Helping Your Pupils to Ask Questions

Sally Godinho, Jeni Wilson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9780415447270, 9781138140172
• eBook ISBN: 9781136780929
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Early Childhood Education

Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? Asking questions has always been fundamental to making sense of the world. Unless we are able to critically question what we see, hear and read, we can't solve problems, create solutions, make informed decisions or enact change. And in our information-laden age, it is more important than ever to be able to decide w

Why ask questions?

 

Asking questions is pivotal to learning how to learn and becoming a lifelong learner. In a technology-driven world, where information overload is often an issue, it is essential that people have the skills to critically question what they view, read and hear. The process of deciding what is relevant, what is of interest, what is legitimate, what is authentic and what requires further investigation involves effective questioning. It is effective questioning that supports informed decision-making.

Questions should always be purpose driven. In the classroom context, there are many purposes for questions and these influence the type of questions that are asked. Teachers often ask questions to facilitate and assess learning, but there are many other specific purposes, such as those listed below.

■ Excite interest or curiosity

■ Direct pupil thinking in a particular way

■ Focus attention on a topic

■ Control behaviour of the class or individuals

■ Encourage pupils to be actively engaged in learning

■ Challenge pupils

■ Review pupils' learning

■ Reinforce learnt material

■ Structure or guide the learning of a task

■ Obtain feedback on teaching

■ Assess pupils

■ Encourage reflection on learning

■ Gain feedback from pupils about teaching

■ Revision of content

■ Help pupils clarify their understandings

■ Evaluation purposes

■ Model questioning and thinking

■ Engage pupils in a particular type of thinking (e.g. critical, creative or reflective)

■ Help pupils make connections

■ Spark further questions

■ Motivate pupil inquiries

■ Identify gaps in pupils' learning

■ Provide opportunities for pupil learning through discussion

Pupil and teaching needs are of prime importance. An effective teacher question is suited to the purpose and takes the cognitive level of the pupils into consideration. When a question engages pupils and motivates them to ask further questions or challenge their ideas, it has the potential to take pupils beyond their current thinking and engage them in higher-order thinking.

Questions help people make sense of the world. For example: How does that work? What would happen if I reversed the procedure? How would the situation change if I considered it from a different perspective? What might be the result if I changed the variables? What message is the writer trying to convey?

Questioning skills empower people as learners. They are pivotal for solving problems, creating solutions and enacting change. Skilful questioning guides decision-making and the processing, critiquing and challenging of information. Importantly, questioning assists pupils to participate actively in their world and in the wider context of a democratic society.

Types of questions

There are many different types of questions — essential, subsidiary, hypothetical, strategic, provocative, rhetorical, irreverent and content-neutral. The purpose of the question will largely determine the type of question asked.

A very broad way of categorising questions is to typecast them as ‘open’ or ‘closed’. If a question is closed, the answer is non-negotiable and is simply recited; whereas an open-ended question invites interpretation, there being no preconceived response. Open-ended and closed questions are sometimes respectively referred to as divergent and convergent questions, lower-order cognitive and higher-order cognitive questions, or sometimes simplistically in pupil language as fat and skinny questions. While there are subtle differences, these terms are often used interchangeably. The Open-Ended and Closed Questions activity (page 28) assists pupils to explore the differences.

The ‘What, When, How, Who and Why’ can fit into a product, process and opinion framework for question planning. These five questions provide contextual background and are often used as a starting point for pupils to organise their thoughts when constructing a recount or a report. Teachers often ask fewer process and opinion questions, but these questions can lead to richer discussions and higher-level thinking.

Product, process and opinion questions

Product	What, when and who questions: key ideas, facts — details such as time sequence and identifying specific people.
Process	How questions are concerned with procedures and processes.
Opinion	Why questions consider causal relationships and require explanations.

Three broad categories that might assist when planning a sequence of questions for a lesson or unit of work ar...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• The Little Books of Life Skills
• Full Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• 1 Why ask questions?
• 2 Types of questions
• 3 The role of the teacher
• 4 Establishing a question-friendly classroom
• 5 Strategies and activities for developing effective questioning
• 6 Frequently asked questions (and troubleshooting)
• 7 Tips for the teacher
• 8 Assessment and record keeping
• 9 Proformas for the classroom
• 10 Further reading