A presentation about how to improve your questioning strategies in the classroom taken from a range of sources.

1. Working Towards a Thinking
Classroom

2. What is a good
question? What are we
looking for
when children
answer
Who needs to be a questions?
good questioner?
When are questioning skills important
outside of school? What does a good
question do?

4. From Studies done in classrooms
1 every 2/3 seconds
They tend to be RECALL questions rather
than questions requiring higher level thought.

5. One at a No put
time
downs
All ideas
considered
Build on
ideas of
others
Active
thinking
Respectful
challenges of
ideas

6. Feels Like
My questions will be valued
I am comfortable to ask a question that
challenges a point of view
My peers will respond courteously
when I ask a question
I respect different views
I am confident to ask left-of-field
questions
Sounds Like
Looks Like
Students taking initiative for asking Listening attentively to questions
questions
Engaging with each other’s
Different types of questions being responses
asked
Teachers and students asking
Responding positively to each questions
other’s questions.
Consideration given to responses
A range of responses being given Think time being used
to a question
An ideas centred discussion rather
Seeking clarification or more detail
than a teacher or student centred
Questions being sustained
one.

7. A questioning friendly A questioning-friendly
classroom is a place where:
classroom is not a place where:
Different responses to a
Student responses to
question are encouraged
questions are put down
Students build on each other’s
Teachers are seen as the
responses
question-askers and students
Students are prepared to as the question-answerers
challenge or contest a
Students recited a response to
response
a question rather than discuss
Students take risks and offer it
divergent ideas and opinions
Students are concerned with
Students generate questions expressing their viewpoint
for discussions.
rather than responding to
what someone else has said.

8. Classroom Discussion Structures
Engage with teacher
Teacher Centred
Aim to get to some
teacher-decided idea
Teacher asks a
question or evaluates
idea after every
student comment
Teachers helps direct
students to the
answers so they
make progress

9. Classroom Discussion Structures
Engage with each
Student Centred
other
Aim is all students
contribute
Each comment is
usually on a different
point so little progress
Aim is to get an
outcome
Some students try to
dominate or it
becomes a debate so
little progress

10. Classroom Discussion Structures
Students engage with
Inquiry Community
student ideas
Students make
connections &
distinctions, critically
evaluate, challenge
and build
Teacher and students
ensure the inquiry is
rigorous, so they
make progress
Better and worse
answers

12. Look at the ‘big’ questions - the
underlying concepts
Example One:
What is a number?
Are numbers created or discovered?
Could numbers be different to how they
are now?

13. Look at the ‘big’ questions - the
underlying concepts
Example Two:
What is fitness?
What is health?
Is fitness the same or different to health?

14. Look at the ‘big’ questions - the
underlying concepts
Example Three:
What is knowledge?
What does it mean to know something?
Is all knowledge the same?

15. Look at the important questions - the
questions we should strive to answer
and are central to our lives
Example: Friendship
What does it mean to be a good friend?
How shall I treat my friends?
How can I be a better friend?

16. Look at challenging questions - when we
know that children will not know the
answer or even how to find out the
answer
Example: Petone Foreshore
Who should have the rights over the
foreshore in Petone?

18. Single answer or limited
Closed
number of answers
eg What is 6x6? How did you
Convergent
travel to school?
Many possible answers and not
Open
only one correct answer
eg How could the school
Divergent
assemblies be improved?
Little explanation required
Skinny
Requires recall, knowledge and
Simple
comprehension
eg What makes a healthy lunch?
Requires a degree of
Fat
explanation and interpretation
Complex
How could you encourage
children to eat healthier lunches?

20. Training kids into thinking question
routines.

21. Use questioning frameworks to help
extend types of questions
Improvement
Direct Action
What are the How do we feel about...
weaknesses and how and what are the
can we improve it?
dangers?
Explanation
Design
What do we know and
How can we make our
what are the possible
environment better?
explanations?
Emotions
Caution
How do we feel? What do
What are the possible we know? What can we do
dangers?
about it? What is the
conclusion?
Assessment
What are the good Evaluation
points and how can we How well did you do...
summarise them?

22. Event
Situation
Choice
Person
Reason
Means
Where/
Present
What is?
when is?
Which is?
Who is?
Why is?
How is?
Where/
Past
What did?
when did?
Which did?
Who did?
Why did?
How did?
Where/
Possibility
What can?
when can?
Which can?
Who can?
Why can?
How can?
What Where/ Which
Probability
would?
when would?
would?
Who would?
Why would?
How would?
Where/
Prediction
What will?
when will?
Which will?
Who will?
Why will?
How will?
Where/ Which
Imagination
What might?
when might?
might?
Who might?
Why might?
How might?

23. http://fno.org/nov97/toolkit.html
Strategic Questions
Elaborating Questions
What do I do next?
What does this mean?
How can I best approach this next
What might it mean if certain
step?, This next challenge? This conditions and
next frustration?
circumstances changed?
What thinking tool is most apt to
How could I take this farther?
help me here?
What is the logical next step?
What have I done when I've been What is missing? What
here before? What worked or didn't
work? What have others tried needs to be filled in?
before me?
Reading between the lines,
What type of question would help what does this REALLY
me most with this task?
mean?
How do I need to change my
What are the implied or
research plan?
suggested meanings?

25. Ask less questions
Thinking Time
and make them challenging
Wait 3 seconds after asking
question
Wait 3 seconds after question
answered
Model
Enforce

26. Move from the teacher as a
questioner who sifts through answers
looking for the ‘correct’ one
Could
us a li you tell
tt
about le more
that id
ea?
The teacher treating each response Ho
uld
w else co
about
by a child as an opportunity to we think
this?
improve their thinking - being a
coach for thinking!

27. Strategy
Description
Application
Show your students you are
Demonstrate interested in their response. Initial
response may be fragmented or
Use non-verbal signals such
as facial expressions, a nod,
listening
disjointed as students grapple to
clarify their ideas.
eye contact, sitting forward
Use probes that encourage Does anyone have a different
Sustain the clarification, extension or
elaboration of a response.
opinion? Could you tell us a little
more about that idea? Can you
Question
Encourage a range of responses
to the one question.
provide some evidence to
support your view?
Learn to be comfortable with
Allow wait
the silences so that wait time
Use affirmative non-verbal
signals that show engagement
is extended. Tell students why
time
you are waiting.
and provide encouragement.
Affirm student responses but That’s an interesting point of
Minimise avoid excessive praise which view. Yes, that’s one way. Can
may silence alternative anyone add to that? Thank
feedback
responses.
you for that idea.
Redirect student responses or Would anyone like to respond
comments. Breaking the sequence
to that idea? What can you
Vacate the floor
makes students aware that talk
doesn’t always have to be directed
add to that response? How
consistent is that response
through the teacher and
encourages student dialogue.
with what you think?

30. Judge of a man by his questions
rather than by his answers.
Voltaire (1694 - 1778)
“It is better to know some of the
questions than all of the answers.”
James Thurber (1894 - 1961)