Questioning: An Effective Teaching Practice

bubbles with question marks inside
Questioning: An Effective Teaching Practice

How does questioning foster curiosity and wonder in the classroom?

Questioning is a key component of Project-Based Learning. The driving question sparks curiosity and wonder to engage our students. Students and teachers then continue to ask questions to support their learning and to address the driving question.

A deep understanding of the use, types and patterns of questioning will support the intentional and purposeful use of questioning within your PBL unit for you and your students. This module will look at the effective teaching practice of questioning through the lens of the teacher.

We suggest keeping a journal to record the discussion prompts, within the modules and videos, and your responses.

 

To learn more about questioning, and how to implement this instructional strategy in your curriculum, explore the materials below.

Module 1: Use of Questions
 

"Effective teaching uses purposeful questions to assess and advance students' reasoning and sense making about important ideas, concepts, and relationships” Principles to Action: Ensuring Mathematical Success for All, p 35

  • What is the use of questions? View this video to learn more about how we use questioning in our instruction. (~ 8 minutes)

Organizational structure of learning

  • Ask a colleague to observe your class and record the use of questioning: Assessing and Advancing
  • Once you have collected your data, reflect on your use of questioning.
    • Reflection Sheet
      • How do you typically use questioning?
      • Is there a good balance of your use of questioning?
        • Are there opportunities to adjust/change your use of questioning?
Module 2: Types of Questions
 

"Although the question types differ with respect to the level of thinking required in a response, all of the question types are necessary in the interactions among teachers and students." Principles to Action: Ensuring Mathematical Success for All, p 36

  • What are the types of questions we ask? View this video to learn more about the types of questions we ask in our instruction. (~ 7 minutes)

Organizational structure of learning
  • Ask a colleague to observe your class and record the types of questions that are asked: gathering information, probing thinking, making the learning visible, and encouraging reflection and justification.
  • Once you have collected your data, reflect on the types of questions asked.
    • Reflection Sheet
      • What types of questions do you generally ask?
      • Is there a good balance of the types of questions?
        • Are there opportunities to adjust/change the types of questions you ask?
Module 3: Patterns of Questioning
 

"While the types of questions that teachers ask are important, so are the patterns of questions they use during teacher-student interactions." Principles to Action: Ensuring Mathematical Success for All, p 37

  • What are the patterns of questioning that we use? View this video to learn more about the patterns of questioning. (~ 9 minutes)

  • Organizational structure of learning
    • Note the pattern of questioning you use in your instruction over several days or a week - funneling and focusing
    • Once you have collected your data, reflect on the types of questions asked.
      • Reflection Sheet
        • What pattern of questioning do you generally use?
        • Why might you use one pattern of questioning over the other?
          • Are there opportunities to adjust/change the pattern of questioning you use?
        • What are some next steps you will take when planning lessons/units regarding the pattern of questioning?
Wrap It Up
  • View this video to wrap up our learning about Questioning (~ 6 minutes)

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Resources and Next Steps
Questioning: An Effective Teaching Practice

Resources used to support the development of this professional learning opportunity:

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