Transcript Optimise the use of higher order questioning techniques to

Questioning for Challenge
RAISING ACHIEVEMENT THROUGH ADVANCED
QUESTIONING STRATEGIES
Dr Marcella McCarthy
Most teachers’ questions are answered in less
than two seconds; just not by students...
Research shows...
 Teachers typically use 300-400
questions every day. Most are lower
order, functional requests
 Increasing higher-order questions
to around 50% of the total can raise
attainment and improve pupil
attitudes
 Questions are a part of every
teacher’s toolkit—but we need to
consider why we use questions, and
what we want to achieve by them if
we are to use them effectively.
What do you think works?
Give pupils
opportunities to
teach part of the
lesson and take
questions from
their peers
Operate a “No
hands” rule to
encourage wider
participation and to
avoid dominance of
talk by some pupils
Encourage pupils
to devise questions
of their own in
order to develop
their creative
thinking skills
Increase “wait time”
after asking a
question to allow
pupils to formulate a
more thoughtful
response
Tell pupils not to be
afraid to make
mistakes and
explain that wrong
answers can be
helpful for learning
Arrange the chairs
and tables in your
classroom to
facilitate paired and
group work, e.g.
Double horseshoe
Use open
questions as well
as closed to
promote higher
order thinking and
divergence. (More
than one answer)
Increase “wait time”
after taking a
response to allow
pupils to expand and
develop an initial
comment
Encourage
continuation of talk
by nodding
supportively and/or
saying: Tell me a
bit more about that
Eavesdrop on pupil
dialogue, noting
down key phrases
and comments to
share with the
group during the
plenary
Model active
listening skills, e.g.
eye-contact,
supportive nodding
and so on
Encourage pupils to
build on or challenge
one another’s
comments, keeping
your own comments
to a minimum
Improving questioning was
World’s
most
one of
the keys to
raising
attainment
identified
by
annoying
question
Black and Wiliam in
saves planet!
Inside the Black Box
Bloom’s Taxonomy gives a structure...
Synthesis (using information to move forward in a creative way)
Evaluation (making judgements about
information)
Analysis (investigating elements of the information)
Application (considering practical relevance of information)
Comprehension (understanding of
information recalled)
Knowledge (recalling factual information)
That we can use for framing questions
 Synthesis
 Evaluation
Higher order
 Analysis
 Application
 Comprehension
 Knowledge
Lower order
To generalise (shockingly)...
Lower
Higher
 Who
 Why
 What
 How
 Where
 Which
 When
 Explain
 Closed questions
 Open questions
Lower vs Higher order questioning
Lower order questions ask
learners to...
Higher order questions
ask learners to...
 Feedback information
 Interpret ideas
 Respond to simple
 Suggest solutions to




queries
Answer comprehension
questions
Give a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer
Stick to the point
Recall facts and figures





problems
Explain why something
is important
Give opinions
Make comparisons
Speculate
Imagine possibilities
Lower vs Higher order questioning (II)
 But not every ‘why’
question is a winner...
Why does Macbeth have
blood on his hands in this
picture?
Why does Macbeth react
so strongly here to having
blood on his hands?
Golden rule... Use WAIT
TIME
 In the 1970s, Mary Budd Rowe videotaped hours of elementary science
classes, and noticed how teachers generally waited only one second
before answering or repeating a question.
 After teachers were trained to allow 3-5 seconds of wait time the
following effects were noticed...
Increasing wait time to 3-5 seconds...
DECREASED
INCREASED
 Students who failed to
 Unsolicited but appropriate
respond when called on




Journal of Research in Science
Teaching 11 (1974), Mary Budd
Rowe 81-94, 263-279

responses
Length of student responses
Reponses from less able
students
Number of student questions
Number of student
statements where evidence
was used to make inferences
Student-to-student
interactions
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
What evidence is
there to suggest that
the bears were
domesticated?
Who was the
youngest bear?
What was it about
Daddy Bear’s
porridge that
Goldilocks did not
like?
At which point in the
story does tension
and suspense reach
its height?
Why did the bears
leave their house
and go off into the
woods?
In what ways is the
story of Goldilocks
similar and different
to the story of Snow
White?
Were any crimes
committed during
the course of the
story?
Which word best
describes
Goldilocks: curious,
bold, inquisitive,
unwise or lucky?
How might a
feminist interpret the
story of Goldilocks
and the Three
Bears?
What do you think
happened after
Goldilocks ran away
at the end of the
story?
How might
Goldilocks have
used a mobile
phone if she had
possessed one?
What can we learn
about the sleeping
arrangements of the
bears from the
story?
What do you think
Goldilocks may have
dreamt about as she
slept?
Do you think
Goldilocks deserved
to be punished or
rewarded for what
she did?
How could the bears What gives the story
have prevented an
of Goldilocks its
intruder from
enduring appeal?
entering their home?
Some other golden rules
 Phrase questions clearly, and give
clear feedback.
 Beware run-on questions—but don’t
be afraid of ‘off-piste’ questioning
 Don’t always use ‘hands-down’
questioning. Research suggests that
active student response can be
helpful in promoting participation
amongst socioeconomically
disadvantaged students.
 The best way to cut down your
questioning is to increase the
questions students ask of you.
Try using Question Cards
 Some groups are easily dominated by
confident students
 Try using question cards to make
sure questioning is fair—give each
student five cards they have to use
during the lesson
 This automatically avoids ‘hands up’
and gets students used to asking
open questions of you and each
other that require thinking time
 This strategy can be useful in
checking that you are not
inadvertently biased, as well as
introducing students to the language
of higher-order questioning
Good learning
starts with
questions, not
answers.
Professor Guy Claxton
Co-director of the centre for real world
learning