Effective Questioning

Today, we will be talking about effective questioning. Before I became a teacher, my questioning techniques sucks. The only question that I always repeat is "How come you don't understand?". Another one is "If you don't tell me what you don't know, how can I explain what you don't know to you?".

Yes. Amazing right?

If the child understands, then he will not need to answer the first question. If he does not understand, he will not know what he does not understand and how do I expect the child to answer the question? The second one is even higher level. The child usually does not know what he does not understand and finds it very hard to articulate his difficulty to you.

In fact, both are very ineffective ways to help the child in his homework. Both are actually statements to display our frustrations to the child and it is not helpful at all for the child's learning.

Let's take a look at a sample question:

--------------------------
A piece of tissue is pasted at the bottom of a paper cup. When the cup is overturned and pushed into a basin of water, the piece of tissue did not get wet. Why is this so?"
--------------------------

The child may give many answers:

i. The tissue is too far from the water.
ii. The water cannot get into the cup.
iii. There is air in the cup.

The answers are all incomplete above. If the answers are incomplete, be happy that the child tried. Encourage the child to develop his thinking further by questioning his own thinking.

NEVER give the answer to the child. Or else, the child will just memorize the answer but has no idea about the logic behind the answer. Giving answers is the worst possible way to teach a child.

Focus on the topic in discussion. Find out what topic it is and expand on the topic. My questioning will be like this:

1. What are the materials involved? (tissue, cup and water. If the child can give air, good. If cannot, probe.)
2. What other important things are involved? (air)
3. What is the topic in discussion here? (matter, air)
4. What are the properties of matter?
5. What are the properties of gas/air?
6. How are the properties linked to this question?
7. If I pour the water directly into the cup without overturning it, will the tissue get wet? Why?

Guide your child along the topic in the question and the child will hit on the answer as he goes along. Question on each item to make sure the child is on the right track.This is a very important examination technique when your child is stuck at a question he is unsure of. The last question is actually a stretch question to test your child's understanding on the topic. The water cannot get into the cup when the air cannot be displaced.

Ask about the topic rather than guiding your child towards the model answer. What you want is your child to fully understand the concepts, not memorize the answers.

As a teacher, there are only two goals in my teaching: assimilation of new information for the children and clearing of any misconceptions that the child might have. When these two are achieved, effective learning has occurred.

Let's work hard together!

little motivator