QUESTIONING

 QUESTIONING

                     The art of questioning is the most potent weapon in the educational armoury of the teacher. Questioning plays an indispensable part in ‘learning’, ‘teaching’ and ‘testing’. If used in the right way, at the proper time, questions lead to new realms of understanding. They serve as means of organising knowledge or correlating the results of educative experiences, of tying together units of learning and of integrating personality.

First ask yourself:

 What exactly goes on in class?

            What do I do?

            What do the students do?

Imagine yourself in class when one of the students  asks you a question. What do you usually do? It is quite possible that you simply answer it.

 If your goal is to increase the students knowledge , this is quite appropriate. However , if your goal is to develop the students thinking skills ,you  may
wish to begin a dialogue or use another technique to help the students discover
their own answers.

In class discussions, do not ask more than one question at once.Ask a mix of different types of questions

If a student gives an incorrect or weak answer, point out what is incorrect or weak about the answer, but ask the student a follow-up question that will lead that student, and the class, to the correct or strong answer

CLASSIFICATION OF QUESTIONS

                                                                  Questions

 

                   

 Formal questions                                                               Natural questions

 

Teaching or developing questions                Testing questions

 

          

Preliminary or introductory questions                      Review or recapitulatory questions                                       

Natural questions

         In natural questions, the questioner does not know the information about which he asks.

Eg: What is your name ?

Formal questions

         Formal questions are those where the questioner already knows the information which he asks. Classroom questions may be put under this category.

         Teachers’ questions are formal and those of students are natural.

Preliminary questions

          These questions are generally asked at the beginning of a lesson.

·         Test the previous knowledge of the students.

·         Link new knowledge with the already learned knowledge.

·         Motivate the child and arouse curiosity.

Recapitulatory questions

          These questions are put at the end of a lesson. The purposes are to:

·         Enable the teacher to know the students’ who have picked up the ideas correctly he was expected to learn.

·         Serves the purposes of revision and give opportunity for practice.

Teaching or developing questions

           These are said to be the backbone of the lesson. A great skill is required on the part of the teacher to ask developing questions. They are used to:

·         Develop a particular line of thought.

·         Formulate new generalisations in an inductive way.

·         Focus attention on important points.

·         Make inattentive students attentive ones.

·         Enable students to use their power of observation and comparison.

 Purpose of questions

                   Some of the purposes served by good questions are to:

·         Check the previous knowledge of the pupils.

·         Keep the children mentally alert and active.

·         Promote initiative and originality.

·         Stimulate the curiosity of the pupils.

·         Make sure whether the children are following the lesson.

·         Review the lesson and to fix it clearly in the minds of the pupils.

·         Diagnose the weak points of pupils.

·         Questions stimulate thinking

·         Questions channelise the thinking process

·         Questions challenges the student

·         Questions help in recalling & relating relevent concepts, facts & principles.

·         Questions ensure active student involvement in learning

·         Questions get the students attention focused on the topic

Three levels of classroom questions

               Classroom questions are broadly divided into three levels as under:

·         Lower order questions

·         Middle order questions

·         Higher order questions

·          

Examples of lower order questions

These questions check the recall and recognition of ideas.

E.g., What is the area of a triangle?

Examples of middle order questions

These questions check the understanding and application abilities of pupils.

E.g., State in your own words a Polygon .

         

Examples of higher order questions

These questions check the analysis, synthesis and evaluation abilities of pupils.

E.g., Does the evidence support the generalisation that parallel lines never touch each other.

Characteristics of good questioning

             The characteristics of good questioning are:

        i.            Questions should be worded clearly in simple language.

      ii.            Questions should be addressed to the whole class.

    iii.            The teacher should ask the question first and then call upon a pupil to answer.

    iv.            Sufficient time should be given to the pupils to think and answer the question.

      v.            Questions should be clearly audible to the whole class.

    vi.            The teacher should not repeat the question nor reframe the question immediately after it is asked.

  vii.            The question should be evenly distributed over the class.

viii.            No child should be neglected.

    ix.            Majority of pupils should be given opportunity to give the answer.

      x.            Questions should not be asked in a certain rotation.

    xi.            The bad practice of saying next, next should be avoided.

  xii.            The pupils should be selected at random from the whole class.

xiii.            Mass answering should be discouraged.

xiv.            Questions should be asked in a pleasant manner.

  xv.            While answering, no indication even with a facial expression as to which is correct or incorrect should be given by the teacher.

The teacher’s attitude to pupils’ questions

The following points should be kept in mind:

·         The pupils should be encouraged to ask questions.

·         Relevancy in questions should be insisted upon.

·         Pupil’s’ questions may be made may be made the starting point for a small project.

·         Several pupils should not be allowed to ask question at the same time.

·         Everyone should be able to listen to a question asked by a pupil.

·         The teacher should be frank enough to admit his inability to answer a question when he does not know the answer.

·         Repeat the question, paraphrasing

·         Redirect the question

·         Ask probing questions

·        Promote a discussion among the students

AVOID THE FOLLOWING WHILE ASKING QUESTIONS

Ø  Frequent repetition of the questions & answers could make the students not attentive

Ø  Reframing the questions could result in confusion

Ø  Suggestive questions or ‘echo’ questions based on the fact just started do not require the students to think and can be avoid

Ø  Rhetorical questions

Ø  Yes or No questions or Leading questions

Skill in answering

                 The same care and skill in dealing with pupils’ answers, as in questioning them should be shown. Answers reveal the deficiency of the students as well as the teachers. They are the touchstone to test the effectiveness of the teaching learning process. If the answers are not satisfactory, it clearly indicates that either there is something wrong with the teaching process or with the learning process. Answers provide an important tool to make necessary changes in the teaching-learning process.

Answering Questions

a.       Direct answer the question

b.      Postpone answering the question

c.       Discover inappropriate questions

d.      Admit when you do not know an answer

Classification of answers

                A close analysis of the various types of answers shows that these can be put under the following six categories:

i.        Right and correct answers

ii.      Correct but incomplete

iii.    Partially correct and partially wrong

iv.    Wrong but intelligent

v.      Ridiculously wrong

vi.    Mischievous

Dealing with pupils answers

            There is no hard and fast rule for dealing with various categories of answers. The following are the different ways of dealing with answers:

i.        The teacher should appreciate the answers of students.

ii.      The teacher should analyse the wrong answers of students.

iii.    When the answers are partly right and partly wrong, the students should be encouraged to analyse the nature of their mistake.

iv.    When a particular student gives a wrong answer, he should be made to understand why his answer is wrong.

v.      Answers given in unison should be discouraged.

vi.    The teacher should give encouragement to shy and submissive students.

vii.   Good answers of students should be referred to the class, got repeated, by another pupil.

viii. The students should be made to realise the cause of irrelevant answers.

ix.    The teacher should develop a summary of the lesson with the help of the answers given by the students.

RESPONDING EFFECTIVELY

Ø  Wait for students to think & formulate responses

Ø  Do not interrupt students answers

Ø  Show that you are interested in students answer whether right or wrong

Ø  Develop responses that keep students thinking