Deputy Principal's update

The power of a question

One of my favourite activities at Shelford is visiting the Junior School classes to either read them a story or to hear them read to me. I enjoy this time as it is a wonderful opportunity for us to learn together, discover the special theme within a story and hear each other’s key understandings. During this discovery time there are a lot of questions, both from the students and me. The girls’ questions come from a place of curiosity as they actively seek out answers and try to consolidate their own understanding. My questions are used to discover insight, inspire new ways of thinking, excite and offer moments of comfort. 

Asking questions in the classroom is one of the most powerful tools that teachers have available to them. If a teacher is able to ask the right question at the right time it has the power to: 

• encourage thinking and problem solving
• introduce moments of reflection
• challenge thought processes
• correct incorrect understanding
• model effective questioning technique 
• link seemingly unrelated concepts together 
• provide moments of unexpected understanding
• stimulate students to inquire and investigate on their own.

Questions being asked by students can be equally as powerful in their own learning journey. When students ask questions, they are able to demonstrate: 

• their level of insight
• potential confusion about a concept or instruction
• an ability to manipulate and link ideas
• inferences
• critical thinking
• an ability and willingness to share their ideas.

Types of questions

There are many different types of taxonomies, each attempting to classify the variety of questions used by teachers in the classroom. McComas and Abraham (2004) introduced four types of questions. Low and high order questions and convergent and divergent questions.

1. Low order questions – check a student’s ability to recognise something and they only allow for a very narrow range of possible answers.
2. High order questions – allow the student to recognise and identify something, but then ask the student to consider the relationship of that something to other things.
3. Convergent questions – have a narrower focus and require little reflection on the student’s behalf and can normally be answered with factual information.
4. Divergent questions – broader in nature, can have multiple answers, and require a higher level of thinking on behalf of the student, e.g. student must recall information from memory and then apply that knowledge to the question to extrapolate or further analyse.

In the classroom, teachers use these different types of questioning at varying times during a lesson, during different stages of acquisition and in both a verbal and written form. Our students too are able to learn to use these techniques, through observing their teachers in class, modelling their own questions on what they see and hear and then practicing these questions with teachers, their peers or at home. Learning to ask the right question at the right time is a skill that can be learnt and some would say it is definitely an art form to ask the right question.

McComas, W, & Abraham, L (2004) Asking more effective questions (pp. 1–16) Rossier School of Education. https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/sites/ca.centre-for-teaching-excellence/files/uploads/files/asking_better_questions.pdf

Karen Whelan

Deputy Principal, Staff and Operations