Questioning to Advance Student Thinking
In their book Quality Questioning, Jackie Walsh and Beth Sattes share some "question-able statistics" that highlight implications for improving our practice:
- Seventy-five to eighty percent of the questions posted in both elementary and secondary classrooms are at the recall or "remembering" level.
- Most teachers call on students perceived as high achievers more frequently than they call on low achievers.
- When teachers ask questions of students, they typically wait one second or less for students to begin their responses.
- Teachers frequently give a student the answer to the question that the student does not answer correctly or immediately.
- Students ask less than 5% of the questions in both elementary and secondary classrooms.
What can teachers do to advance students' thinking using questions?
1. Insert pre-planned, high-quality questions into lesson plans.
2. Design opportunities for students to create their own questions about the content. Teach students the cognitive levels of questioning.
3. Teach students the Question Formulation Technique. See below.
3. Allow Wait Time 1 after asking; allow Wait Time 2 after students answer.
4. Help students answer correctly - rephrase, prompt, and cue - when needed. Avoid GIVING the answer up front.
5. Ensure that correct answers are heard by all, encouraging students to interact with each other.
6. Use all-pupil response systems to give students equal opportunities to answer.
7. Consider equitable ways for students to ask questions individually, in groups, and during discussions.
Adapted from
Walsh, Jackie A. and Sattes, Beth D. Quality Questioning: Research-Based Practice to Engage Every Learner. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press, 2005.
QUESTION FORMULATION TECHNIQUE from Make Just One Change by Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana
The Question Formulation Technique helps students articulate, refine and prioritize questions they have about ideas raised in a text, a problem they hope to solve, or any topic they are studying. This strategy was designed by the Right Question Project (www.rightquestion.org).
This simple strategy can be easily integrated into the classroom.
It can be used as a
· brainstorming technique
· way to access and organize background knowledge at the beginning of a unit
· way to synthesize information at any time during a unit
· a way to build an assessment activity
SEE BELOW for resources that to teach this technique to your students!
| question_formulation_technique_steps.docx |
| facilitating-the-qft-best-practices.docx |
| qft_present_to_students.pptx |
| qft_student_card.pdf |
| qft-small-group-worksheet.pdf |