Responsible Student Learning
Module Five

Dona Cruikshank - Course Designer
E-Mail:dona@ontarioeast.net

With regards to last month's module please read these reflective questions, then answer them via email.

1. What was your biggest challenge as you tried to design a portfolio activity for your students?

2. How did your students react to the work you asked them to do with a portfolio?

3. What was one higher level thinking skill students were required to utilize while creating a portfolio?

4. How can a portfolio help a student to be an independent learner

Module 5: Posing Questions

Questioning is one of the most valuable of our teaching and learning strategies, and one that we use continuously, but how often do we stop to consider or learn more about it? What kinds of questions do you ask most frequently? What kinds of questions do your students ask most frequently?

Research on the questions that teachers ask shows that about 60 percent require only recall of facts; 20 percent are procedural questions, and just 20 percent require students to think. In this module, we will look at the different types of questions, questioning techniques for teachers and students, and strategies for formulating better questions.

If you are already using a variety of questioning strategies and techniques in your classroom, we hope that you find something new, or perhaps a different slant on something already in use. If you are just beginning to question your questioning technique, please take as big a chunk of this information as you can easily handle in your classroom, and come back for more later.

Several of our previous module dealt with students reflecting on or considering how they acquire information and also, their responsibility in getting information. Good questioning will enhance the quality of your students’ reflection and problem-solving and can lead to improved learning and teaching.


Good questioning can

• extend thinking skills
• clarify understandings
• gain feedback on teaching/learning
• provide revision strategies
• create links between ideas
• enhance curiosity
• provide challenges

Our task as teachers is to be able to understand the elements of good questioning, use and model different types of questions that encourage higher-level thinking and reflection, and encourage our students to develop good questioning practices as well.
Types of Questions: Open. Closed , Divergent, Convergent

Closed: Close-ended questions are usually answered by one word or phrase, “ yes, no”. Also called “skinny” questions, they can be used for recalling facts, specific information, or to check on prior learning.

“ What time is the bus leaving?”
“ Do you think this block will fit into this space?”
“ Was the author.......”

If you feel that your students only answer in one-word or brief responses, check to see how many of these type questions you are asking.

Open: Open-ended questions promote discussion and interaction and do not have a definite answer. These “fat” questions require more complex thinking and lead to detailed responses that explain rather than tell.

“If we are to get there on time, what time do you think the bus should leave?”
“How can we find out if the block will fit into that space? What are some other ways?”
“ If you were the author, how would you feel....?”

Convergent: Convergent questions may be open or close-ended, but have a “correct’ answer.

“According to the article you read, in what ways are acid rain affecting our environment?”

Divergent: Divergent questions are always open-ended and have many acceptable answers. They challenge students to find new insights and encourage possibilities, and go beyond responding with the “correct” answer of basic recall. They invite many responses and require both concrete and abstract thinking. Students feel less at- risk in answering because there is no “right” answer. These questions usually lead to other questions.

“ What might happen if acid rain continues to affect our environment?”
“If you were a company producing materials that affected the environment, how would you respond to this article?”
“In what ways would history be changed if petroleum did not exist?”

Questioning Techniques:

As well as developing questions, there are several ways of encouraging good responses.

Teachers asking Questions

Waiting and Silence: Most of us feel uncomfortable allowing for thinking time after asking a question. Some students need that time to get their thoughts in order. Certainly, when asking more complex questions, all students need time to process their ideas.

Try asking a question and silently counting to 5 before taking an answer. Tell your students what you are doing and the purpose of the “wait-time”.

Give your students a few minutes to write down the answer. Have students work in pairs and arrive at the answer individually, then share their responses with each other and then be ready to answer after a set time.

This ensures that all students are working on the answer, not just the fastest or “brightest”.

This technique will take some time for your students to adopt, but they will soon expect that thinking time to formulate their answers.


A Questioning Environment

To make your classroom a safe place to ask and answer questions, try some of the following:

Check for understanding and invite questions during your lessons. Pause and ask if anyone needs something clarification. Remember to give students time to form their questions.

Answer questions when students ask without postponing or ignoring students with their hands up. Ask for questions/comments from those who are not always the first to ask. This will help with that one person who always asks the questions.

After you answer a question, ask the student if you have answered the question adequately.

Show you are listening by nodding, making eye contact (most cultures) and by rephrasing the question. Check their body language for understanding.

Respond to students’ questions without judgement on the question. If inappropriate questions are posed, reply with a probing question, such as:

How does that fit in with what we learned yesterday about....?
That’s a good point, but I’m not sure that I agree, because.........

This may help lead the student to an acceptable answer rather than proving the student wrong. It also encourage students to ask questions more often knowing that they will not be judged by their questions.

