Effective Questioning and Reacting

Techniques

Marilu S. Bandolon
Facilitator

References:
1. http://www.slideshare.net/rowenativoli/effective-
questioning-2-3427422
2. Mrs. Maha Al- Harb, Khawla Al Rifae, Mrs. Suad
Al-shbaily
Children go to school as question
marks and leave school as periods

Neil Postman
Focus Questions:

For a highly interactive class, what are the various

types of questions asked?

What are some questioning skills that teachers should

develop to generate interaction?

How can a teacher improve his/he questioning skills?

What are some effective reacting techniques?

 A study was once conducted to find out how teachers
ask questions. This was observed in a Grade 6 science
class. A tape recorder was hidden under a demonstration
table. She conducted a discussion of the lesson for forty
minutes.

She was able to ask 29 questions, all of which are of

the what type. Maybe they were all answered. They were
simple recall.

Has the teacher developed the pupils thinking skills?

 The kind of questions we ask determine the level of
thinking we develop. Low level questions demands low level
responses. They require responses of the simple recall or
memory type answers.

Examples:

What was the temperature range yesterday?

What insects transmit dengue fever?

What part of the plant serves as its factory?

We ask questions based on purpose:

1. For assessing cognition

-to determine ones knowledge in understanding
-promote high level thinking
-use divergent questions and open ended inquiries that
call for analysis and evaluation

Examples:

What is likely to happen if the ozone layer of the

atmosphere continues to deteriorate?

Why does is sound heard louder when und er water

than out of it?
 2. For verification
--to determine the exactness or accuracy of the result
of an activity or performance,

Examples:

Was the weight of liquid displace exactly the same as

the weight of object immersed in it?

Why is lightning seen before the thunder is heard?

 3. For creative thinking
--to probe into ones originality,

Examples:

How will you present the layers of the earth to your

classmates?

Simulate the eruption of Mt. Mayon.

How can you demonstrate soil less gardening?

Notice that the question or the direction asks the pupils to

present their own ideas or new ways of doing things.
 4. For evaluating
--to elicit responses that include judgment, value, and
choice
-it also asks personal opinion about an event, a policy
or a person

Examples:

Was your classmates slide presentation well done?

 5. For productive thinking
--includes cognitive reasoning
-analyses facts,
-recognizes patterns or trends
-invokes memory and recall
-
Examples:

How can we apply the concept of the least common

multiple in other situaitons?
 6. For motivating
-to arouse the interest of students and focus attention
-situating the students in the right mood.

Examples:

How would you like to know how your favorite flower

can remain fresh longer?

Did you ever train a pet?

Can perpendicular lines be intersecting lines?

 7. For instructing

-asking useful information

-directs, guides and advise on what and how to do an
activity
Examples:

What are the steps in solving problems?

Questions can either be low or high level

Low level questions

-include memory questions or those that require simple
recall

Example:
Define energy.
State the first Law of Motion
High level questions
-call for the respondents ability to analyze, evaluate,
and solve problems

Examples:
What is the relation between the distance of a planet
and its period of revolution?

Why does temperature rise toward noontime?

Why is repeated addition the same as multiplication?

Divergent questions
-require the respondents to think in different directions
-to think of alternative actions
-arrive at own decision
-to arrive at several possible answers

Examples:

Why are you voting them?

What will happen if you leave it under direct sunlight
for a week?
Questioning Skills

Class interaction is dependent on the questioning skills.

What questioning skills should teachers ask in order to
generate maximum interaction among the students?

1. Ask varying types of questions

2. Ask non-directing questions
3. Call in non-volunteers
4. Rephrasing
5. Sequencing logically
6. Requiring abstract thinking
7. Asking open-ended questions
8. Allowing for sufficient wait time
 Convergent /closed question:
- They give you facts.
- They are easy and quick to answer.
- They keep control of the conversation with the
questioner.

