Running head: PURPOSEFUL QUESTIONS ANALYSIS

Maggie Stewart
University of Saint Mary
Article Analysis of Principles to Actions: Pose Purposeful Questions

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Due in large parts to increased testing, math education can easily turn into memorization
of facts and equations than logical reasoning. However, in order for students to truly learn about
relationships between numbers and then retain their knowledge about math, teachers must help
them to examine their own reasoning, building metacognition along with deeper understanding
of mathematical concepts. The best way for teachers to do this is by asking their students
questions; there are many different types of questions a teacher can ask, though, and some
require deeper levels of independent thinking than others. In Principles to Actions, The National
Council of Teachers of Mathematics devotes a chapter titled Posing Purposeful Questions to
this concept. The authors present several different types of levels for teachers to ask their
students during and after solving math problems of various types, and then discuss why focusing
questions are the most beneficial.
There are four basic different types and levels of questions that teachers can ask students
about the math problems they are solving: 1. Gathering Information, in which students state or
recall their answer; 2. Probing Thinking, in which students answer questions about how they
arrived at a specific conclusion; 3. Making the Mathematics Visible, in which students
demonstrate what structures and relationships in math they utilized to solve the problem; and 4.
Encouraging Reflection and Justification, in which students are asked to reflect more deeply on
their thinking and be critical of the process they used (NCTM, 2014). I think all of these levels of
questioning are important, and teachers can use them for both formative and summative
assessment in the classroom, before, during, and after lessons. The NCTM outlines two other
types of questioning, which I think can employ a mixture of the aforementioned levels of
questions: funneling and focusing. In funneling, the teacher asks previously planned questions
and is looking for specific answers to each one; throughout the questioning process, the teacher

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funnels the students answers, or guides him or her to the conclusions at which the teacher wants
him or her to arrive. In focusing, on the other hand, the teacher primarily responds to the
students answers and continues to ask questions about the students individual thinking process,
rather than asking a list of pre-determined questions. The teacher also allows more time for the
students response, rather than just listening for a correct or incorrect answer. By this
explanation, I think focusing is generally the better method of posing questions to students,
because it allows them more opportunities to express their thinking, and it also challenges them
to be more aware of their problem solving process rather than just shooting for the correct
answer.
One thing I noticed while reading this chapter was that the authors presented a much
more negative view of the funneling process than the focusing process. I understand from their
descriptions that focusing questions are probably much more beneficial, allow the teacher to gain
more information, and allow the student more opportunities for growth in mathematical and
problem solving skills. However, I still thought it was worthy to note that there may be some
author bias toward one type of questioning. I think funneling questions may be necessary if a
student is struggling with understanding concepts and needs a little more direction. Generally,
though, I do agree that when a teacher engages with a student in purposeful question and answer
about the students thinking, more meaningful learning can happen than in a scenario in which
the teacher asks questions guided toward certain correct answers.
The whole point of questioning in the learning process, I think, is for students to build the
habit of asking themselves questions about their reasoning, and for them to become aware of all
the mathematical relationships they know and make use of to solve problems without necessarily
noticing. Through educating themselves about how to ask purposeful questions and what types of

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questions illicit deeper and more meaningful thinking, teachers can prepare their students to
problem solve in real-world situations and to be metacognitive adults.