Reflection week 4- Questioning Strategy

Questioning Strategy:

A question is a statement with a question mark at the end that clarifies a doubt, prospective etc.

Purposes of questioning:

·         Helps to check the effectiveness of teacher teaching and students responding/learning.

·         Binds students with the space of emotional acceptance

·         It can provide pupils an opportunity to articulate their understanding.

·         building up enthusiastic to learn (because teacher binds students with their active participation)

·         communication gap is improved by the social interaction.(social skill)

·         Students indulge themselves into sophisticated decision making (students thinks of what, how, why etc.)

Principle of Questioning Strategy:

1.      Distribute questions for all, so that active participation is led by all learners. 

2.      Questioning done in such a way that it involves your thinking/ should be thought provoking.

3.      Ask simple and complex questions so that the students are involved in critical thinking.

4.      Encourage long questions with possible answers.

5.      Stimulate critical thinking by asking:  what?, How?, Why?( questions that needs critical responses)

6.      Allow time for thought.(pause for a while for the responses)

7.      Ensure audibility for everyone’s' understanding( In case of large classes)

8.      If a student asks a question; don’t answer it until you’ve asked the class

9.      Personalize questions (“Pretend you are ... what would you do?”).

10.  Suggest partnership by inquiring, “How can we ...?”

Classification of questions as per blooms taxonomy:

1)      Remembering:

-Facts that is kept in mind. The skills used are recalling, remembering, recognizing, defining and   identifying.

-The question is characterized by key words as: WHO?  WHAT? WHEN?  WHERE?

2)      Understanding:

-It tests comprehension (own understanding).The skill used are rephrasing, comparing, explaining, interpreting, describing, illustrating and differentiating.

-The question is characterized by key words as: CAN YOU REPHRASE?  CAN YOU DESCRIBE?   WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?  WHAT IS THE MAIN IDEA?

3)      Applying:

-It requires application to the situations. In this, the skill used is problem-solving, classifying, selecting, transferring, applying, hypothesizing, relating.

-The question is characterized by key words as: whom would you choose? What would happen if....? If........how can.....? What examples.....?How would you....?

4)      Analyzing:

-It encourages analysis. The skill used are analysing, determining the evidence, drawing conclusions, reasoning logically, reasoning critically, interfering, and ordering.

-The question is often characterized by such words or phrases as: why? What if...? What was the purpose...? Is it a fact that.....? Can we assume that....?

5)      Evaluating:

-It promotes evaluation. The skill used are Summarizing, judging, defending , assessing, arguing, reasoning, appraising, criticizing, appreciating, selecting, deducing and deciding priorities.

-The question is characterized by key words as: Which is better? Would you agree that...? Would it be better if....? What is your opinion...? Were we (you, they) right to....?

6)      Creating:

-It invites synthesis. The skill used are originating, integrating, combining, predicting, designing, developing, improving, reflecting and supposing. 

-The question is often characterized by such phrases are: How could we/you...? How can...? What if...? I wonder how...? Do you suppose that....?

Two types of Question:

1.        Convergent question:

- It is close ended question, no much thinking is required and it should be direct.

-The convergent technique is an ideal application of “teacher-directed instruction” or direct instruction, where all students in the class respond in unison to teacher-asked question.

- Convergent questions, for the most part, elicit short responses from students.

-Focuses on the lower levels of thinking – that is, the knowing and applying levels, in inductive type of teaching (proceeding from a set of specific data to student-derived conclusion).

-Convergent type of questioning or rapid-fire technique also allows for participation by all students.

-Teacher in foreign language classes may use a convergent, rapid-fire pattern to help develop oral, vocabulary, and spelling skills among the students.

-The use of convergent, rapid-fire technique focuses on specific learning objectives, skills, or short responses.

-The basic convergent patterns allows the teacher to “dominate” the thinking of the students by asking for short-length, low level intellectual responses that involves a single answer or a limited of logical answers.

List of convergent Question:

·         Who is the present minister of education?

·         What is your name?

·         Who is the present queen of Bhutan?

·         Name the animal having two legs?

·         How many wings does bird have?

