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Questioning Strategies:

Developing Deeper Conceptual Understanding For Students


Strategic Science Teaching 2012 Los Angeles County Office of Education Used with Permission from the Los Angeles County Office of Education http://sst.lacoe.edu

A.

What year did Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon?

B.

What did Neil Armstrong say when he set foot on the moon?

C.

Why did America want to land on the moon?

D.

How would your life be different if Neil Armstrong had not set foot on the moon?

Neil Armstrong Sets Foot on the Moon


How much time did you spend thinking about each question? What is the relationship between the question and time spent thinking?

Levels of Questions:
complete count define list locate name recite select tell

INPUT
identify

observe

describe

match

Levels of Questions:
analyze explain sequence compare analogy summarize estimate experiment separate

PROCESS
arrange group

report

combine
invent

classify

infer

relationship construct distinguish produce plan use

cause/effect contrast organize write synthesize

show

Levels of Questions:
apply principle expand extrapolate project discuss evaluate

OUTPUT
build

model judge choose speculate predict create forecast decide generalize recommend hypothesize

imagine

What

generalizations can you make about the uses of each type of question?
INPUT PROCES

Levels of Questions

Recall - What - Factoid Thinking - How - Interpret

OUTPU

Justify - Expand - Apply Principle

ACTIVITY Private Universe


While viewing Private Universe, make a

T-chart, record questions asked by interviewer on the left side of your paper and student responses on the right side

Private Universe
Identify the level of questions asked by the Interviewer. Discuss student response to each question.

OBSERVING
Tell

Questions that Facilitate The Science Thinking Processes


us what you see. What does this feel like? Give us information about its shape/size. What do you hear? Point out the properties that you observe. What characteristics seem to be predominant?

COMMUNICATING
What

Questions that Facilitate The Science Thinking Processes


do you see? Draw a picture of what you see through the microscope. Plot the data you gathered on a graph. Make a histogram of the number of raisins in slices of raisin bread. Write up your experiments so it can be replicated by someone else.

COMPARING
How

Questions that Facilitate The Science Thinking Processes


are these alike? How are these different? Compare these on the basis of similarities and differences. What is larger/smaller (louder/softer, smoother/rougher, wetter/dryer)?

ORDERING
Which

Questions that Facilitate The Science Thinking Processes


came first, second, last? What is the range in the data you gathered? In what order did these events take place? Where in the order would you place these (for inserting in a range)? Give evidence of when the pattern repeats itself.

CLASSIFYING
On

Questions that Facilitate The Science Thinking Processes


what basis would you group these objects? Put together all those that you think belong together. What is another way in which these minerals can be categorized? Identify several characteristics you used to classify these rocks? What grouping best reflects the evolutionary history of these animals?

RELATING
What

Questions that Facilitate The Science Thinking Processes


factors caused the evenet to take place? Explain why this is a good or inadequate experimenetal design. State a hypothesis so that it is testable. What is the relationship between the coloration of an animal, its environment, and its predators? Using this line graph, tell the relationship between distance and time.

INFERRING
What

Questions that Facilitate The Science Thinking Processes


can you infer from these data? What arguments can you give to support your prediction? Explain how we know about quasars. Under what conditions are we able to extrapolate or interpolate from data? How would you determine how many frogs live in a pond?

APPLYING
See

Questions that Facilitate The Science Thinking Processes


who can invent a glider that will stay aloft the longest time. Design a way to keep an ice cube on your desk all day without melting. What political points of view must be considered if we are to protect the migration flight paths of birds over several countries? What factors must be weighed if experimentation on animals is to take place? How did different lines of evidence confirm a theory of continental drift?

For Additional Support


Dean Gilbert Gilbert_Dean@lacoe.edu (562) 922-6896

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