Copyright ©2007 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved. Gary D. Borich Effective Teaching Methods, 6e Gary D. Borich Effective Teaching Methods 6th Edition Chapter 9 Questioning Strategies

Copyright ©2007 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved. Gary D. Borich Effective Teaching Methods, 6e Chapter Overview What is a question? Question-asking behavior What are the purposes of questions? What are convergent and divergent questions? Question context What does the research say about asking convergent and divergent questions? Who are the targets of questions? What sequences of questions are used? What levels of questions are used? Summary of question types How are probes used? How should you use wait time? Are questioning strategies culture specific? What are some common problems in using questions?

Copyright ©2007 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved. Gary D. Borich Effective Teaching Methods, 6e What Is a Question? An effective question is one for which students actively compose a response and thereby become engaged in the learning process. An effective question depends on voice inflection, word emphasis, word choice, and the context in which it is raised. The three most commonly observed teacher behaviors in the classroom are structuring, soliciting, and reacting.

Copyright ©2007 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved. Gary D. Borich Effective Teaching Methods, 6e Question-asking Behavior Soliciting, or question-asking behavior, encourages students to act on and think about the structured material as quickly as possible after it has been presented. It has been estimated that 70–80% of all questions are “recall of facts” questions, and only 20–30% require clarifying, expanding, generalizing, and making inferences (requiring higher level thought processes).

Copyright ©2007 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved. Gary D. Borich Effective Teaching Methods, 6e What Are the Purposes of Questions? Common purposes for asking questions are: Getting interest and attention Diagnosing and checking Recalling specific facts or information Managing Encouraging higher-level thought processes Structuring and redirecting learning Allowing expression of affect

Copyright ©2007 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved. Gary D. Borich Effective Teaching Methods, 6e What Are Convergent and Divergent Questions? Convergent Questions limit possible responses to one or a few correct answers (also called a direct or closed question). Divergent Questions may have many correct answers, or a range of acceptable responses. They may also have wrong answers.

Copyright ©2007 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved. Gary D. Borich Effective Teaching Methods, 6e Insert table 9.1 here

Copyright ©2007 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved. Gary D. Borich Effective Teaching Methods, 6e Question Context The same question can be convergent under one set of circumstances and divergent under another, as when so- called creative answers to a divergent question have been memorized from a list.

Copyright ©2007 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved. Gary D. Borich Effective Teaching Methods, 6e What Does the Research Say About Asking Convergent and Divergent Questions? Research has not established that the use of higher-order questions is related to improved performance on standardized tests. However, higher-order questions have been found to elicit analysis, synthesis, and evaluation skills, which are among the skills most sought in adult life.

Copyright ©2007 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved. Gary D. Borich Effective Teaching Methods, 6e Who Are the Targets of Questions? Questions can be specifically worded for cognitive complexity as well as directed to individuals, groups, or the entire class.

Copyright ©2007 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved. Gary D. Borich Effective Teaching Methods, 6e What Sequences of Questions are Used? Questions may be used in the context of many different sequences, such as funneling, where increasingly specific conditions are added to an original question, narrowing it to one requiring simple deduction.

Copyright ©2007 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved. Gary D. Borich Effective Teaching Methods, 6e Insert table 9.2 here

Copyright ©2007 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved. Gary D. Borich Effective Teaching Methods, 6e What Levels of Questions are Used ? (1) In addition to being divergent, convergent, and targeted to specific kinds of learners, Questions can be formulated at different levels of complexity in the cognitive domain. –Knowledge questions ask learners to recall, describe, define, or recognize facts from memory. –Comprehension questions ask the learner to explain, summarize, or elaborate on previously learned facts. –Application questions ask the learner to use facts in a new and different environment.

Copyright ©2007 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved. Gary D. Borich Effective Teaching Methods, 6e What Levels of Questions are Used? (2) –Analysis questions ask a learner to break a problem into its component parts and to draw relationships among the parts. –Synthesis questions ask the learner to design or produce a unique or unusual response to an unfamiliar problem. –Evaluation questions ask the learner to form judgments and make decisions using stated criteria for determining the adequacy of the response.

Copyright ©2007 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved. Gary D. Borich Effective Teaching Methods, 6e Summary of Question Types Type 1 Behaviors. Type 1 questions call for acquisition of facts, rules, and action sequences. They are often convergent questions that have a single best answer or a small number of easily defined answers. They are associated with a direct instruction model that focuses on the knowledge, comprehension, and application levels of cognitive complexity. Type 2 Behaviors. Type 2 questions call for acquisition of concepts, patterns, and abstractions. They are often divergent questions, for which many different answers may be appropriate. Type 2 questions are associated with an indirect instruction model at the analysis, synthesis, and evaluation levels of cognitive complexity.

Copyright ©2007 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved. Gary D. Borich Effective Teaching Methods, 6e Using Probing Questions A probe is a question that immediately follows a student’s response to a question; its purpose is to elicit clarification, to solicit new information, or to redirect or restructure a student’s response. The key to probing for new information is to make the follow-up question only a small extension of the previous question.

Copyright ©2007 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved. Gary D. Borich Effective Teaching Methods, 6e Use of Wait Time The time you wait before initiating another question or turning to another student may be as important in actively engaging the learner in the learning process as the question itself. Teachers should wait at least 3 seconds before asking another question, repeating the previous question, or calling on another student. Longer wait times are associated with longer responses, greater numbers of voluntary responses, and many other positive outcomes. –Wait time 1 refers to the amount of time a teacher gives a learner to respond when first asked a question. –Wait time 2 refers to the interval of time after a learner’s first response until the teacher or other students affirm or negate the answer and the teacher moves on.

Copyright ©2007 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved. Gary D. Borich Effective Teaching Methods, 6e Are Questioning Strategies Culture Specific? Researchers point out that the linguistic, sociocultural, and social interaction patterns of classrooms can diverge from those found in the home/community of immigrant children. Sociolinguistics is the study of how cultural groups differ in the courtesies and conventions of language, rather than in the grammatical structure of what is said. Cultural-specific questions are questions that take into account the wait time, rhythm, participation structure, and dominant means of expression predominant among a culture.

Copyright ©2007 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved. Gary D. Borich Effective Teaching Methods, 6e What Are Some Common Problems in Using Questions? (1) Avoid problems commonly observed in the question-asking behavior of beginning teachers: Avoid overly complex or ambiguous questions. With divergent questions, be prepared for unusual, but correct answers. Know in advance the complexity of behavior you expect as a result of a question.

Copyright ©2007 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved. Gary D. Borich Effective Teaching Methods, 6e Don’t supply the correct answer to your own question without probing first. Don’t prevent a student from completing an answer, even if incorrect. Use partially correct or wrong answers as a platform for eliciting clarification, soliciting new information, or redirecting. What Are Some Common Problems in Using Questions? (2)

Copyright ©2007 by Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey All rights reserved. Gary D. Borich Effective Teaching Methods, 6e Figure 9.1 A decision tree for deciding on the types of questions to ask. Insert figure 9.1 here