Teacher+Questions

One of a teacher’s major tools is that of questioning. A teacher asks questions for a variety of purposes. Teacher questions fall into two main groups. The first group of questions are asked for the immediate benefit of the learner. These questions are asked with the objective of facilitating thinking and promoting learning, The second group of questions are asked for the benefit of the teacher. And have the objective of deciphering thinking and learning.



All teacher questions will address the central aspects of learning and thinking, however they will approach these aspects in different ways depending on the objective. It is important to be aware that a question asked with the intent of evaluating an aspect of thinking may at the same time promote thinking, for instance… “What would happen to their internal temperatures if a black box and a white box of the same size were placed in the sunshine for the same length of time?” The teacher may have asked this question to evaluate retention of material covered but the outcome may be that the question actually promotes reasoning and thinking. As teachers we have to be aware of the power of questions and the fact that questions may have different impacts on different students.