Questioning Techniques

Questioning Techniques

Paul Redford

Aim: Explore effective questioning strategies to encourage and evidence progress

Objectives:1. Assess what works with your learners and why?2. Understand some supporting educational

theory and explore some suggested ideas3. Apply knowledge of your own learners and the

supporting theory to create tailored strategies

Why do we use questioning?Positives for learners Positives for us!

Quick warm up:

Objective 1

• Ask yourself the following:1. Which questioning strategies do you

currently employ with your learners?

2. Why do these strategies suit/work with your learners?

Objective 2 “Gimme 5”A selection of 5 recommended strategies to try…

1. Pose-pause-pounce- bounce

2. Socratic questioning

3. “If this is the answer, what is the question?”

4. The picture round

5. The 5 why’s?

Pose-pause-pounce-bounceDylan Williams

4 stages1. Pose a question (open if possible) to the whole group, emphasising

they must silently reflect individually and no hands up!2. Pause for as long as you can bear it (at least 5 sec) so all can

process the question fully3. Pounce on student A to answer the question, do not show you

agree or disagree4. Bounce the question to student B, to either give their opinion on

student A’s answer or add further information. Student C can then give an explanation as to whether A and/or B is correct and why?

• The process can continue for as long as you choose, or you can pose a secondary question and repeat the process etc…

Why give it a go…

• Simple to implement

• Lots of evidence to suggest greater “pause” time leads to higher quality of responses, and increased confidence of learners when responding

• “bounce” asks learners to constructively build upon the ideas of another, giving us formative assessment time

Socratic Questioning6 steps to create critical thinking and structure your questions

1. Learners clarify their thinking “Why do you say that?”“Could you explain that further ?”

2. Challenge their assumptions “Is this always the case?”

3. Evidence their suggestions “How do we know this?”“Is there any reason to doubt this?

4. Other perspectives “What is the counter argument?“Does anybody see this another way?”

5. Consequences “But if that happened, what else would result?”“How does … affect …?”

6. Question the question “Why do you think I asked that question?”“Why was that question important?”

Why give it a go…

• Helps students to think critically by focusing explicitly on the process of thinking.

• Structured questioning, forces learners to slow down and examine their own thinking processes (i.e., reflective thinking allowing greater analysis and evaluation to take place.)

“If this is the answer…what is the question” – Mock the Week

• Reversing the question, and asking learners to relate the answer to the content covered in the lesson, for example…

• Answer = 3.14159265358• Question = What is the value of pi?

• Answer = 1863• Question = When was the FA formed?

Why give it a go…• Good way to start thinking about a topic at the beginning of a

lesson or to ask students to reflect upon learning from a previous lesson.

Certain phrases could be used to extract multiple meanings e.g.- Answer = ‘Peer to peer’ where the students had been learning about different types of networks in IT. - Question =“what type of networking involves computers being

connected directly together?”

- Could also apply to “collaborative learning strategy” or “the practice of lending money to unrelated individuals” etc…

Picture round i.e. Question of Sport

• Split the class into two and ask for two volunteers (team captains).

• Give the two volunteers key images/words from the lesson to describe to the class without saying the words. Only their team can contribute. Most points wins.

• Learners are effectively self checking their peers with very minimal input from teacher, leaving maximum time for observational analysis of progress

Why give it a go…

• Very engaging and fun way of including all learners

• Learners are being assessed collaboratively, and will want to give good information to win points – appeals to competitive learners

• Gives lots of time for formative assessment of participation and progress made.

The 5 why’s?• Borrowed from Toyota’s "go and see" philosophy,

meaning that decisions are based upon an in-depth understanding.

• Useful to understand the root cause of a problem• E.g.

Why did your coaching session not go so well?

Because I rushed my drills

Why did you rush your drills? Because I was running out of time

Why were you running out of time? Because I hadn't planned thoroughly enough

Why hadn't you planned thoroughly enough?

Because I am late on another assignment?

Why are you late on another assignment? Because I didn’t understand and it was too late to ask

How can we solve this problem? Make sure I plan ahead, ask questions, and keep up to date

Why give it a go…

• Useful for troubleshooting, quality improvement and problem solving

• Can help lead learners from multiple to a single track of enquiry in topics where there could be a range of causes and effects.

Objective 3

Pick one of the techniques suggested and place in a scenario/context that you might now try with your learners.

1. How might you run this?

2. Why do you think this will work?

What have we achieved today?

• Objectives:• Assess what works with your learners and

why?• Understand some supporting educational

theory and explore some suggested ideas• Apply knowledge of your own learners

and the supporting theory to create tailored strategies