Session 2.2 - Questioning
The OER4Schools Professional Learning Resource
Learning intentions and objectives.
In this session you will learn about:
- differentiating between types of questions: closed questions versus open questions; and surface questions versus deep questions
- generating open and deep questions
- other types of questions that you can ask students (e.g. questions for remembering/understanding/applying/analysing/evaluating/creating)
- handling multiple responses
Success criteria.
To meet the learning intentions you will:
- play a game to classify questions as open or closed
- further classify questions during discussion using an information sheet for reference
- watch a video and identify techniques for handling multiple responses
ICT components.
The ICT components you will focus on are
- planning a lesson with Geogebra
- using Etherpad to make shared notes
Classroom based activities (with your students, after this session):
- do a lesson with Geogebra
Resources needed.
You will need to have Etherpad or another collaborative writing application available and some red/yellow/green cards for robots/traffic lights resource.
Review of follow-up activities from last session
If you are running a professional learning programme which follows these sessions in sequence, then you should do the review of follow-up activities relating to the (Category:OER4S CPD). The 'review of follow-up activities' for that session is available, and also shown below in the session text. However, if you are following selected sessions in a different order, then you should use the reflection appropriate to the previous session you did.
The review of the follow-up activities for this session (to be done at the start of the next session) is available here.
There is no review of follow-up activities from last session available. You can go to the previous session () and.
Introduction
Questioning, offering opportunities for classroom talk, and listening to learner responses are an essential part of interactive teaching. They help teachers to determine
- what learners understand,
- what they misunderstand and
- what they are actually learning.
Reflecting on current questioning practice
The idea behind this activity is to make the need for this session explicit.
You will need mini-blackboards and something for display (blackboard/flipchart).
Choose some topics that participants are teaching this week (from the curriculum), and display the topics (on blackboard or flipchart). Some examples are:
- the importance of water(Relates to Index for Inclusion, C1.2 ),
- living together(Relates to Index for Inclusion, C1.13 ),
- transport(Relates to Index for Inclusion, C1.5 ),
- types of fertilizers (organic and inorganic) and their advantages or disadvantages(Relates to Index for Inclusion, C1.1 ), e.g.
- uses of different parts of a plant(Relates to Index for Inclusion, C1.8 ), and
- health(Relates to Index for Inclusion, C1.6 ).
Same-task group work (5 min) in pairs: Coming up with some questions. Choose a topic from the board. Write a list of up to five questions on mini-blackboards or paper that you normally ask/would ask the pupils in class?
Allow only about 3-5 minutes for this activity so that spontaneous questions are recorded.
After 3-5 minutes, explain what open and closed questions are (see background reading below) and ask for a couple of questions for each example from the whole group to illustrate. Write these examples (no more than two of each question type) on the blackboard or flipchart or ask a volunteer participant to do so, for reference during the game. When you are sure that participants have got the idea of the differences between the question types proceed with the game.
During the game, ensure that participants do not feel less motivated if their questions are more closed or surface type. To ensure this:
- Refrain from judging questions. Record/discuss questions factually without expressing any emotion.
- Mention that all types of questions have value and can be used for different purposes. Closed and surface questions are also important to some extent.
- Maintain positive body language by listening attentively.
Before the session, prepare the workshop room by marking OPEN on one side of the room and CLOSED on the other side. To keep it simple, draw a line on the floor with a chalk and write OPEN and CLOSED!
To start the game, ask participants to look at the first question (on their respective lists), work out whether it is open or closed and move to the corresponding side of the room. When participants have categorised their first question, take a few examples from each side of the room for clarification that they have been correctly categorised. Participants move on to the second question on their list and categorise it in the same way.
Continue to play the game for five minutes, clarifying that questions have been correctly categorised after each new move, taking examples from different participants each time.
Observing, thinking, reflecting (5 min) Facilitator talk on open and close questions.
Game (5 min) on open and closed questions. The facilitator will ask you to categorise the questions on your list, one at a time, as open or closed and to move to the corresponding side of the room. Work through your questions one at a time and categorise them as closed or open when asked to do so. For each question, move to the side of the room marked OPEN if that question is open or to the side marked CLOSED if that question is closed. Be prepared to explain your rationale to the rest of the group.
Make this activity interesting by asking participants to run to their side (OPEN or CLOSED) at the sound of clap and ask the participant who gets there first to clap when it is time to move again after considering the second question, and so on.
Whole class dialogue (5 min): Reflecting on current practice. Where are you standing? Is your current practice of generating questions more open or more closed?
Reading about open and closed questions
Observing, thinking, reflecting (5 min): Reading about open and closed questions.
Closed versus Open questions:
- Closed questions are factual and focus on a correct response. Some examples are: Name the different parts of a plant? What are the five nutrients that must be present in a balanced diet? How many sides does a triangle have? What is the formula for calculating perimeter of a square? How many planets are there in the solar system? Name two sources of renewable energy.
