Open-Ended questions

By now, you probably have had at least a few solo sessions, both in-person and online. It's important to start practicing asking open-ended questions. Asking guiding, open-ended questions is a significant part of the QSC's tutoring philosophy. 

Closed Questions

Closed questions typically require a short or single-word answer, like "yes", "no", or a specific fact. They can be useful can be useful for checking a student's understanding of the concepts you are reviewing. However, they are quite limited in their ability to guide students' thinking.

Open-ended Questions

Open-ended questions require more thought and elaboration by encouraging students to explain their thinking. They are useful for exploring a student's reasoning, building deeper understanding, and promoting critical thinking.

The majority of the questions you ask the students in sessions should be open-ended.

Here are some examples:

• What do you need help with? 

• How did you get that? 

• What was your thought process? 

• Can you explain that? 

• Show me the steps 

Open-ended questions should ALWAYS be used at the beginning of the session, as well as when a new question or section is started. As you get further into the problem, you may need to start using more pointed questions, giving more guiding questions, or even run a short example as you are able to more accurately evaluate the student’s level of understanding.