Questioning
Resources
Why: The right questions have a meaningful impact on student learning and provide important data to inform our teaching. The wrong questions, or wrong questioning depth, may disengage students, stall lesson momentum, or provide an incomplete picture of what students know.
Outcome: Participants will learn about the importance of good questions, specific Questioning techniques teachers can use in lesson design, and how to identify different Questioning techniques in action.
Background: Questioning is a strategy teachers use to elicit student thinking and check for understanding. John Hattie, in his meta-analysis of educational practices, found that effective questioning strategies has an effect size of .48.[1] This means that when teachers engage students with effective questioning, they can improve student growth by more than one academic year. Learning how to ask the right questions helps teachers close achievement gaps effectively.
Hattie explains further that thoughtful questioning takes more than a punctuation mark to have impact. Effective questioning prompts students to:
● Connect with prior knowledge
● Extend the application of knowledge and skills
Determining the best question, for the particular student, in the right moment isn’t something that just happens. It is a skill that requires practice and forethought.
When contemplating whether a question is effective a teacher must consider cognitive complexity; question phrasing or wording; the amount of wait time students need before responding; potential redirection supports, or wording changes; and question sequence Hattie also notes that, “lower level questions are more effective when aiming at surface level information, and a mixture of lower and higher level questions are more effective when aiming at deeper information and understanding”.[2] We’ll explore these factors together and have an opportunity to observe them in classrooms.
Activity #1: Background (10 min)
Step 1: Read Individually, read through the background. As you read, pay attention to how your own experiences resonate with the Questioning strategy definitions and techniques. Consider:
- What makes a good question?
- When you have experienced meaningful questions leading to improved student learning (your students or perhaps yourself)?
Step 2: Share With a partner at your table, share the observations you considered above.
Activity #2: Tools and Resources (10 min)
Step 1: Consider As a group, listen to the facilitator’s example of applying a Questioning strategy in practice.
Step 2: Brainstorm Individually, consider a class you have recently taught or observed. In the Learning Guide, indicate this observation’s grade and subject. Then, list what the students were meant to know and be able to do as a result of the lesson.
Step 3: Apply Individually, consider each of the Look-Fors strategies listed in the Learning Guide. In the Give One column, consider one strategy you could have applied or would like to have observed in the class you brainstormed in Step 2.
Step 4: Get One In pairs, share your strategies, one row at a time. Then, listen to your partner’s strategy for the same Look-For. Write notes, shift partners, and repeat!