- Open questions have many answers. Some examples are: What could be the consequences of water contamination? How does a balanced diet help us? How could we use flowers of plants? Suggest ways to prevent spread of malaria in your community?
Surface versus Deep questions:
- Surface questions elicit one idea or some ideas. For example, What is the difference between organic and inorganic fertilizers? What is the use if carbohydrates in a balanced diet? Which part of the sugar cane plant is used for eating? Which features of a cactus plant are useful for its survival in desert regions?
- Deep questions elicit relations between ideas and extended ideas. For example, What would happen if only inorganic fertilizers are used for growing plants? What connections do you see between climate of a region and its vegetation? Why is the water in the nearby pond not safe for drinking?
‘What if’ and ‘Why’... questions can help you delve deeper into pupils’ thinking.
Collecting open questions with Etherpad
ICT activity (15 min): Introduction to Etherpad. You have been doing your typing practice for a while, and this will help you now. We are going to use a collaborative writing activity to make note of the open questions defined in the previous activity. The facilitator will now introduce you to Etherpad. Work in small groups (one group per computer), and enter your open questions only (from your mini whiteboard/black board) into Etherpad.
Introduce participants to Etherpad (or another collaborative writing application), and get participants to write open questions from the previous activity.
Throughout this session, make a note of open questions: We will use those later when planning an activity.
To introduce Etherpad, you can use ideas from here: Group chat with messenger or collaborative writing. Let participants observe how words appear on all screens simultaneously. Perhaps you have some participants writing, while others go round and observe. Then swap who writes and who observed. Make sure that all participants get the idea.
Questioning our questions
Whole class dialogue (10 min): Discussion of the questions collected on Etherpad. Now look at the questions we have collected. What makes these questions open rather than closed? What other ways can we classify them?
Draw attention to or hand out questions you can ask and incorporate these into the discussion (see end of this session).
Encourage participants to use this resource for planning their activity (see below) and as ready reference during teaching (by printing them on cards).
Refer to open and closed questions if you get stuck.
Reading (20 min) questioning the questions. Read pages 2 and 3 of the "Questioning the Questions" handout (Questioning the Questions (info)).
Discuss:
- What was your most important learning from the handout?
- Which points from page 3 are you already practising during your lessons?
- Which points can you immediately carry out?
- Which points might need some more preparation?
- What other points would you like to include in this document?
Allow at least 15-20 minutes for the reading. Proceed from reading to discussion only if most participants are ready. This will show that you are respecting the participants’ pace, something that they could follow in their classroom. Participants who have read sooner than others can be asked to think of other points about "questioning and handling responses" that they would want to include in this handout.
Reinforce some learning from previous sessions during the discussion, such as use of props and use of rules. What about ‘no hands up’ (point 8 on p.3); is it a useful technique?
Discuss points 1 and 3 only if you think there is less time. It is important that participants cover the material on pages 2 and 3 of the document during the workshop. You may wish to use the following activity as an alternative to individual reading:
Alternative activity for covering the information on page 3:
There are 12 (not 14 as it appears) short points for participants to get their head around. These could be divided up amongst the group, so one point each or one between two depending on the group size. Participants should read and understand their point, perhaps coming up with an example to help clarify it to the rest of the group. After allowing participants a few minutes to understand their point, ask them in turn to stand up and explain it to the rest of the group. They should present their point in their own words and not just read from the document. By the end of this activity the participants will have verbally presented the contents of page 3 of the document in a way that makes the material easily accessible and may make it easier to remember.
Video on crime writing
Observing, thinking, reflecting (10 min): Video on crime writing. Watch the video in which an English teacher is introducing the crime-writing genre to 12- to 13-year-old pupils in a UK classroom. The lesson prepares them for writing their own crime story.
The situation mentioned on the board is “An abandoned briefcase has been handed in to police. What could the content reveal about the owner?”. The clip illustrates teacher questioning and handling responses for encouraging pupils to consider alternatives.
Suggested questions for reflection:
- What did you notice about the teacher’s questions in this clip?
- Which questions elicited multiple responses or could have done?
- How did the teacher handle multiple responses?
- How would you improve the teacher’s questions?
- What would you do differently while handling multiple responses?
VIDEO
Caroline briefcase clip
Unit 2, session 2 - Caroline briefcase clip
Video/Unit 2 session 2---Caroline briefcase clip.m4v, https://oer.opendeved.net/wiki/Video/Unit_2_session_2---Caroline_briefcase_clip.m4v,This video is available on your memory stick in the video/Video from other organisations folder. Duration: 1:47 watch on YouTube, local play / download options / download from dropbox)(Series: Video from other organisations, episode N/A)
Planning a questioning activity
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Different-tasks group work (15 min): Planning in pairs for an activity with open ended questions. In the activity template, plan for questioning as part of a lesson that you will teach in the coming week. Find some relevant images that you can use to base your questions around and list some open and deep questions to ask in the class in order to challenge students and get them thinking. Try out some of the points mentioned in page 3 of the handout. Record specific questions on the template.
