9 Biology class
A: ‘It gets smaller’
Q: It’s what happens when an ice cube melts … your iris in the dark…a dog
when it’s scared (but no… it just looks as if it does).. etc. etc.
‘The answer should have been ‘it gets bigger’ because biology is all
about growth’.
The ‘answers’ can be diverse – fitting with any subject area:
o 1000
o Green
o Oxygen
o War
o Religion
Consider too, approaches like PMI, ‘What if?’, P4C and De Bono’s strategies
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In summary
In ensuring outstanding provision in everyday lessons for
your able, gifted and outstanding learners …
1.
Nurture a ‘community of enquiry’ (model).
2.
Plan challenging questions (HOTS).
3.
Encourage broader/deeper responses to questions
(exercise for the brain) and praise well-considered
answers.
4.
Teach them to ask questions of their own.
5.
Develop a bank of questioning techniques and
resources.
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