The skillful art of questioning “Sometimes questions are MORE important than answers” – Nancy Willard

1. THE SKILLFUL ART
OF QUESTIONING
MARVIN B. BROÑOSO
27 October 2012
LITTLE ANGEL STUDY CENTER

2. “SOMETIMES QUESTIONS ARE
MORE IMPORTANT THAN
ANSWERS”
– NANCY WILLARD

3. “I never learn anything
just by talking. I only
learn things when I ask
questions” – Lou Holtz

4. ICE BREAKER
1. Jot down two (2) facts about yourself
2. Jot down one (1) lie about yourself

5. THE WORD QUESTION
COMES FROM THE
LATIN WORD QUAERO
MEANING “TO ASK”

6. “TO QUESTION WELL IS TO TEACH
WELL. IN THE SKILFUL USE OF
QUESTIONING LIES THE FINE ART
OF TEACHING. FOR IN IT WE HAVE
THE GUIDE TO CLEAR AND VIVID
IDEAS’ THE QUICK SPUR OF
IMAGINATION, THE STIMULUS TO
THOUGHT, THE INCENTIVE TO
ACTION” – C. DEGARMO

7. FACT
When you ask questions with clarity, others
respond more appropriately
When questions stimulate a person to think,
a deeper level of understanding results
Being understood is a deep human need

8.  A handy and available
teaching tool placed in the
hands of a teacher.
Yet…… they are used
carelessly or at times,
teachers fail to see all its
possibilities to promote
effective learning.

9. WHY THE NEED TO LEARN
THIS ART?
American 5th
graders spend 91% of
their school day either listening
to a teacher talk or working alone
Studies of 1st
and 3rd
grade pupils
showed similar results
PIANTA and BELSKY, 2007

10. FACT : Traditional
classrooms, at all levels,
are dominated by activities
of the Q and A type

12. CATEGORIES OF QUESTIONS
USING BLOOM’S TAXONOMY
• KNOWLEDGE (5Ws and 1H)
- remembering / recalling / not
necessarily understanding
• ex. List the planets in order
from smallest to largest.

13. •COMPREHENSION
- understanding the material being
communicated without necessarily
relating it to anything else
Ex. Describe one of the planets in
terms of its physical characterisitcs

14. • APPLICATION - to solve a problem
using information learned
•Ex. Explain the difference between a
star and a planet when viewing it with
the naked eye.
•

15. •Analysis - take apart information and
look at the small elements that make up
the large part
•Ex. Compare and contrast the 9 planets
in terms of surface, temperature and
distance from the sun.

16. • SYNTHESIS -creating something new
by combining different ideas
Ex. Describe a guided tour through
one of the planets. What new
experiences could be derived from
such a tour?

17. EVALUATION  judging the
merits of ideas; offering
an opinion and being able
to support it
Do you think the government is
justified in allocating the
taxpayers’ money on space
exploration? Why or why not?

18. WHY QUESTION?
to check for understanding
to stimulate thinking
to motivate and engage
to discover pupils’ interest
to diagnose difficulties

19. to provide drill or practice
to focus pupil’s attention
to develop new appreciation and attitude
to show relationship

20. PURPOSE OF QUESTIONS
Teachers ask questions for CONTROL
of the following:
Behavior
Focus attention
Direct students to a point
Learning
Allow students to tap their schemas by linking
recently acquired knowledge
Promote deeper understanding + encourage
processing
Pace of the lesson

21. “SINO ANG MAY
TANONG? KUNG AYAW
NYONG MAGTANONG
AKO ANG
MAGTATANONG.”

22. TYPES OF QUESTIONS
ACCORDING TO LEVEL OF
DIFFICULTY
-High level -Convergent
-Low level -Divergent

23. CONVERGENT
QUESTIONS
Test knowledge of concrete facts
One way answer

24. DIVERGENT
QUESTIONS
Test ability to synthesize
information, offer opinions or create
hypotheses based on knowledge
Have NO SINGLE CORRECT answer

25. IMPORTANCE OF CLOSED
AND CONVERGENT
QUESTIONS
Serves as a review before an
exam or as re-enforcement or
for purposes of clarification
Gives students a feeling of
preparation

26. IMPORTANCE OF OPEN
OR DIVERGENT
QUESTIONS
Sparks discussion
Students derive personal
meaning from what they learn

27. Given this proportion:
55:110=1:X
What is the value of
X?
Given this proportion:
55:110=1:X
What values of Xcan
satisfy the proportion?

28. WAYS TO IMPROVE THE
DEPTH OF QUESTIONING
Text rendering with a purpose
Think pair/share collaboration
Making connections

29. A GOOD COMPREHENSION
CONTINUUM…
1.Answers literal questions
2.Retells
3.Merges thinking with context
4.Acquires new knowledge
5.Actively uses knowledge to connect

30. PRACTICE WITH
COMPREHENSION
•Connector- text to text, text to self, text to real
world
• EXAMPLE: What does this remind you of?
•Discussion director – use of “thick questions”
•Quotation finder – determine important quotes from
the text/discuss why
•Summarizer – develop a synopsis of main points

31. CLARIFYING QUESTIONS
(Convey that that the teacher heard the
answer but does not fully understand; asks
for more information)
1.Can you tell me a little more about what
you were thinking _
2.Can you give me an example of what you just
said?
3.Let me see if I understood what you said
4.It would help me understand if you’d give
me an example of _____