Ask participants to focus on the questioning part of the activity. Therefore ask participants to record on the template:
- What images they will use - What will they be used for? What is/are the purpose(s)?
- Questions to start the lesson?
- Questions while pupils are looking at the pictures? Clear explanation of task.
- Questions after looking at the pictures? Questions about pupils' thoughts that relate to objectives of the lesson? Questions that summarize pupils' learning?
For example, if the topic is clean water, participants can record:
- Images that they will use e.g. sources of water that show clean and unclean water.
- Questions to start such as, look at the pictures and identify sources that are safe for drinking.
- Questions while pupils are looking at pictures such as, why is water from this source safe? how does the water get contaminated?
- Questions at the end such as, what can we do in our homes to ensure that the water we drink is clean? What are the effects of drinking unclean water?
They can complete the remaining plan later.
ICT practice: Different-tasks group work with ICT and activity planning
Facilitator distributes robots/traffic lights.
Introduction (5 min) to Robots (Traffic lights)(a).
Robots/traffic lights have three lights - red, orange and green. These lights signal to drivers what action they should take on the road with each coloured light having a different meaning associated with it: Red means STOP; Orange means GET READY TO GO and Green means GO. Their meanings for classroom application are:
- RED means “I’m stuck. I need some extra help. I don’t feel I have progressed.”
- ORANGE means “I’m not quite sure. I need a little help. I feel I have made some progress.”
- GREEN means “I understand fully. I’m okay without help. I feel I have progressed a lot.”
While you do practical work in groups, make a stack of your three cards near your groups. Place the colour on top which shows how you are progressing as a group. The facilitator will see the colour and help you appropriately.
Different-tasks group work (20 min) with ICT on various topics. You now have 20 minutes to do ICT practice. You might want to use this time to find digital images for your questioning activity or to familiarise yourself further with either
- Etherpad or
- Geogebra.
As you work with the applications, occasionally think about how you would use them in the classroom. You may now feel ready to plan an activity with Geogebra in your classroom. Refer back to the Geogebra work we did in previous sessions. Have a look at the introduction to Geogebra here, you might want to base your lesson on something similar.
You might also want to refer back to introduction to slideshows with Open Office, and typing practice with students.
Connecting with overarching goals of the programme
Open space (10 min). It's now time for the "open space", that gives you an opportunity to discuss issues that have arisen, and to relate those to the broader context of the programme. Do not just gloss over this section, but make time to raise issues, and probe the progress that you are making. You could use this space to:
- Remind yourselves of the of the Most Significant Change Technique, and e.g. collect more of your stories.
- Discuss your assessment portfolios: Is there anything that you are unsure about? Is it going well? What could be done better?
- Check on the work with the classroom assistants: Is this going well? Are there any tensions? Any observations or tips you can share?
- Reviewing individual ICT practise (such as typing practise).
- If you are preparing a presentation for other teachers, you could work on the presentation (about what you have been learning, stories emerging from MSC).
- Remind those who are doing audio diaries, to upload them.
- You could discuss any other issues that have arisen.
You will find notes and summaries of various techniques and concepts on our reference page, and you might want to refer to those for clarification during this activity if needed.
Follow-up activities
Agreeing follow-up activities (5 min).
Part A: Use your questioning activity. Teach a lesson with this activity and try out the questions that you have planned. Record any questions that you generated without planning (as best as you can!)
Part B: Try out Geogebra with your class. Also see whether you can continue carousel-style groupwork for typing practice.
Part C: Reading. Read p. 6 of the VVOB handout, section on “handling answers”. Think about how you will handle/respond to the multiple answers to your questions (that you just planned). Record your ideas on the activity template sheet.
Remind participants to bring the VVOB handout for the next session.
In the next session, these follow-up activities will be reviewed. If you are using this session on its own, you can have a look at the review of follow-up activities here.
Handouts
Questions you can ask in class
- Can you guess what will happen?
- Can you give me an example? Can you find an (another) example?
- How does (cause) relate to (event)? or How does this explain ...?
- Is this the same as …? Is this different from ...?
- Tell me something that is true about ...
- What connections can you see between ...?
- What always seems to happen?
- What other ways are there to …?
- What do you think is happening?
- What would happen if ...?
- What could be changed if we want...? What would you change so that ...?
- What is wrong with ...?
- What happens when ...?
- What did you observe?
- What do you think about ...?
- What do you think about what X said? Why?
