Assessment for Learning (AfL)
Effective Questioning
Some Starter Questions
• Do you ask pupils to come up with their own ideas and to
think aloud?
• Do you encourage your pupils to explain their reasons for
their answers?
• Do they get the opportunity to ask their own questions?
• Is it okay to give a ‘wrong’ answer in your classroom?
• Is everybody’s opinion valued by everyone?
Climate for Learning
• Risk-taking culture
• Community of enquiry
• Commitment to learning for all
We can establish a positive climate in our classrooms by:
Promoting a risk-taking culture
In order for pupils to take risks, they need to know that all
contributions are encouraged and valued and that making
errors is part of the learning experience.
• One approach is to create agreed ‘ground rules’ and to flag
these up on a regular basis e.g. think time, valuing all
contributions
• Problem-solving activities can encourage pupils to
hypothesise and think aloud. It illustrates the trial and error
of the learning process and can help them become more
comfortable with making errors in order to reach conclusions
Creating a community of enquiry
Creating a community of enquiry and of independent
thinking and learning will help foster a positive climate.
Supportive relationships are extremely important.
You can foster relationships in the class by setting up
collaborative ways of working and using flexible groupings
Demonstrating a commitment to learning for all
We need to reinforce a shared belief that all children
have the capacity to learn by emphasising progression in
learning rather than performance.
This can help promote self-belief and personal satisfaction on
completion of tasks, because pupils can feel secure in coming
up with their own ideas, thinking out loud and explaining
their reasoning.
Activity
Answering the Big Questions
Consider a lesson you delivered.
What was the purpose of your questions during that lesson?
How did you respond to the answers the pupils gave?
Why Do We Ask Questions?
• To manage and organise
pupils’ behaviour
• To structure a task for maximum
learning
• To find out what pupils
know
• To identify, diagnose difficulties
or blocks to learning
• To stimulate interest in a
new topic
• To stimulate pupils to ask
questions
• To focus on an issue or
topic
• To give pupils opportunity to
assimilate, reflect and learn
through discussion
What Is Effective Questioning?
Framing, delivering, timing, soliciting and responding
to questions to:
• identify where pupils are currently in their learning;
• expand and deepen the learning;
• inform planning for future learning.
Classroom Strategies:
Ask Better Questions
• Ask fewer questions
• Ask more ‘open’ questions
• Sequence questions
• Prepare key questions
Classroom Strategies:
Ask Questions Better
Involve the whole class
To promote a risk-taking culture, ensure that pupils do not feel
threatened. You can engage the whole class by simply walking
round the room while asking/directing questions. This can
increase pupil involvement and may also help you observe pupil
participation and engagement.
Think, pair, share
Pupils are sometimes intimidated by having to speak up in a
whole-class situation. Here, pupils think about their answer,
discuss it with a partner and then with a group. This can take the
focus off the individual, improve self-esteem and give shy pupils a
voice.
Provide think time
Providing time to think is critical to effective questioning. Research
shows that teachers typically allow less than 1 second of wait time
between posing the question and asking for the answer (sometimes
by providing the answer themselves). By increasing that wait time to
3-5 seconds, you can make a significant difference to your question’s
effectiveness. Doing so:
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gives pupils vital time to order their thoughts;
ensures more pupils are likely to offer an answer;
results in fewer ‘I don’t know’s;
produces more thoughtful, creative and extended answers; and
benefits all children, no matter what their ability.
Try no hands up
By asking for ‘no hands up’, you can encourage all pupils to stay
engaged with the question for longer.
Classroom Strategies:
Deal With Answers Productively
Use wrong answer to develop understanding
Turn them into a springboard for improved understanding. The trick is to point
out the error in such a way that you don’t actually say ‘No that’s wrong’ and at
the same time steer the pupil towards a better response.
Prompt pupils
Prompt pupils to rethink and review what has already been discussed and/or
give cues to guide them in the right direction. For example, ‘Why do you think
that…?’ or ‘Could you explain…’ Remember, prompts do not always have to be
verbal. A nod, smile or encouraging hand gesture can also be used to prompt
pupils’.
Listen and respond positively
This can encourage learners to take risks and volunteer answers rather than
being silent because they are afraid to give the ‘wrong answer’.
Classroom Strategies:
Generate Pupils’ Questions
• Model questioning for pupils
• Provide opportunities for pupils to demonstrate
their skills
• Plan time for pupils’ questions and for dealing
with them effectively
Key Messages
• Establishing the right climate is crucial.
• The classroom should be seen as a community of
enquiry.
• The role of questioner does not lie solely with the
teacher.
• Effective questioning performs three key functions:
- to identify the present level of understanding;
- to extend and deepen learning; and
- to inform future planning.
Key Messages cont.
Benefits of effective questioning include:
- improving the classroom ethos/environment;
- instilling the skills needed for independent
learning; and
- supporting the objectives of Health & Wellbeing
at all levels in Curriculum for Excellence.
Planning for Questioning
- Adapted from E C Wragg
Identify key questions in relation to the learning intentions for the lesson.
Decide on the level, order and timing of questions.
Extend the questioning - thinking of subsidiary questions to ask.
Analyse anticipated answers and responses you might give.