Why are questions so important? Why our focus on questioning? Interject the idea that more and more feedback from research, OfSTED and expert panels are highlighting that it is oral and written language development that is key to fostering good learning and and aiding good progress. Teaching students to handle and create questions that can promote resilience and independence in learning, development of higher order thinking skills and ultimately move learning from good to outstanding and enable pupils to make outstanding progress.

Purposes of questions To interest, engage and challenge To explore emotions and feelings To find out facts or clarify understanding To check on prior knowledge and understanding To stimulate recall and use of existing knowledge and experience in order to create new understanding and meaning To clarify misconceptions To extend thinking from the concrete and factual to the analytical and evaluative To promote reasoning, problem solving, evaluation and the formulation of hypotheses (i.e. the use of thinking skills) To promote thinking about what has been learnt and how it has been learnt.

What does research show? Research shows that its not the fact that you ask questions but how you ask them… Do you: Use wait time (3 seconds has been identified as optimum response time for lower cognitive questions, with no threshold for higher cognitive questions) Use a basketball approach (the use of supplementary questions or a redirection of questions will unpick detail and consolidate links between key ideas/ reveal misconceptions) Encourage collaboration in the development of responses (A group response encourages speculation and risk taking which in turn fosters learning and reveals misconceptions). Cotton K. Classroom Questioning NW Regional Educational Laboratory 1988

What does good ‘talk’ look like in your classroom? How would you use questions and talk in your classroom?

Delving deeper… Can you give examples of how questions have lead to enhanced thinking or stimulated deep discussion and learning. THINK, PAIR, SHARE

Sharing good practice How does / How would your use of questions support Pupil progress Creativity Resilience (Building learning power)

Thinking further… Is there a difference between the way you use questions in key stages 3 and 4? THINK, PAIR, SHARE

Importance of questioning Questioning is a critical skill for teachers because it is: the most common form of interaction between teacher and pupil; an element of virtually every type and model of lesson; a key method of providing appropriate challenge for all pupils; an important influence on the extent of progress made; the most immediate and accessible way for a teacher to assess learning. A good way to promote discussion Questioning OHT 4.2

Effective questioning reinforces and revisits the learning objectives; includes ‘staging’ questions to draw pupils towards key understanding or to increase the level of challenge in a lesson as it proceeds; involves all pupils; engages pupils in thinking for themselves; promotes justification and reasoning, possibly through the use of follow up questions; It is frequently more open in nature, permitting a range of correct responses uses questions beginning with stems such as ‘Why…?’, ‘How come…?’, ‘How do…?’, ‘What would happen if…?’. creates an atmosphere of trust where pupils’ opinions and ideas are valued; Questioning OHT 4.6a

The effect of changing a question When revisiting the topic of photosynthesis, the following question is commonly asked: ‘What is the equation for photosynthesis?’ What would be the effect of asking: ‘If plants need sunlight to make food, how come the biggest plants don’t grow in deserts where it is sunny all the time?’ Reference: Black and Wiliam (1998) and Black and Harrison (2001).

Knowledge Comprehension Application Analysis Synthesis Evaluation Bloom’s taxonomy of questioning – great to read and use as a model for when planning a lesson with discussion or questions) Knowledge Comprehension Application Analysis Synthesis Evaluation Questioning OHT 4.5

Tips for asking questions Extend thinking time after you have asked a question and after a first response. Adopt a rule of ‘No hands up’. Go for basketball not table tennis Avoid the temptation to prompt, provide the answer or move on to someone else. Ask questions randomly and return to the same pupils on two or three occasions (lollypop stick approach). If pupils cannot answer a question, leave it with them and say you will come back to them after they have thought about it. Don’t forget to go back! Ask pupils to work in pairs on your questions. Discussion encourages collaboration and clarification of thought. Impose a minimum number of words that must be used in the answer Define a list of key words that should be used in the answer

Pitfalls of questioning It is easy to fall into the trap of: not being clear about why you are asking the question asking too many closed questions; asking too many short- answer, recall-based questions; asking too many questions in a short period of time asking difficult questions with no build up asking questions then giving the answer yourself asking ‘guess what I’ve got in my head’ questions; not involving the whole class dealing ineffectively with incorrect answers or misconceptions; not treating pupil’s answers seriously

Strategies for generating questions and discussion: Big questions Basketball Thinking hats Rich stimulus material (using images or broadcast for example) 5 Ws (when, what, why, Question stems Talk cards Hot seating Phone a friend

Strategies to Promote Open Ended Questioning Extended Wait Time It’s Basketball not Table Tennis What is a ‘good’ question? Bouncing Rich Questioning Might Tell your neighbour Group Answers Idea thoughts Level Ladders and Questioning Why? How? What would happen? Extending Word Count Pyramid Discussion

Open Ended Questioning

Back to alternative Strategies Extended Wait Time When asking questions make sure you give enough wait time, it sounds simple but many teachers fall into the trap of not waiting long enough. Give them time to think! Paired talk is a good way of getting all pupils to engage with a question before they answer it, not too long, just enough is the key.

