1st - to analayze students retention of material from previous discussions or reading assignments
2nd - to demonstrate learning objectives for the students prior to an assessment of their learning
3rd - to provide students an opporunity to participate in collequial conversations and polite disagreements (ie... more than one answer may be correct)
4th - to prepare our career college students for participation as a member of a professional team held accountable for indepenedent knowledge and foresight
Hi Danny, Thanks for your post to the forum. I agree- questioning is the tool that gets activity moving in our classrooms. Learning to effectively facilitate questioning is probably the most important skill for any instructor! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Susan Polick
It helps me to assess students learning at the same time I ask them to formulate a question to be answerd by their peers and I do the editor's job once the answer is given by someone.
It gets a discussion started & leads in to other possible avenues for learning & further lacture & questions...... Like iusing kindeling to start a fire
Hi David, I am glad that you found this module useful! Susan
Susan Polick
I see good questions can invoke thinking and can cause a better understanding of the subject matter. This has been a very good and enlighting session.
You can find out if the students are really understanding the material. If several students appear to not know the answers it gives you the opportunity to find out what they are not understanding and for you to reevaluate your teaching style.
Hi Helena, Thanks for your post to the forum. Good summary of why questioning is important. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Susan Polick
I like to use questioning in the class for several reasons. At the beginning of class, questioning helps me to understand students prior knowledge on the subject. During the class it does help to clarify students level of understanding. By questioning I also try to trigger critical thinking.
Questioning session presents opportunity to know how well the students understand your lecture.It presents an opportunity for the instructor to correct any misunderstaning of a subject matter. Furthermore,it allows the students to actively participate in the class which can be a very potent tool as a student tends to remmember for a long time any correct question their answer.Additionally,when a student gets a question wrong and he is given the correct answer,he remmembers that also for a long time
Plan ahead by having questions ready when attempting to determine if the students understand the material.
I am very fond of using small groups to formulate questions in the Socratic method. After a few demonstrations, students really seem to enjoy this. There is usually a student or two who really takes to this and shines, while shyer students can present ideas in the safety of their small group before they bring them to the entire class.
They become an open discussion in class, where all the students can participate. As the instructor we can enter in new questions not asked and let the students pick up from there.
The questions can give the instructor a chance to go over information and stress important concepts.
Hi Evelyn, Thanks for your post to the forum. As you mention, it is important that we utlilize an interactive questioning format that involves teachers AND students asking questions. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Susan Polick
Questioning sessions are useful as learning tools because it gives students a chance to ask about anything they were not clear on in the discussion. It also gives students a chance to ask the instructor to go over anything they may not have understood, before being given course work or quizzes on the material. By asking questions, students will become more knowledgeable of the subject.
When using the questioning sessions it allow you to know who is learning the course and who is not.It also give you a better understasnding of what not to use as tools or what to use.
Hi Julia, I tend to use responses like "Close, but I was looking for something more specific to _____."
Susan Polick
I have my students start at there right and ask a question over the lecture that we will be testing over the following week and we go around the room until the packet has been covered.
I love to ask questionsof the students during the review period of each class. They answer as I will both ask the class as a whole a question, and I will also pick out individual students. I think that they tend to consume the information better. I need to improve on how to soften my response when a student's answer is incorrect. I like the recommedation of saying "good effort, but that did not completely cover the area in question."