Note: They should be used with care too many closed

questions can cause frustration and shut down conversation.
Asking varying type of questions

Ask convergent, divergent and evaluating questions.

Convergent questions are closed questions that have

only one correct answer.

Convergent questions are mostly closed questions that

can be classified as:
a. Yes/no questions
b. Answerable by a single word or short phrase

(What is the process of food manufacture that takes in

plant called?)
Divergent Questions
-open questions and may have more than one acceptable
answer.
- They ask the student to think and reflect.

- They will give you opinions and feelings.

- They have control of the conversation to the respondent.
-useful in getting another person to speak. ( The one
who asks the questions are likely to receive a long
answer, thats why they can provide a good deal of I
information)
-Sometimes they are statements : tell me about ,
give me an example of
 2. Yes / No Questions
( Closed Questions ) :
Evaluative questions are divergent questions that
require judgment concerning the subject focus.

(What is you evaluation of our manner of election in the country?)

A tag question is an example of an evaluative questions.

It is a statement followed by a mini-question whether it is
positive or negative. The whole sentence is a "tag question",
and the mini-question at the end is called a "question tag".

We use tag questions at the end of statements to ask for

confirmation. They mean something like: "Am I right?" or "Do
you agree?" They are very common in English.
 5. Inference Questions:

Inference questions are forms of divergent questions that

require the respondents to give the inferences and assumptions
based in passages read or heard. The main goal of the
questions is to assess the ability of the learners to go beyond
what is on the page. Its not unusual to face two or more
inference questions in each passage.

Ex. They went out at 6.

They came back at 10

How long did they stay out?

 Techniques of asking a question:

1. The Default: 2. The Volunteer:

Ask a question Ask a question

Pause Pause
Call on a student Wait for a raised hand

Use for
Master this
conceptually
technique and
challenging
use it as your
questions.
standard
 3. Jump Ball: 4. The Choir:

Ask a question Ask a question

Pause Pause

Any body Every body

Use for conceptually Use for simple but

challenging questions important points that
and when you need a everyone should know
fast answer
When a student asks a question:

*Clarify it , if necessary.

* Whenever possible, help the student answer

the question himself.

* Ask other students to answer the question.

* Defer until later, if possible.
* Answer it yourself, only as a last resort
* But, never let a students question go
unanswered.
When a student says ( I dont know)

As A General Rule

Dont Let Them Off The Hook!

 Task 5
What are the characteristics of a good question?

Short
Properly Directed Thought Provoking

Common A good unambiguous

Vocabulary question
should be Relevant

Comprehensive
Related to the objectives

Straight forward
Clearly stated
 effective questioning should :
1. Reinforce and promote the learning objectives.

2. Include staging questions to draw pupils towards key

understanding or to increase the level of challenge in a lesson as it
proceeds.

3. Involve all pupils.

4. Engage pupils in thinking for themselves.

5. Promote justification and reasoning.

6. Create an atmosphere of trust where pupils opinions and ideas
are valued.

7. Show connections between previous and new learning.

8. Encourage pupils to speculate and hypothesize.

9. Encourage pupils to ask as well as to receive questions.

10. Encourage pupils to listen and respond to each other as well as

to the teacher.
 General Strategies For Asking Questions:

1. When planning questions, keep in mind your lesson goals.

2. Avoid asking leading questions.

3. Follow a yes or no question with an additional question.

4. When you plan each class lesson, include notes of when

you will pause to ask and answer questions.

5. Ask a mix of different types of questions and use keywords

of questioning like: Who, Why, What, Where, When. .
6. Wait for students to think and formulate responses.

7. Encourage students to ask questions at any time.

8. Scatter questions over the entire class.

9. Pose questions within the ability of the student to whom

the question is addressed.

10. Ask students to give complete answers.

11. Do not permit frequent group responses.

12. Avoid asking questions that can be answered by guessing.

As a summary

Good questioning is a
major determinant of the
success of teaching.