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Growing Thinking SchoolsFrom the Inside Out

w w w . t h i n k i n g s c h o o l s i n t e r n a t i o n a l . c o m

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6 Starting Points

Reflective questioning

Thinking skills

Collaborative networking

Developing dispositions

Structuring environment

Visual Mapping

What are the purposes of asking pupils questions ?

Why are we asking the question below?

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Consider the following outcomes for students from teachers’ use of quality questioning articulated by Jackie Acree Walsh and Beth Dankert Sattes (2011, p.3):

• Focus their thinking on specified content knowledge• Use cognitive processing strategies to develop deep understandings and long-

term retention of content• Ask questions to clarify or extend understandings• Monitor progress (toward learning targets through self-assessment and use of

formative feedback)• Develop personal response-ability by using structural supports for thinking• Contribute positively to the creation of a classroom learning community in which

thinking is valued

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“Effective use of questioning is a critical asset in every good teacher’s toolbox. But just as a good mechanic

selects the right tool for the job and uses it correctly, a good teacher uses questions at the right level and

follows good questioning techniques.”

William G CampVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Developing EffectiveQuestioning Practices

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“If you should ever be charged in actual fact with the upbringing and education

of these imaginary children of yours, so you will make a law

that they must devote themselves especially to the technique

of asking and answering questions.”

- Plato’s Republic

Wait time is essential to the development of higher order thought processes when pupils are asked to answer a questions.

It is the amount of time that elapses between a teacher asking a question and asking pupils to answer.

The average teacher’s wait time is 1 second!

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Wait time is essential to the development of higher order thought processes when pupils are asked to answer a questions.

It is the amount of time that elapses between a teacher asking a question and asking pupils to answer.

‘Wait time’

Are you aware that…

The ‘average’ teacher asks c. 400 questions a day, allowing less than a second for an answer, before throwing the question to someone else, or answering it themselves.

Steven Hastings TES, 04/07/2003

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Impact of Increasing “Wait Time”

for pupils

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Impact of Increasing “Wait Time” for teachers

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Research shows overwhelmingly that: Teachers use memory questions in over 70% of their

teaching time;

Teachers overemphasise fact questions in tests and exams; Questions in textbooks are predominantly memory or fact questions.

Karron G Lewis ~ Centre for Teaching Effectiveness, University of Texas

Developing Effective Questioning Practices

A review of 37 projects in 1988 suggested that increasing the proportion of higher-order questions to 50% brought significant improvement in student attitude and performance

Source: Steven Hastings TES, 04/07/2003

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Applying

Analysing

Evaluating

Blooming Thinking

AndersonBloom

Application

Analysis

Synthesis

Evaluation Creating

UnderstandingComprehension

RememberingKnowledge

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“If we expect pupils to engage in more creative and stimulating thought processes, we, as teachers must

encourage them by asking higher level questions.”

Karron G Lewis ~ Centre for Teaching Effectiveness, University of Texas

Developing EffectiveQuestioning Practices

• Purposeful (asked to achieve a specific purpose)

• Phrased clearly (pupils understand what they mean)

• Brief (stated in as few words as possible)

• Thought provoking (they stimulate thought and response)

• Probing (involve follow-on or leading questions and ‘digging deeper’)

• Limited in scope (multiple part questions are confusing)

• Adapted to the level of the class (appropriate and differentiated)

• Art Costa and Bena Kallick

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Plan your questions, however…

• Be prepared to ask follow up questions that are logical and sequential

• Decide if the question is directed at the whole class, a group or an individual

• Pose questions that allow the pupils to have ‘thinking time’

• Balance your questions between fact and thought

• Ask questions in a conversational tone

• Design questions that elicit sustained responses

Other Possible Effective and Engaging Questioning Practices…

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• Stop asking so many questions yourself!

• Expect pupils to pose more questions both spoken and written

• Encourage pupils to question other pupils during discussion

• Welcome questions when they come

• Give time to allow students to pose follow up questions

• Collect, discuss, categorise and develop pupils’ questions

Other Possible Practices To Stimulate Students’ Questioning

Who…?What …?Where…?When…?Which…?

Repeat NameRecall StateList Count

Factual answers, recall and recognitionRemembering

What does this mean?What is the point?Can you explain …?

Restate ExplainInterpret TranslateSummarise infer

Rephrasing and interpreting to show understanding

Understanding

Sim

ple

Que

stio

ns

What other examples are there of this?

Show UseApply ConstructIllustrate

Applying knowledge to a new situation or experience

Applying

How are they similar/different?How does it work ...?What is the evidence …?

Compare ContrastClassify OrderExamine Analyse

Break into parts to examine more closely and understand relationships

Analysing

Why do you think about…?Why do you prefer this? What is the best …?

Rank ConcludeEvaluate AssessDecide check

Making judgements and assessments and coming to conclusions

Evaluating

How could we design…?Could we add …? What would happen if …?

Invent ProduceDesign ComposeInvent ConstructImprove

Combining information to create something new

Creating

Com

plex

Que

stio

ns

Question StartersThinking LanguageDescriptionLevel of Thinking

and Questioning

Isidor Rabi (1898 – 1988), a Nobel Prize

winner in Physics, is reported to have said

that when he was at school, his mother did

not ask him at the end of the day what he had

learnt, but what questions he had asked.

“The test of a good teacher is not how

many questions he can ask his pupils

that they will readily answer, but how

many questions he inspires them to ask

him which he finds it hard to answer.” - Alice Wellington Rollins (1847 – 1897)

Analyse the question ~ What do you mean by…?

Rephrase the question ~ Are you saying …?

Turn the question back to the pupil ~ What do you think?

Ask a supporting question ~ I wonder whether …?

Suggest a line of enquiry ~ Perhaps we could …

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Q Matrix (Spencer Kagan)

Is Did Can Would Will Might

What

Where /When

Which

Who

Why

How

“Children often come

into school adept at

asking questions but

leave 13 years later

with a much

atrophied question-

asking muscle.”Dan Rothstein and Luz SantanaMake Just One Change: Teach Students to Ask their Own Questions, 2011