Questioning is an integral part of the teaching process, particularly in science. So how do you ask the right questions? In this post we’ll explore just that.  

It’s said that teachers ask nearly 400 questions a day (ASCD, 2008).  Questioning enables teachers to check pupils’ understanding at key points in the lesson. It also encourages engagement and focuses the pupils’ thinking on key concepts and ideas. The kinds of questions that teachers ask, and the way teachers ask these questions can, to some extent, influence the type of cognitive processes that pupils engage in as they grapple with the process of constructing scientific knowledge (Chin, 2007).

Questions can be used at the start of a lesson to find out the pupils’ ideas and what they already know about a particular topic. This can help to identify misconceptions. Every investigation should begin with a question or a problem that can be answered through exploration. Questions can be used in a plenary to stimulate pupils to reflect on their experiences in the lesson.  

Teachers can use questions in different ways:

• Questions for finding out pupils’ ideas: “What do you think is happening…?”
• Questions for encouraging predictions: “What do you think will happen if…?”
• Questions to encourage planning: “How will you make this a fair test?”
• Questions to encourage further questions: “What other things would you like to know about rainforests?”

Wonder Walls

Effective questioning should not be a one-way process. Pupils should be encouraged to ask more questions. Start by asking “What things would you like to know about this topic?” In this way they could generate their own questions for research or for investigation. You might use a KWL grid to let pupils record what they Know, what they Want to know and what they have Learnt.

Taking this idea further, some teachers set up a “Wonder Wall” on a display board in their classroom for pupils to post the questions they have at the start of a unit of work, and they can add to it as the unit progresses. See this blog post for more: https://www.madlylearning.com/wonderwall/

Open and closed questions

Closed questions are often used to evaluate what pupils know. The teacher asks a closed question that is basically information-seeking, that requires a predetermined short answer, and that is usually pitched at the recall or lower-order cognitive level (Chin, 2007).

Closed questions can be answered with either a short word or phrase, or can be answered with just a simple yes or no.  Closed questions are good for giving you facts. They are easy and quick to answer.

Closed questions can be useful as opening questions since they are easy for the pupils to answer. They could be used for quick-fire questions around a particular topic area. But they do not allow the pupils much room to explain what they think. They mainly deal with recall questions.

Examples of closed questions

• Is ice a solid?
• Did the cress seeds germinate when water was added?
• Which parachute fell the slowest, the large one or the small one?

In comparison, open questions allow the pupils to give a long answer. They give the pupils a chance to think and reflect (Chin, 2007). Questioning is used to diagnose and extend pupils’ ideas and to scaffold their thinking. Open questions begin with words such as what, how, why, describe, and predict. They can allow for higher-order thinking.

Examples of open questions

• What properties does ice have that made you classify it as a solid?
• Describe what conditions are needed for cress seeds to germinate?
• How did the size of the parachute affect the speed that it falls?

Blooms Taxonomy and Questions

Questioning enables teachers to check pupils’ understanding at key points in the lesson. It also encourages engagement and focuses the pupils’ thinking on key concepts and ideas.

Bloom’s Taxonomy is one approach that can be used to help plan and formulate higher-order questions. It arranges questions based on their level of complexity, from basic knowledge and understanding of a concept or process to higher levels of critical and creative thinking.

Basic Recall: Knowledge: What, when, who, identify

Demonstrating Understanding: Comprehension: Compare, predict, explain, contrast.

Using Knowledge: Application: Build, plan, how would, test.

Examining Information: Analysis: Why did this happen? What would have happened if…?

Creating something new: Synthesis: Could you design…? How might you stop X happening?

Assessing value: Evaluation:  Is there a better way to do? Is this a good or bad thing?

Keep this hierarchy in mind when planning the progression of questions to use. You might start with some simple knowledge questions, then move up to higher-order questioning.

Questioning techniques

Instead of asking a question and waiting for hands up, some different questioning techniques to try include: 

• Turn to your neighbour: pupils discuss the question with someone sitting nearby.
• Think-pair-share: first think individually, then discuss with a partner and then share their thinking with the class.
• Cold calling: ask the question then choose a child to answer instead of hands up. Can use lollipop sticks to select a child at random.
• Mini Whiteboards: pupils use individual whiteboards to write down their answers and then show the class or group.
• Bounce it: Teacher chooses a child to answer, but if that child doesn’t know they can choose to “bounce” it to another child. That child explains it to them, and the original child has to then tell the teacher the answer.
• Agree, Build, Challenge: or ABC questioning: Once one child answers the question, another child can say whether they agree and why. A different child can be chosen to build upon this answer, and another could challenge it and suggest a different answer

Useful Links

ASCD (2008) Asking Good Questions https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/asking-good-questions

Chin, C., (2007) Teacher Questioning in Science Classrooms: Approaches that Stimulate Productive Thinking. Journal of Research in Science Teaching. 44.6 pp815-843 – Online at https://www.stem.org.uk/system/files/community-resources/legacy_files_migrated/10174-Chin-2007-Journal_of_Research_in_Science_Teaching.pdf

Harlen, W. (2006) Teaching Learning and Assessing Science 5-12. (Sage)

National Association for Able Pupils in Education (2019) 10 Ideas for Improve your use of questioning in science https://www.nace.co.uk/blogpost/1761881/327881/10-ideas-to-improve-your-use-of-questioning-in-science

Whitby, V. (2006) Teacher Questioning in Primary Science. Early Child Development and Care, 83:1, 109-114. https://doi.org/10.1080/0300443920830110

Title Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay