Questioning students
Students will benifit greatly when instructors use more open-ended questions, redirection questions,probing questions, and offer them praise as deserved.
Chad,
I'm glad you enjoyed the course. I plan my questions, as I do my humor, into my lessons.
Judy Mohammed
I couldn't agree more! I am really glad I took this course, we have discussed open ended questions before and I neede to be reminded to use them more. I try to use them, but going through this has made me realize I should be using them more often, and try to incorperate redirection questions and probing also.
Steven,
I have long been a fan of the Socratic method and I utilize this in all of my classes.
Judy Mohammed
In ancient Greece, Socrates developed a means of teaching by asking questions as if he had no clue of the subject. This technique allowed his students to express their views prior to teaching. The Socratic Method of teaching is still a valuable tool for any classroom.
Utilizing the Socratic Method is to teach critical thinking to students. Often, students feel their opinion means nothing in the classroom. The give and take of good open-ended questions removes these feelings, allowing students to take an active part in their education.
There are six types of Socratic questions used in teaching. They are questions that clarify, probe reasons or evidence, probe assumptions, probe implications or consequences, and even question other questions! Most questions begin with how, what, or why. Avoid "can you..." or "do you..." questions, as they often lead to "yes" or "no" answers.
Nicole,
I am glad this has helped you. I find questioning an essential tool in teaching.
Judy Mohammed
This lesson has really opened my eyes on my questioning techniques, i tend to use a lot of closed questions and starting tomorrow I will be redirected my questions using these techniques. I really like the closed followed by an open question, I think the students will be more engaged and it will be rewarding not only to answer the question correctly from memory but to explain the answer.
Steven,
Critical thinking skills are essential to learning and what you have described leads to the development of these skills.
Judy Mohammed
I whole heartedly agree Scott. Questioning enables teachers to check learners' understanding. It also benefits learners as it encourages engagement and focuses their thinking on key concepts and ideas. This questioning needs to inspire gifted and talented learners to embrace cognitive thought at a higher level and is easier to achieve when using open questions. These questions are often arranged according to their level of complexity; this is called taxonomy. Bloom's Taxonomy is one approach that can be used to help plan and formulate higher order questions. This type of questioning also actively encourages the development of thinking and dialogue skills.
Scott,
Very well-put! You may need to incorporate other types of questions as well, especially if you are veering too far away from the planned lesson.
Judy Mohammed