32. PARAPHRASING
Communicates that the T heard what the S said
Understood what was said and cares about what was
said
Involves restating in your own words or summarizing
what was said
EXAMPLE: What I hear you saying is ________

33. MEDITATIONAL QUESTIONS
-hypothesizes what might happen
-analyses what worked/didn’t
-imagines possibilities
- EXAMPLE: How did you decide that was the right answer?
What do you think would happen if…
When have you done something similar

34. WHY PRACTICE “WAIT
TIME”?
Higher level thinking responses increase
Failure to respond decreases
Number of appropriate responses increases
Pupil confidence increases
Length of student responses increases

35. QUALITIES OF A
GOOD QUESTION
•brief, clear and unequivocal
•not directly lifted from the textbook
•in good grammatical form
•applicable to all students
•thought-provoking and challenging
•relevant to the topic under
discussion

36. CONDUCT OF A SOUND
QUESTIONING STYLE
oCall at random as against a fixed order
oFrame non-directed questions
oAsk questions in a conversational and non-
threatening note
oUse a variety of question types
oAllow for sufficient wait time
oCourtesy should always prevail between
teacher and student

37. oTeachers should know and
anticipate all possible answers
oAddress the question to the class
first before calling for an
individual to respond
oTeacher’s FAQ:
o“ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS?”
o“IS EVERYTHING CLEAR?”

38. HANDLING STUDENT
RESPONSEshow acknowledgement for any answer
never let wrong answers go uncorrected
give appropriate praise
follow up a response with a related question
show non-verbal encouragement
refrain from marking in the record book during
recitation
encourage the observance of correct grammar and
responses in complete statements

39. HANDLING PUPIL’S
QUESTIONS
Be glad and welcome questions
Irrelevant and nonsense questions are not
to be entertained
Admit in all honesty if you don’t know the
answer
Encourage students, like the shy ones, to
initially write down their questions
Allow adequate time for open questioning

40. GENERAL BODY
LANGUAGE RULES
1. Maintain open (uncrossed) arms
2. Face your class directly when
questioning
3. Look a person in the eye when you
ask questions
4. Stand or sit erect

41. 5. Keep both feet on the ground
6. No jiggling, shaking or rocking. Agitation or
impatience is communicated as much by body language
as by expressions. If you want good answers, do not
communicate agitation even if you are agitated
7. Lean slightly forward immediately after asking.
This connotes interest in the answer
8. Keep a relaxed face for the best response. Avoid
furrowing your brow, pursing your lips, biting your
lips, squinting, wincing, frowning, or otherwise
communicating discomfort

42. 9. Smile or look friendly. This works in your
favour even when you may be probing for serious
mistakes or unethical or illegal behaviour
10. Breathe normally. Heavy sighs right after you
ask might unsettle the person
11. Stay alert
12. Appear prepared for the answer. Always expect
the unexpected. Surprised happen infrequently, but
they do happen. Prepare to take them in stride.

43. ITS EFFECT ON
PUPILS?
 Encouraged
 Discouraged
 No effect at all

44. 5 E’S MODEL OF
LEARNING THRU THE
USE OF EFFECTIVE
QUESTIONING

45. 1.Engage
•Make connections between past and
present learning experiences
•Ex: Have you ever eaten home made
ice cream? Name the ingredients
that you think ice cream is made
of.

46. 2. EXPLORE
Students actively make use of the
environment or manipulate
available materials
Ex: How can you make ice cream
with these ingredients? What if
you wanted to have a distinct
flavour or taste? What would you
do? Think of other ways by which
ice cream can be made.

47. 3. EXPLAINStudents verbalize their conceptual
understanding or demonstrate new skills
and construct meaning
 The T introduces formal terms and
definitions and explanations for
processes and ideas
Ex: Why are the liquid ingredients
turning into ice cream?
What does salt do in the ice cream
making process?

48. 4.ELABORATE
•Allow students to practice skills
and behaviour, refine their
skills, develop a broader
understanding, apply new
understandings to new problems
•Ex: Can you make ice cream without
one of the ingredients?
•Is it possible to make flavours of
ice cream using herbs?

49. 5.EVALUATE
•Encourages learners to assess their
understanding and level of mastery;
lets teachers evaluate students’
level of acquisition
Ex. Why are there brands of ice
cream that are more pricey? Does its
taste justify its cost? Can our
local brands compete with those of
their foreign counterparts in terms
of taste, variety of flavors, etc.

60. ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
Have no simple “right” answer and are not
recited facts------they are meant to be argued!
EX. Does art reflect culture?
Is it possible to “look but not see”?

61. AN ESSENTIAL QUESTION IS
DESIGNED TO PROVOKE AND
SUSTAIN STUDENT INQUIRY
Examples :
Are censorship and democracy compatible?
How can social networking have both a positive and negative effect on
users?
Why write?
Does healthy food have to taste “less delicious” than unhealthy ones?

62. AN ESSENTIAL QUESTION RAISES
OTHER IMPORTANT QUESTIONS.
THEY ARE NATURALLY
GENERATIVE.“In nature, do only the strong survive?” leads to other inquiries into biology
such as:
What do we mean by “strong?
 Were dinosaurs “not strong” as they failed to survive? Are insects then
considered the stronger species as they were able to thrive till the present
times?
What does it mean to be “emotionally” strong? “spiritually” strong?

63. THANK YOU VERY
MUCH!
THAT IN ALL THINGS,
GOD MAY BE GLORIFIED!