Teaching Students to Question

Questioning is a skill that students must learn as well. Use the information above to show students how to create better questions. Here are some more techniques to develop better student questions:

Model good questioning and answering techniques in your teaching.
Paraphrase student questions before you answer so they can check for accuracy and rephrase or elaborate which sometimes leads to answering their own question. (Thinking out loud).
Redirect questions rather than answer. Ask the class in general or a student who may know the answer. It encourages student participation and other students as resources.
Ask probing questions by referring to material already covered or known, or by extending the question which will lead students to answer their own questions.
Promote discussions in the class based on a question asked. Divide the class into groups of three to discuss their responses and share as class. (Buzz groups).
Encourage students to defend their responses where points of view are different.
If students don’t know the answer, having them look it up usually serves no purpose but teaching them not to ask questions.
Admit when you don’t know the answer. You can find out the answer and get back to the question later or solve it as a class.

Questioning Strategies

The following are some of the more popular and useful strategies for teachers and students. They can be used at most grade levels and in any subject area.

Bloom’s Taxonomy: This classification of six levels of thinking is most widely used to formulate questions from simple knowledge to complex evaluation. Teachers should attempt to use all levels of difficulty when creating tasks.

Knowledge- recall information previously learned - answers who, what, where? - who, where, which, label, list, quote, identify
Comprehension - understands the meaning of the information - compare, explain, describe, restate
Application - use the material learned in new and concrete situations - apply, predict, solve, develop, utilize, compute
Analysis - break the information down into parts to help in understanding - why?, examine, classify, compare, infer, outline, find
Synthesis - put together information or parts to form new information - what if? design, revise, expand, change, create, solve
Evaluation - judge the value of the information or material -assess, conclude, prioritize, support, determine

For more information and sample questions, check www.rapides.k12.la.us/connectedmath/question.htm

Question Matrix: This simple concept has 36 question starters arranged in 6 rows x 6 columns on a card. The question starters ask what, where, when, who, why and how in the present, past and future. They range from simple recall through to evaluative predictions and creativity. The questions are both open and close-ended. The idea can be transformed into spinners, cubes or cards with single questions. Many game-like strategies can be developed to assist students in developing good questions. After time, the students will become adept at developing their own questions. Bloom’s Taxonomy can also be adapted to be used on the Matrix. The rows could range from Knowledge to Evaluation.

Commercial versions of this strategy can be purchased at any teachers’ store. Teachers and students can just as easily make their own.

Six Thinking Hats: This strategy devised by Edward de Bono encourages students to look at a problem from different perspectives and pose questions from that thinking perspective. It can be used wherever brainstorming, creative and lateral thinking are desired.

This Module’s Activity

1. Check your own questioning style. Over one day, informally identify the type of questions you use, your use of “wait time” and your questioning environment.

2. Check your students’ questioning style. On another day, informally identify the types of questions asked, the frequency of questions, who asks the questions and your students’ perception of the questioning environment in your classroom.

3 After 1 & 2, develop a lesson using Blooms’ Taxonomy. Share the taxonomy with your students.

4. Have students use one of the questioning strategies above to respond in a lesson.

5. Reflect on your questioning after the lesson. Have your students reflect as well. This will be the basis of your reflection for the next module.


Additional Resources:

For younger students: Ask Jeeves Website - www.ajkids.com (also has teacher section)

Mars Team On-Line - http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/mars/ask/question.html

Additional Resources

provided by: Tara A. Demers - "4" Project

Brooks, J. G., & Brooks, M. G. (1993). Considering the possibilities. In search of understanding: The case for constructivist classrooms (15-22). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

McCaslin, M., & Good, T. L. (1993). Classroom management and motivated student learning. In Tomlinson, T. M., Motivating students to learn: Overcoming barriers to high achievement (pp. 245-261). Berkeley, CA: McCutchan Publishing Corporation.

Treffinger, D. (1978). Guidelines for encouraging independence and self-direction among gifted students. Journal of Creative Behavior, 12(1), 14-20.

Understanding Learning Styles / Multiple Intelligences

Gardner, H. (1997). Reflections on multiple intelligences: Myths and messages. Phi Delta Kappan, 78(5), 200-207.

Tomlinson, C. A. (1999). What is a differentiated classroom?. The Differentiated Classroom (pp. 1-8). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Tomlinson, C. A. (1999). Elements of differentiation. The Differentiated Classroom (pp. 9-16). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Tomlinson, C. A. (1999). Rethinking how we do school-and for whom. The Differentiated Classroom (pp. 17-24). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Tomlinson, C. A. (1999). Learning environments that support differentiated instruction. The Differentiated Classroom (pp. 25-35). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Wolffe, R., Robinson, H., & Grant, J. M. (1998). Creating multiple procedures from multiple intelligences. Catalyst for Change, 28(1), 15-16.