‘Asking a good question can be valuable in and of itself, irrespective of the answer. It communicates your respect for the other person’ (Iowa Peace Institute Message). Teachers ask around 350 questions a day. But the depth and quality of these questions is key to the level of inquiry and thought that they elicit.
Teachers should model an attitude of curiosity and interest to their students. Questioning and inquiry should be a habit of mind for our students. Through encouraging students to ask questions, teachers can heighten engagement and ensure learning is personally relevant. Students are naturally inquisitive and curious. They want to understand why and how the world exists, operates and changes. Therefore seeking to answer deep and thought provoking questions is central to purposeful learning.
There are many different types of questions that can prompt different types of thinking. Below are 10 questions divided into 2 key categories of thinking.
Questions of fact to understand and clarity the details. These questions should be easy to answer without too much thought.
There are two broad categories of clarifying questions. Review questions recall knowledge and information. They identify terminology, procedures and content. Procedural questions direct next actions, are organisational or connected to task completion.
Questions that enable deeper thought about an issue or idea. These question should prompt thought about different options and do not have a simple yes or no response. Probing questions encourage reflection or taking on a different perspective.
There are three broad categories of clarifying questions. Generative questions assist with exploring a new topic. They pose authentic wonders without clear answers. Constructive questions build new understanding. They enable students to connect, extend, interpret and evaluate concepts and ideas. Facilitative questions deepen understanding. They necessitate elaboration, justification, uncovering, evidence and reasoning.
(Adapted from Cultures of Thinking Ritchhart 2009)
This activity assists students to identify the difference between clarifying and probing questions. Have students form two lines facing one another so that they are in pairs. Make a statement such as ‘Walking is better than driving’. Students then huddle in their pair to develop a clarifying and probing question. Select students to share their questions. If the questions are clarifying and probing they can move to their seat to independently develop a set of clarifying and probing questions related to another statement. Students who have not mastered the difference in questions remain standing and practice again with a new statement.
(Adapted from Deliberation for Global Perspectives in Teaching and Learning 2013)
Question for you: How do you encourage questioning in your classroom?
