Goals and Objectives  Why Use Questioning Strategies?  Effective Questioning Techniques  Levels of Questioning…Increasing Understanding, Models for Use  What is Depth and Complexity?  Applying the Strategies 1

Questioning Strategies Methods used by teachers and students to ask questions that require the respondent to use high-level, critical, and/or creative thinking skills when processing information or responding to the question. 2

Depth….The Bigger Picture Refers to how a person approaches “the big picture”. Often, the approach starts with the concrete and moves to the abstract; or starts with the known and moves to the unknown. 3

Depth … continued Requires students to examine – facts & concepts – generalizations – related principles and theories Necessitates uncovering details and new knowledge related to a topic of study. Encourages students to adopt perspectives and to see patterns in connections. 4

Complexity…. More Parts Bridges the content to other disciplines, Enhancing the relevance for students Complexity encourages students to  Relate to concepts and ideas at a sophisticated level  See associations among diverse subjects, topics, or levels  Find multiple solutions from multiple points of view 5

6 Depth: Requires a student to uncover the detail about how a car works Complexity: Requires a student to see the working relationships between the different parts

How to increase Depth and Complexity Teachers choose instructional materials that engage, develop, and challenge. Teachers model for and interact with students: ask questions provide feedback give assignments provide assessment Students engage with the content and each other at high levels, with increased Depth and Complexity in their interactions. 7

Why use Questioning Strategies?  Questioning strategies are essential to the growth of critical, creative, and higher level thinking skills. (Shaunessy,2005)  When teachers regularly model questioning strategies and expect student questions, students learn to formulate questions that will improve their learning. (Fisher, 2007) 8

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10 Questions…

Teachers ask __________ questions a day -- ______________ a year, according to The Guardian. While preparing so many questions is a lot of work, you can save time by using some of the questioning techniques (QTs) described below. 11

Teachers ask 400 questions a day -- 70,000 a year, according to The Guardian. While preparing so many questions is a lot of work, you can save time by using some of the questioning techniques (QTs) described below. 12

Take the Questioning Quiz From a study on Questioning Techniques by Kathleen Cotton summarizes Kathleen Cotton summarizes Question 1 Which is more effective for fostering learning? a) Oral questions posed during classroom recitation? b) Written questions 13

Question 1 Which is more effective for fostering learning? a) Oral questions posed during classroom recitation? b) Written questions Answer: "A", Oral questions. 14

Question 2 Should posing questions before a reading be done with students who are: a) Older/better readers? b) Younger/struggling readers? 15

Question 2 Should posing questions before a reading be done with students who are: a) Older/better readers? b) Younger/struggling readers? Answer: "A", because young/struggling readers often only read the parts of the text that help them answer the questions. 16

Question 3 Increasing the use of higher-order questions to ___ percent or more is positively related to student-to-student interactions, speculative thinking, length of student responses, and relevant questions posed by learners. 17

Question 3 Increasing the use of higher-order questions to ___ percent or more is positively related to student-to-student interactions, speculative thinking, length of student responses, and relevant questions posed by learners. Answer: 50 percent. 18

Question 4 Should wait time differ when asking lower- vs. higher-order questions? 19

Question 4 Should wait time differ when asking lower- vs. higher-order questions? Answer: Yes. Wait time for lower-order questions should be about three seconds, and beyond three seconds for higher-order questions 20

Questions? 21

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Good questions help: Provide Clarification Check Assumptions Provide Reasons and Evidence Examine Viewpoints Investigate Implications and Consequences 24

Good questions help: Provide Clarification Check Assumptions Provide Reasons and Evidence Examine Viewpoints Investigate Implications and Consequences What is meant by ______? How could you say that another way? How do you know? How could we prove or confirm that? If ____happened, what would be the result? Support your conclusion. Why do you believe that? What feelings or emotions might have caused _____? 25

Effective Questioning Techniques  Increase Think time and Wait time  Talk less, ask more  Move from simple to complex  Avoid “yes or no” questions  Don’t let a few students dominate the conversation/questioning/answering 26

Examples Just by increasing wait time by three to five seconds, teachers can… Increase student achievement Increase number of higher cognitive responses Increase contributions by non- participatory students 27

Examples Increasing question complexity… Extends thinking skills Clarifies understanding Creates links between ideas Enhances curiosity Provides challenges 28

“While questions which elicit lower level thinking are an important part of teaching, they are useless unless they build toward questions which help kids develop higher order thinking skills.” Benjamin Bloom 29

Tools of the Trade Effective Questioning Techniques Costa’s Level of Inquiry – Practice activity (handout) – Subject area groups Bloom’s Taxonomy Depth and Complexity Resources DOK Q Chart – Practice activity (handout) – Picture questions, one from each quadrant 30

Goals and Objectives  Why Use Questioning Strategies?  Effective Questioning Techniques  Levels of Questioning…Increasing Understanding, Models for Use  What is Depth and Complexity?  Applying the Strategies 31