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Questioning

Watch STEM Ambassadors and teachers and how they use questions with young people.

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.
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