Tomorrow's Professor Msg. # 67 ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS IN CLASS

Folks:

Kenneth Solomon, professor and department head of the BioResource &
Agricultureal Engineering Department at CalPoly, San Luis Obispo, has
called my attention to a very interesting web site,  "Effective Teaching in
Agriculture and Life Sciences," at http://www.ais.msstate.edu/TALS/ It was developed as a joint project (funded by the USDA) between Mississippi State University, North Carolina Stste University and New Mexico State University.

The site has a wealth of information on all aspects of effective teaching
and learning. Topics include:

1-Developing Higher-Order Thinking Skills
2-Improving Presentation/Classroom Skills
3-Motivating Students to Learn
4-Using the WWW in Instruction
5-Lecturing Successfully
6-Research on Effective Teaching
7-Test Construction
8-Alternatives to Lecturing
9-Learning Styles
10-Issues in Higher Education
11-Laboratory Instruction
12-Preparing and Using Visuals
13-Course Planning and Development
14-Designing and Evaluating Student Assignments
15-Diversity and Related Issues
16-Lesson Planning
17-Teacher Evaluation
18-Advising Students

Below is a sample from Unit 2 - Improving Presentation/Classroom Skills, Module D - Questioning.

Regards,

Rick Reis
reis@stanford.edu
UP NEXT: The 25 Greatest Astronomical Findings of All Time
 

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   ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS IN CLASS

"Effective Teaching in Agriculture and Life Sciences," Unit 2 Improving Presentation/Classroom Skills

Module D -Questioning

Teachers should be liberal in their use of questions while teaching.
Numerous research studies have found a correlation between questioning and
student learning. Questions serve a variety of purposes:

* They can be used to ascertain what students know prior to
  teaching
* They can be used to determine if students have learned
  what has been taught
* They can be used to gain attention
* They provide variation while teaching
* They can be directed at problem students to get the student back on task
* They cause students to think

Using questions while teaching is a desirable behavior.

Levels of Questions: Questions are typically divided into two levels: Higher
Order and Lower Order. The higher order questions call for responses from students that require synthesis, analysis and evaluation. Lower order questions require students to provide answers that demonstrate basic
knowledge and comprehension (see Unit 1 Developing Higher-Order Thinking Skills for a review of the levels of the cognitive domain). It is desirable to ask both higher order and lower order questions. Research finds professors tend to ask only lower order questions.

Types of Questions: There are several systems for classifying questions. One system classifies questions as convergent or divergent. Convergent questions have a single or limited number of correct answers. Convergent questions typically involve the recall of facts or application of knowledge to a specific situation. Examples of convergent questions are:

    What is the chemical formula for photosynthesis?
    What are signs of nitrogen deficiency in plants?
    Which breeds of livestock would be best adapted for South Texas?

In some classification schemes, convergent questions are called closed
questions.

Divergent questions have many correct answers or even unknown answers. They are often used to get students to think or solve problems. Examples of
Divergent questions are:

What do you think will happen to family farms over the next ten years If you were the Secretary of Agriculture, what three things would you do first?
 
For an agribusiness to be successful, what business principles must be
followed?
 

Teachers typically asked convergent questions five times more often than
they ask divergent questions. Both types of questions are valuable in the
classroom. In some classification schemes, divergent questions are called
open questions.

A probing question is one in which the teacher asks the student to provide
additional information, clarify a response or justify an answer. Teachers
should get into the practice of asking probing questions as this causes students to develop higher order thinking skills. Even if a student response to a question is correct, it is appropriate to follow-up with a probing question.

One teaching skill not discussed in Module A of this lesson is cueing. When a student is asked a question and cannot respond, it is ok to provide a hint
or clue to help the student. This is called cueing.

Steps in Asking Questions

There is a correct way and incorrect way to ask a question. A novice teacher may throw out a question or two to the class, get no response, and then decide not to use questioning as a part of the teaching repertoire. The problem was in the way the question was asked. In using questions the following sequence is recommended:

1.Ask the question. The question should be clearly stated and correctly
phrased. If all you get are blank looks after asking a question, it may be
because the question is poorly worded. When teachers come up with questions on the spur of the moment, they may not be the greatest example of precise wording. It isn't a bad idea to write down 2-3 questions you might want to ask and place those in your lecture notes.

2.Pause. After the question is asked, the teacher should pause for several
seconds. This allows time for students to formulate a response. The longer
the pause, the better the response will be. Research shows the average
pause time after a question is asked is eight-tenths of a second. This is
inadequate. Research shows the quality of the response is improved if more
time is allowed for students to think after a question is asked.

3.Call on a student by name. There are two things that generally happen
when a teacher asks a question, but doesn't call on a specific student to
respond.

A. No one will respond. Broadcast questions such as "Does anybody know..." or "Who knows..." rarely invoke a response; especially early in the semester. After rapport has been established, a professor may be able to
ask this type of question. A specific student should be called on to answer the question.

B. One or two students may dominate the class if no one is called on to
respond. Every time a question is posed, the same couple of students will
answer. This is not desirable.

There are some people who are reluctant to call on a student by name
because they might embarrass the student if the student doesn't answer the
question correctly. As long as the professor doesn't lambaste the student
for not knowing the answer and makes it a habit to call on all students in
the class as a matter of course instead of singling out a few, this isn't a
major problem.

The reason the questioning process starts with stating the question instead
of identifying a student to answer is because this will cause all the
students to have to think of the answer. If the teacher calls on a student
and then asks the question, the other students tend to relax.

4.Acknowledge the answer, probe or redirect the question. The manner in
which the teacher reacts to a student response to a question depends up the
time available and the goals trying to be accomplished. The simplest
response is to say "That is correct" or "That isn't quite right" or
something to that effect. The student response should beacknowledged but a
master teacher will build upon the student response whether it correct or
incorrect. A master teacher will probe further (Why do you believe that to
be true? Are you sure? Why did you respond that way?) or redirect the question to another student (Do you agree? What do you think?). The question may be redirected to 3-4 other students. Even if the original response was correct, it is not a bad idea to bounce the same question off of several students. Probing and redirecting the question promotes a deeper level of understanding and thinking.

5.State the correct response. Before a question is left, the teacher should
emphasize the correct answer.