Effective Questioning

Questions can do more than measure what students know.

Appropriately challenging, engaging, and effective questions stimulate peer
discussion and encourage students to explore and refine their understanding.
Most individuals fail to realize how complex it is to ask effective questions.
One must consider whether it is a closed or open-ended question, the halttime, the wait-time, and also if the question is related to the talked about
topic. Mrs. Dickerson did a great job when it came to asking her

students

thought-provoking questions. She would start off asking a closed-ended

question to get her students warmed up, such as List the changes of
matter." The students began to shout their responses until Mrs. Dickerson
heard them all. Then she would move on to ask Explain the changes in
matter?" One students responded, melting is when a solid turns to a liquid.
Another student responded freezing is when a liquid turns to a solid.
Although that was still a closed-ended question, the students are thinking a
little bit harder now to remember the definition or explanation of the word.
Mrs. Dickerson then asked an open ended question, which was, Give me an
example of a change of state in matter. The students began to get quiet to
think. She gave them about 15 seconds before she asked for answers. One
student answered water drying up after it has rained, thats evaporation.
Which I personally thought was a great response. These were just a few of
the types of questions she asked when teaching the students about the

different changes of matter from one state to another which are: melting,
freezing, condensing, boiling, and evaporating.
Mrs. Dickerson plays a game frequently in her classroom called, Bump.
The students formed two separate lines (the line they fell into depended on
whichever side of the room they sat on) and Mrs. Dickerson asked questions
about the content they have been learning all throughout the year. If a
student answered a question right they could stay in the game. If a student
got a question wrong and the other team answered correctly, they could
bump one team member out of the other group. Mrs. Dickerson used lower
level questions first and moved up to higher level questions. I recorded some
of the science questions. One question asked, Topic: Matter, Mother was
cooking spaghetti last night. The water got so hot that steam floated up from
the pan. What is the steam an example of This was an open response
question. The student who answered this question, answered correctly.
Another question I recorded was, Herbivore is animal that... This question
was also open response, there could have been many possible answers to
this question. The last question I recorded on my paper was, Which of the
following is not an example of a physical change? The answer choices were:
a. burning, b. cutting, c. freezing, and d. bending. The student that answered
this question, answered incorrectly. Mrs. Dickerson asked more questions to
direct him to the correct answer. I appreciated this gesture because this gave
the student the opportunity to find out the correct answer on his own.
Throughout the entire game Mrs. Dickersons wait time was consistent, she

gave each student ample time to formulate an answer or response and most
importantly she chose quality questions.
Overall, Mrs. Dickersons questioning was very effective. I believe her
students really benefit from her questioning techniques. She even informed
me that she uses her. Another technique she used was using the students
names in questions and problems. I tried that during a lesson in a 5th grade
classroom and they student really liked it. I have learned that effective
questioning is not only about getting the students to think higher but it is
also about relating the question to them so that they will understand and be
more eager to answer.