QUESTIONING

RESEARCH FINDING:

Student  achievement  rises when teachers ask questions that  re-
quire students to apply, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate infor-
mation in addition to simply recalling facts.

COMMENT:

Even  before  Socrates,  questioning was one of  teaching's  most 
common and most effective techniques.  Some teachers ask hundreds 
of questions, especially when teaching science, geography, histo-
ry, or literature.  

But questions take different forms and place different demands on 
students.   Some questions require only factual recall and do not 
provoke  analysis.   For example,  of more than 61,000  questions 
found in the teacher guides,  student workbooks,  and tests for 9 
history  textbooks,  more than 95 percent were   were devoted  to 
factual  recall.   This  is  not to say that questions  meant  to 
elicit facts are unimportant.  Students need basic information to 
engage in higher level thinking processes and discussions.   Such 
questions  also  promote class participation and provide  a  high 
success rate in answering questions correctly.

The difference between factual and thought-provoking questions is 
the  difference between asking:   "When did Lincoln  deliver  the 
Gettysburg Address?"  and asking:   "Why was Lincoln's Gettysburg 
Address  an  important speech?"  Each kind of  question  has  its 
place,  but  the second one intends that the student analyze  the 
speech  in  terms of the issues of the Civil War.  Although  both 
kinds  of  questions are important,  students achieve  more  when 
teachers ask thought-provoking questions and insist on thoughtful 
answers.   Students'  answers may also improve if  teachers  wait 
longer for a response, giving students more time to think. 




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