This document provides questions for teachers to ask students at different stages of the problem solving process: to launch the problem, differentiate instruction while students explore, challenge students who have solved the problem, and summarize after the problem is solved. The questions are meant to assess student understanding, help struggling students, identify overlooked information, and extend thinking for advanced students.

1. Questions to Help
Launch the Problem
Can you describe the problem in
your own words?
What do you want to find out?
What are the important facts in
the problem?
Is there anything in the problem
you do not understand?
What questions do you still
have?
Is there anything else you need
to know?
What materials can you use to
get started?
Which strategies will you use?
How will you record your
work?

2. Questions to Differentiate
Instruction While Students Explore
the Problem
To assess student progress, ask:
 What have you done so far?
 Explain how you are organizing your work.
 What strategies have you used? Explain how you have used
them.
 Does your answer seem reasonable?
 Do you see a pattern? Can you describe the pattern?
 Have you accounted for all possibilities? How can you be
sure?
 Can anyone explain it another way?
To help students who are struggling:
 Describe the problem to me in your own words.
 Are there any words you don’t understand?
 What questions are you trying to answer?
 What strategies have you tried so far?
 Can you make a table? Draw a picture? Act it out?
 Have you solved a similar problem?
 Can you make the numbers easier?
 Are there other material you can use to help you?
 What ideas have we learned that may be helpful to you?
To help student identify any important information they may
have overlooked, ask questions that are specific to the
problem:
 Is there another step you may need to start with?
 Does your solution make sense? How can you convince me?

3. Questions to Differentiate
Instruction While Students Explore
the Problem
To challenge students who have successfully solved
the
problem ask:
 Will your strategy always work?
 Can you find other solutions?
 Is there another way to solve the problem?
 What would happen if…?
 What patterns did you see? Can you extend the pattern for
x cases?
 What if you stared with a different number?
 What other problems have we solved that are like this
one?
 Can you explain your work to the class?
Questions to Ask During the
Summarize Phase of the Problem
Solving
 Why did you decide to do that step? What did you learn
from it?
 Do you agree with what ___________ did? Why or Why not?
 Did anyone get a different answer? If so, who is correct?
Can you justify your reasoning?
 Did anyone solve the problem a different way? Can you
describe your work?
 Who can restate what ___________ just said?
 Will this method always work? Can you find a situation
where is will not work?