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Using questions Using questions in in teaching and teaching and learning learning Peter Scales Lifelong Learning Further and Higher Education www.peter-scales.org.uk

Using questions in in teaching and learning teaching and learning Peter Scales Lifelong Learning Further and Higher Education

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Page 1: Using questions in in teaching and learning teaching and learning Peter Scales Lifelong Learning Further and Higher Education

Using questionsUsing questions

inin

teaching and learningteaching and learning

Peter Scales

Lifelong Learning Further and Higher Education

www.peter-scales.org.uk

Page 2: Using questions in in teaching and learning teaching and learning Peter Scales Lifelong Learning Further and Higher Education

Research (in schools) suggests :

Teachers ask up to two questions every minute, up to 400 in a day, 70,000 a year and 2-3 million during the course of a career

Questioning accounts for up to a third of all teaching time, second only to the time devoted to explanation.

What is a ‘question’?

Page 3: Using questions in in teaching and learning teaching and learning Peter Scales Lifelong Learning Further and Higher Education

Why do teachers ask questions?Why do teachers ask questions?

•Management and control

•Keep learners interested and alert

•Gain attention/ check paying attention

•Check understand and pitch lessons at an appropriate

level

•Recall of information

•Revise

Page 4: Using questions in in teaching and learning teaching and learning Peter Scales Lifelong Learning Further and Higher Education

Why do teachers ask questions?Why do teachers ask questions?

•Develop thinking skills

•Encourage discussion

•Encourage discovery

•Stimulate new ideas

•Draw learners into the lesson

•Symbolic value - sends message that learners are expected to be active participants in learning

Page 5: Using questions in in teaching and learning teaching and learning Peter Scales Lifelong Learning Further and Higher Education

Closed questions

• Usually only one correct answer• Can usually be answered with one word – usually yes

or no• The initiative is forced back on the questioner. No need

for answerer to extend or develop• Example:

“Do you come here often?”

“Do you come here often?”

Page 6: Using questions in in teaching and learning teaching and learning Peter Scales Lifelong Learning Further and Higher Education

Open questions

May have several possible answers Requires the answerer to provide a fuller response than

just one word Can develop discussion and develop thinking Example:

“What’s a nice person like you doing in a dump like this?”

Page 7: Using questions in in teaching and learning teaching and learning Peter Scales Lifelong Learning Further and Higher Education

Questioninvites ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer

Question invitesa particularanswer

Question isfocused butgives some choice about how to respond

Question givesmaximum choice abouthow to respond

Closed Open

Have youfinished yourwork yet?

What is the capital of Mongolia?

How did you set this project up?

What should we focus on next?

Page 8: Using questions in in teaching and learning teaching and learning Peter Scales Lifelong Learning Further and Higher Education

Lower-order and higher order questions

• Lower-order questions

• Higher-order questions

Require learners to rememberRequire learners to remember

Require learners to thinkRequire learners to think

Page 9: Using questions in in teaching and learning teaching and learning Peter Scales Lifelong Learning Further and Higher Education

Linked (or Socratic) questioning

This style of questioning is based on the belief that people already know a lot. The purpose of education is to draw it out of them.

“Socratic questions provide a stimulus for thinking and

responding, and Socratic questioning differs from random

open-ended questioning in that it follows a pattern, a

progression of follow-through questions that probe

reasons and assumptions and which take the enquiry

further”Fisher, R. (2003)

Page 10: Using questions in in teaching and learning teaching and learning Peter Scales Lifelong Learning Further and Higher Education

Linked? Socratic questioning – an example

Why is there a cliffhanger at the end of a soap opera?

To make sure people keep watching

Why is it important that people keep watching?

To maintain high viewing figures

Why do TV companies need high viewing figures?

To attract advertisers

What do advertisers provide?

Income

And what do the TV companies do with the income?

Make more programmes

Page 11: Using questions in in teaching and learning teaching and learning Peter Scales Lifelong Learning Further and Higher Education

Examples of questions to develop Socratic dialogue

“Can you explain that…”? Explaining

“How does that help…?” Supporting

“Do you have evidence…?” Evidence

“What if someone were to suggest that…?” Alternative views

“Does it agree with what was said earlier…?” Consistency

“How does what was said/ the question help us…?” Connecting

For more examples see handout

Page 12: Using questions in in teaching and learning teaching and learning Peter Scales Lifelong Learning Further and Higher Education

Using Bloom’s taxonomy to encourage different levels of questioning (2)

ApplicationApplication

ComprehensionComprehension

KnowledgeKnowledgeIn what year was the Russian Revolution?

What happens when you put salt on ice?

Can you explain what a modem does?

Page 13: Using questions in in teaching and learning teaching and learning Peter Scales Lifelong Learning Further and Higher Education

Using Bloom’s taxonomy to encourage different levels of questioning (1)

SynthesisSynthesis

AnalysisAnalysis

EvaluationEvaluation

What do the results of your experiment tell you?

How effectively does Hardy evoke nature?

How can we combine these ideas?

Page 14: Using questions in in teaching and learning teaching and learning Peter Scales Lifelong Learning Further and Higher Education

Geoff Petty’s ‘Ten Commandments’

1. Do you ask questions which learners can answer successfully?

2. Do you leave time for students to think?

3. Do you use body language (eye contact; smiling; raising the eyebrows; nodding, etc.) to encourage responses?

4. Do you always praise or otherwise acknowledge correct responses?

5. Do you avoid ridiculing students’ answers?

Page 15: Using questions in in teaching and learning teaching and learning Peter Scales Lifelong Learning Further and Higher Education

Geoff Petty’s ‘Ten Commandments’

6. Do you ask questions that cover the subject step by step?

7. Do you make questions short and clear, using straightforward language?

8. Do you avoid questions with yes or no answers?

9. Are able to distribute questions widely around the class?

10. Do you use language that is easily understood?

Page 16: Using questions in in teaching and learning teaching and learning Peter Scales Lifelong Learning Further and Higher Education

“Good learning starts with questions, not answers.”

“Asking good questions is the basis for becoming a successful learner. If children [and adults] aren’t asking questions they’re being spoon-fed. That might be effective in terms of getting results, but it won’t turn out curious, flexible learners suited to the 21st century.”

(Professor Guy Claxton, Bristol University)

Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.

(E.M. Forster)

Page 17: Using questions in in teaching and learning teaching and learning Peter Scales Lifelong Learning Further and Higher Education

What’s wrong with these questions?

• “What did I just say?”• “Don’t you think you ought to know this?”• “Alright?”• “Did everyone get that?”• “Can you have this done before Easter?”• “In what ways is the situation in Iraq a disaster?”• “Why is daytime television so poor?”• “How many of you know the answer to this?”• “What are the government’s reasons for the introduction of 90 day

detention for terrorist suspects and how have people argued against them?”

• “Was Romeo a wimp?”

Page 18: Using questions in in teaching and learning teaching and learning Peter Scales Lifelong Learning Further and Higher Education

References

Fisher, R (2003) Teaching Thinking (2nd Ed.) London: Continuum

Petty, G. (1998) Teaching Today (2nd Ed.) Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes

Scales, P. (2008) Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector Maidenhead: Open University Press