How to train students to plan ways of tackling problem solving by questioning Focus: Introduction   Some Year 12 students find it difficult to answer exam based questions-basically they do not know where to start. The students will use different questioning  techniques to prompt themselves to think of ways to hook on the questions and expand the answers appropriately. Can they be trained to adapt different techniques to different forms of questions? I planned the inquiry by selecting four students from a Year 12 class. These students have found it extremely difficult to answer exam questions. First of all, I asked them to tell me what are the main obstacles to answering worded exam questions.  The inquiry revealed the following issues: although they have learned maths techniques for different topics, they can’t relate the techniques to the questions.  Therefore, the plan was to begin to train them to ask appropriate questions. The technique  adopted was to read the question first, then underline the key words.  They then started to ask questions in the order of: what do I need to do here, how do I find the answer and then what technique have I learned to enable me to achieve this (Plan of Attack, see fig.1, 2 and 3). In order to practise this technique, they were encouraged to work on the questions by openly asking questions with one another and discussing how to tackle the questions over the period of two lessons. They then adopted this approach to practise answering exam questions( see fig 4 and 5).  fig.1 https://strobertslearning.wordpress.com/professional-learning-research-and-development-group-work/ fig.2 fig.3 F. Thompson

Findings fig.4 fig.5 fig.6 F. Thompson The enquiry has revealed and confirmed that whilst some students will naturally understand how to interpret worded maths questions and proceed to answer accordingly with the relevant techniques, others do struggle and need to be taught how to approach and respond to these questions. It is interesting to note also that those who have struggled within the focus of this enquiry, were also found to be in need of further help with regard to fundamental maths skills.  fig.4 https://strobertslearning.wordpress.com/professional-learning-research-and-development-group-work/ Student Reflection Using “Plan of Attack”, makes it a lot easier to complete questions more fully. It allows me to go through a process to help me start off a question and relate techniques to questions. This questioning technique helps me a lot. (fig. 6) fig.5 Teacher Reflection In conclusion, several points seem apparent: solid, fundamental skills coupled with questioning techniques are of paramount importance as this provides the student with the confidence and further enthusiasm to explore and to ‘have a go’. Students who took part in this trial found this useful. fig.6 F. Thompson