All teachers ask questions to engage students in classroom discussions. The types of questions that we ask can either motivate students to learn. But it can also disengage them. Have a look at the below listed questions and decide what level of engagement are you aiming to have in the classroom.
Four types are presented
- questions to recall facts, make observations or demonstrate understanding
- questions to apply or relate
- questions to summarize, analyze, organize, or evaluate
- questions to predict, design, create
Ask questions to recall facts, make observations or demonstrate understanding
- What is/are____?
- What did you observe____?
- What else can you tell me____?
- What does it mean____?
- Where did you find that____?
- Who is/was____?
- In what ways ___?
- How would you define that in your own terms?
- What did/do you notice about this ____?
- What did/do you feel/see/hear/smell ____?
- What do you remember about ___?
Ask questions to apply or relate
- How would you do that?
- Where will use that knowledge?
- How does that relate to your experience?
- How can you demonstrate that?
- What observations relate__?
- Where would you locate that information?
- Calculate that for __?
- How would you illustrate that?
- Who could you interview?
- How would you collect that data?
- How do you know it works?
- Can you apply what you know to this real world problem?
- How do you make sure it is done correctly?
Ask questions to summarize, analyze, organize, or evaluate
- How are these similar/different?
- How is this like___?
- What’s another way we could say/explain/express that?
- What do you think are some reasons/causes that _____ ?
- Why did __ changes occur?
- How can you distinguish between__?
- What is a better solution to__?
- How would you defend your position about__?
- What changes to __ would you recommend?
- What evidence can you offer?
- How do you know?
- Which ones do you think belong together?
- What is the author’s purpose?
Ask questions to predict, design, create
- How would you design a __ to __?
- How would you compose a song about__?
- How would you rewrite the ending of the story?
- What would be different today, if that event occurred?
- Can you see a possible solution to__?
- How could you teach that to others?
- Which resources would you use to deal with__?
- How would you devise your own way to deal with__?
- What new and unusual uses would you create for__?
- Can you develop a proposal which would_?
- How would you do it differently?