The document discusses characteristics of effective peer instruction questions for college classrooms. It notes that good questions have clarity, proper context within the course material, assess learning outcomes, include informative distractors in incorrect answers, appropriate difficulty level, and stimulate thoughtful discussion among students. The document is from the Center for Engaged Teaching at UC San Diego and provides guidance on creating high-quality questions to engage students through peer instruction techniques.

1. The College Classroom
Sample Peer Instruction Questions
Peter Newbury
Center for EngagedTeaching
UC San Diego
commons.ucsd.edu
Remember, some of these questions are deliberately bad!
Unless otherwise noted, content is licensed under
a Creative CommonsAttribution- 3.0 License.

2. clarity Students waste no effort trying to figure out what’s
being asked.
context Is this topic currently being covered in class?
learning
outcome
Does the question make students do the right things
to demonstrate they grasp the concept?
distractors What do the “wrong” answers tell you about
students’ thinking?
difficulty Is the question too easy? too hard?
stimulates
thoughtful
discussion
Will the question engage the students and spark
thoughtful discussions?Are there openings for you
to continue the discussion?
What makes a good question?
(Adapted from Stephanie Chasteen, CU Boulder)Peer Instruction - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu

3.  clarity  context  learning outcome  distractors
 difficulty  stimulates thoughtful discussion
Peer Instruction - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu

4.  clarity  context  learning outcome  distractors
 difficulty  stimulates thoughtful discussion
Peer Instruction - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu

5.  clarity  context  learning outcome  distractors
 difficulty  stimulates thoughtful discussion
Peer Instruction - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu

6.  clarity  context  learning outcome  distractors
 difficulty  stimulates thoughtful discussion
Peer Instruction - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu

7.  clarity  context  learning outcome  distractors
 difficulty  stimulates thoughtful discussion
Peer Instruction - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu

8.  clarity  context  learning outcome  distractors
 difficulty  stimulates thoughtful discussion
Peer Instruction - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu

9.  clarity  context  learning outcome  distractors
 difficulty  stimulates thoughtful discussion
Peer Instruction - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu

10.  clarity  context  learning outcome  distractors
 difficulty  stimulates thoughtful discussion
Peer Instruction - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu

11.  clarity  context  learning outcome  distractors
 difficulty  stimulates thoughtful discussion
Peer Instruction - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu

12.  clarity  context  learning outcome  distractors
 difficulty  stimulates thoughtful discussion
Peer Instruction - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu

13.  clarity  context  learning outcome  distractors
 difficulty  stimulates thoughtful discussion
Peer Instruction - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu

14.  clarity  context  learning outcome  distractors
 difficulty  stimulates thoughtful discussion
Peer Instruction - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu

15.  clarity  context  learning outcome  distractors
 difficulty  stimulates thoughtful discussion
Peer Instruction - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu

16.  clarity  context  learning outcome  distractors
 difficulty  stimulates thoughtful discussion
Peer Instruction - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu

17.  clarity  context  learning outcome  distractors
 difficulty  stimulates thoughtful discussion
Peer Instruction - collegeclassroom.ucsd.edu