Asking Engaging Questions

Teachers use several techniques to educate their students and keep them engaged in the material. The most effective technique a teacher uses is asking questions. This can also be ineffective if not used in the right way. Asking closed ended questions or yes or no questions is not a very effective learning tool. These types of questions do not promote participation in the class room. Most of the time a student will just give the teacher an answer that he or she believes the teacher will want to hear with out exploring into the question. Teachers want to prepare their students for the next level of education. To do this teachers must build their students critical thinking and problem solving skills. The best way to do this is to ask questions. The best questions to ask should be open ended, leading questions, and questions that encourage the students own opinion. I found the best guidelines in Asking Questions to Improve Learning

Open ended questions are the best way to encourage students to dig deeper into the material. According Ben Johnson, in an article that he wrote titled The Right Way to Ask Questions in The Classroom, students place themselves in categories that are those who are smart, those who are not smart, and those who do not care. When a teacher ask a simple yes or no question usually the students in the smart category will raise their hand while the ones in the other two categories sit back and let the others answer the question and continue day dreaming or doodling. When a teacher ask an open ended question and pauses for a few seconds all of the students will be prompted to think about what the answer could be. Also there could be more than one answer and other students can disagree and explain why their answer is best. A teacher could also pose a class debate under an open ended question. Class debates is one of the best ways to get all students involved in the class discussion. Posing debatable questions can eliminate the barrier between the three categories that Ben Johnson speaks of in his article.

Some teachers might have problems with students answering questions that are not confident in their answers. This is where leading questions can be effective. A leading questions is a questions that prompts the desired answer. This type of question will help the students that are not confident by hinting at what the answer is in the question its self. When the students answers the leading question with the desired answer you can then ask them to elaborate more. this will encourage them to think critically and build up the confidence of the student.

Teaching is more than just lectures and power points. In order to have you students truly learn and comprehend the material you must pose effective questions that allow the student to think critically. Effective questions also encourage class participation and get students involved in the material instead of just memorizing it and forgetting it after the exam.