2.        Divergent Question:

-It is open-ended, more thinking is required and it will have indirect answers. It generally used to encourage number of answers which lead to critical thinking and creativity.

-It is the opposite of convergent questioning. The focus of divergent questioning is broad. Rather than seeking a single focus, the teacher, with divergent strategy, evokes student’s responses that vary greatly.

-This technique is ideal for building the self-concepts of children of minority groups, because divergent questions often have few “right” or “wrong” responses.

Features:

1.    Eliciting Multiple Responses:

·         If the teacher decides that more than one student should respond to a particular divergent question. Then the teacher asks a question that can be answered with multiple responses.

2.      Accepting diversity:

• In addition to eliciting to longer and multiple responses, the teacher must also be prepared to accept diverse responses.
• To reinforce appropriate responses behavior, the teacher must demonstrate a high degree of acceptance for the response of each student.
• The rule of thumb is that when divergent questions are asked by the teacher, free responses of each student must be allowed. Again, this is a great technique for disadvantaged students, as they may get to become “stars” in the classroom.

3.      Beginning the sequence:

Divergent questions deal with high level of thinking

• Analyzing
• Evaluating
• Creating

o   A technique that helps the teacher initially frame divergent questions is to write out the questions prior to ask them. Then examine them to ensure that they are clearly stated and convey the precise meaning intended.

o   The teacher who uses the divergent questions for the first time will probably find the initial class experience rather difficult or even disappointing, usually because students are not oriented towards giving longer or higher-level thinking responses.

o   The teacher who uses a divergent technique of questioning will soon discover that the students will respond in the higher level thinking categories of the cognitive taxonomy- that is analyzing, evaluating and creating.

o   In this process, while encouraging students to listen to each other, the teacher allows them to participate in a dynamic fashion and thus, to receive peer reinforcement for positive and constructive classroom behavior.

Socratic questioning:

  What?

o   Named for Socrates (ca. 470-399 B.C.), the early Greek philosopher/teacher Socrates.

o   A Socratic approach to teaching is one in which the instructor poses thoughtful questions to help students learn.

o   The Socratic method of teaching is a student-centered approach that challenges learners to develop their critical thinking skills and engage in analytic discussion.

Achievement:

o   Facilitate inquiry-based learning.

o   Active participation.

o   Help students to construct knowledge.

o   Poses thoughtful questions to help students learn.

o   examine students ideas logically

o   student-centered learning.(helps students to engage)

o   Improve long-term retention of knowledge.

o   Help students to develop problem-solving skills.

 How?

o   Model of critical thinking.(teacher's act)

o   Respect student’s view points.

o   Probes their understanding.(improvise, expand the question)

o   Show genuine interest in their thinking.

o   Create intellectually stimulating classroom environment.

o   Acknowledge the value of students in the classroom.

o   Ask open-ended questions that require elaboration. If you ask questions that require only a yes or no answer, you won’t be able to determine a student’s real understanding of the material. Ask the student to do the explaining.

Six Types of Questioning:

1. Questions for clarification.
2. Questions that ask assumptions.
3. Questions that ask reasons and evidence.
4. Questions about Viewpoints and Perspectives.
5. Questions that ask implications and consequences.
6. Questions about the question.

Questions for clarification:

Get them to think more about what exactly they are asking or thinking about. Prove the concepts behind their argument.

Questions that ask assumptions:

Probing their assumptions makes them think about the unquestioned beliefs on which they are founding their argument.

Questions that ask reasons and evidence:

When they give a rationale for their arguments, dig into that reasoning rather than assuming it is a given.

Questions about Viewpoints and Perspectives:

Most arguments are given from a particular position. So attack the position. Show that there are other, equally valid, viewpoints.

Questions that ask implications and consequences:

The argument that they give may have logical implications that can be forecast.

Questions about the question:

And you can also get reflexive about the whole thing, turning the question into itself. Use their attack against themselves. Bounce the ball back into their court, etc.

Procedural Steps of questioning:

1. Write question.
2. Gain attention.
3.  Ask Question.
4.  Pause while asking the question
5.  Call for the responses/answer
6. If no responses change the question.
7. Again if no responses pick somebody.
8. After the response supplement on it.