- Why do you think that ...?
- Can you explain that to your partner?
- Can you group these?
Here are some questions classified using Bloom's taxonomy, in order of increasing demand:
Remembering
- What do you remember about ...?
- How would you define ...?
- How would you recognise ...?
- What would you choose ...?
- Describe what happens when ...?
- How is ...?
- Which one ...?
- Why did ...?
Understanding
- How would you clarify the meaning ...?
- How would you differentiate between ...?
- What did you observe ...?
- How would you identify ...?
- What would happen if ...?
- Can you give an example of ...?
Applying
- How would you develop... to present ...?
- What would be the result if ...?
- How would you present ...?
- How would you change ...?
- Why does ... work?
- Can you develop a set of instructions about ...?
- What factors would you change if ...?
Analysing
- How can you classify ... according to ...?
- How can you compare the different parts ...?
- What explanation do you have for ...?
- Discuss the pros and cons of ...?
- What is the analysis of ...?
- How is ... similar to ...?
Evaluating
- What criteria could you use to assess ...?
- What data was used to evaluate ...?
- What choice would you have made ...?
- What is the most important...?
- How could you verify ...?
- Is there a better solution to ...?
- What do you think about ...?
- Do you think this is a bad or a good thing?
Creating
- What alternative would you suggest for ...?
- What changes would you make to revise ...?
- Predict the outcome if ...?
- What could you invent ...?
- How would you compile the facts for ...?
- If you had access to all resources how would you deal with ...?
- Compose a song about ...
- Design a ... to ...
You can print this content on a separate sheet here: OER4Schools/Questions you can ask.
How do you find out whether your question is open or closed? How do you find out whether your question is surface or deep? Let's first look at some examples:
Closed versus Open questions:
- Closed questions are factual and focus on a correct response. Some examples are: Name the different parts of a plant? What are the five nutrients that must be present in a balanced diet? How many sides does a triangle have? What is the formula for calculating perimeter of a square? How many planets are there in the solar system? Name two sources of renewable energy.
- Open questions have many answers. Some examples are: What could be the consequences of water contamination? How does a balanced diet help us? How could we use flowers from plants? Suggest ways to prevent the spread of malaria in your community?
Surface versus Deep questions:
- Surface questions elicit one idea or some ideas. For example, What is the difference between organic and inorganic fertilizers? What is the use of carbohydrates in a balanced diet? Which part of the sugar cane plant is used for eating? Which features of a cactus plant are useful for its survival in desert regions?
- Deep questions elicit relations between ideas and extended ideas. For example: What would happen if only inorganic fertilizers are used for growing plants? What connections do you see between the climate of a region and its vegetation? Why is the water in the nearby pond not safe for drinking?
‘What if’ and ‘Why’... questions can help you delve deeper into pupils’ thinking.
Here are some questions you can use about your questions!
- Does this question have one correct answer?
- Is there more than one answer to this question?
- Are you using this question to get a student to give you a particular answer?
- Could a student come up with the answer through their own thinking, or is it something that they either know or don't know?
- If the question is answered by somebody, would it be possible for somebody to object to the answer, and come up with a different answer (that can be justified, or one that at least isn't easy to dismiss).
Also try to answer the question yourself: Is it a productive question? You could also test your question on a colleague: Again, how do they answer the question?
Also see OER4Schools/Questions you can ask, and also see Starting the enquiry based learning process regarding "productive questions".
You can print this content on a separate sheet here: OER4Schools/Open and closed questions.
At the end of each session, we provide an overview of the activities in this session, together with their suggested timings. Although this appears at the end of the session (for technical reasons), you should keep an eye on this throughout the session, to make sure that you are pacing the workshop session appropriately!
Total time: 135 (min)
Activities in this session:
- Same-task group work (5 min) in pairs: Coming up with some questions.
- Observing, thinking, reflecting (5 min) Facilitator talk on open and close questions.
- Game (5 min) on open and closed questions.
- Whole class dialogue (5 min): Reflecting on current practice.
- Observing, thinking, reflecting (5 min): Reading about open and closed questions.
- ICT activity (15 min): Introduction to Etherpad.
- Whole class dialogue (10 min): Discussion of the questions collected on Etherpad.
- Reading (20 min) questioning the questions.
- Observing, thinking, reflecting (10 min): Video on crime writing.
- Different-tasks group work (15 min): Planning in pairs for an activity with open ended questions.
- Introduction (5 min) to Robots (Traffic lights)(a).
- Different-tasks group work (20 min) with ICT on various topics.
- Open space(10 min).
- Agreeing follow-up activities(5 min).
If you have printed this session for offline use, you may also need to download the following assets:
- Questioning the Questions
- Video/Unit 2 session 2---Caroline briefcase clip.m4v (local play / download options / download from dropbox)