It’s Basketball not Table Tennis Back to alternative Strategies It’s Basketball not Table Tennis Try to get pupils to bounce answers off each other, passing them on and commenting on what has already been said It’s Teacher …pupil…pupil …pupil… NOT Teacher…pupil…teacher…pupil…

What is a ‘good’ question? Back to alternative Strategies What is a ‘good’ question? Discuss with students what makes a ‘good’ question. The process can explicitly show them the difference between open and closed questions. They can then come up with questions on a topic and decide which are best (and why), and then move on to discuss and answer these.

Bouncing Bounce answers around the room to Back to alternative Strategies Bouncing Bounce answers around the room to build on understanding and have students develop stronger reasoning out of misconceptions. E.g. “Jimmy, what do you think of Sandra’s answer?” “Sandra, how could you develop Carl’s answer to include more detail?” “Carl, how might you combine all we’ve heard into a single answer?”

Back to alternative Strategies Rich Questioning Use an enquiry question to stimulate high-level thinking in the lesson or unit. e.g. Do scientists invent complicated words to stop other people from understanding what they're up to? OR Instead of asking “what do you need to do to stay healthy” it might be “Can you put these statements in the correct order. Which do you think has the greatest impact on staying healthy?”

‘Might’ When questioning, insert the word ‘might’ to give students Back to alternative Strategies ‘Might’ When questioning, insert the word ‘might’ to give students greater opportunity to think and explore possible answers. e.g. What is meaning of osmosis? What might the meaning of osmosis be? The first infers a single answer known by the teacher whereas the second is inherently more open.

X and Y Ask students why X is an example of Y e.g. Back to alternative Strategies X and Y Ask students why X is an example of Y e.g. Why is an apple an example of a fruit? Why is a fox an example of a mammal? Questioning in this way avoids opportunity for students to rely on straight recall and asks for the underlying reasoning to be made explicit.

Tell your neighbour Students ‘tell their neighbour’ as a Back to alternative Strategies Tell your neighbour Students ‘tell their neighbour’ as a means of articulating their thoughts. Ask a question, give thinking time and then ask students to tell their neighbour their thoughts. Tell students what the new topic is and then ask them to tell their neighbour everything they know about it.

Group Answers Students work in small groups to Back to alternative Strategies Group Answers Students work in small groups to agree on answers – when tests are returned or in other situations. The process of agreeing should include reasoning over the validity of the consensus answer, as well as reasoned negation of misconceptions or wrong answers.

Idea Thoughts When you have received an answer Back to alternative Strategies Idea Thoughts When you have received an answer to a question, open up the thinking behind it by asking what others think about the idea. e.g. “What do others think about _________’s idea?”

Level Ladders and Questioning Back to alternative Strategies Level Ladders and Questioning Match/name/identify Use models to explain Explain Describe Apply Synthesise Make links L3 L5 L4 L7 L6 Use the vocabulary in the ladder to put questions to pupils at different levels, they can be trained to identify them and can comment on or improve each others answers. It will help you to move away from low level questioning (i.e. Key word answers).

Why? How? What would happen? Back to alternative Strategies Why? How? What would happen? Using the words How… Why… What would happen if… At the start of a question tends to make it more open-ended and gets better responses from students .

Extending Help students to extend their answers with Back to alternative Strategies Extending Help students to extend their answers with supplementary questions Why do think that… What evidence is there…. What have we done that makes you think that… Can you justify that… Can you include the idea of particles…

Word Count Set a minimum number of words that must be used. Back to alternative Strategies Word Count Set a minimum number of words that must be used. I want you to use at least 10 words in your answer! Set some words that must be used in the answer I want you to include the words particle, bonds and reaction in your answer! Paired talk works well with these types of approaches.

Back to alternative Strategies Pyramid Discussion This activity provides a structure for whole class or group discussion of “big” open-ended questions. Cut out the six triangles, each of which has a comment about a big question. Arrange the triangles into a pyramid… Placing the comment you most agree with at the top. Placing the three comments you least agree with at the base of the pyramid. Placing the two comments you quite agree with in the middle. Use your pyramid to scaffold discussion of the big question.

Plenary/ Reflection How are you going to use these ideas: In your own lesson With colleagues in your department With other teachers in school

Question stems you may find useful How does . . ……….. ? Why does . . ……….. ? I wonder whether . . . ? How would we find . . ? Do you think . …….. . ? Would you expect that ..? What would . . . ? What happens if . . ? Can we find a way to . . ? Where do . . . ? Why are . . . ? © Millgate House Education 33