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Questioning in the
Classroom
As
teachers we ask questions . . .
- To
find out whether children know things.
- To
develop children’s thinking ability.
- To
motivate children’s learning.
- To
help children interpret materials.
- To
help children organize materials in their minds.
- To
provide drill or practice.
- To
emphasize important points.
- To
show relationships, such as cause and effect.
- To
discover children’s interests
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- To
provide review.
- To
give practice in expression.
- To
reveal mental processes.
- To
show agreement and disagreement.
- To
establish rapport with children.
- To
gain the attention of wandering minds.
- To
diagnose.
- To
evaluate.
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Basic
Types of Questions
Direct
Information Questions help children identify, describe, recall,
recognize, & tell who, what, where, when.
Relational Questions develop children’s abilities to relate,
conclude, infer, compare, and distinguish.
Divergent Questions show children how to predict, construct,
generate, design, create, and develop their ideas.
Evaluation Questions help children evaluate, choose, compare
and decide.
Questions
to Promote Critical Thinking Skills1
Questioning is critical to the teaching-learning process. When working
with young children, ask lots of questions. Not sure what to ask? Try
these for starters:
What
do you think will happen if _____ ?
I don’t know either. Try it and see.
I wonder how ____ works?
What else can you think of that works like/does that?
What can you change to try to make ____ work/happen?
This looks interesting. What are you trying to do?
Tell me about ____.
What can you do to make that happen?
Put together all the things you think belong together.
Tell me how you put your group of _____ together.
Tell me about the ____’s size and shape.
Tell me what you did first/next/afterward.
What happened?
How are these alike? Different?
What did you mix together?
How does it look/feel/smell/sound/taste (IF safe)?
Does it look/feel, etc. the same as it did yesterday?
Where have you seen something like this before?
How did you do that?
What did you find out?
How can you use what you learned?
Can you draw a picture of what you see?
1Questions
adapted from: Barclay, K., Benelli, B., Schoon, S. (1999). “Making
the Connection? Science & Literacy.” Childhood Education,
75 (3) 146-152.
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