Questioning

We use questioning when communicating with others for many reasons. When in a learning or instruction situation, we generally use questions to:

• Maintain the flow of the learning within the lesson/activity.
• Engage students with the learning.
• Assess what has been learned.
• Check that what has been learnt is understood and can be used.
• Provide an opportunity for pupils to share their opinions/views and seek responses from their peers.
• Encourage creative thought and imaginative or innovative thinking.
• Foster speculation, hypothesis and idea/opinion forming.
• Create a sense of shared learning and avoid the feel of a ‘lecture’.

Task

Watch the video of STEM Ambassadors and a teacher asking questions. Compare the purpose of the different questioning techniques. Note in the comments below which types of questions were used and how the students responded to them.