Questioning for responsive teaching

Questioning can have many different purposes. In this article I would like to share videos that show questioning for:

  1. Confronting misconceptions to create cognitive conflict
  2. Leading questions for building new concepts and linking with prior learning
  3. Extending and generalising questions to pushing thinking further

I hope you find it really useful!

Tierney

Confronting misconceptions to create cognitive conflict

When students have misconceptions, it can be easy to lead them to the correct answer but without making a permanent change. The following two videos show just how persistent a misconception can be, and how much wavering or cognitive conflict is required before a permanent change occurs.

Video 1: creating cognitive conflict and wavering.

Video 2: using disequilibrium to create a change.

What patterns did you notice in the questioning?

Video 1:

  • Comparison or judgment questions: asking the learner to compare and make a judgment about two things without requiring an explanation. Yes/no, bigger/smaller, which bit?
  • Clarification questions: repeating back what the child says, but as a question. This creates some thinking time and requests clarification. Now it’s not a half? So you think it’s a half and two quarters?

Video 2: once serious wavering has happened…

  • Discrepancy questions: focus on the illogicality of the change. So now that’s quarters, but the minute you flip it over it turns into thirds? This creates a tipping point, or disequilibrium.
  • Nature of the change questions: questions to draw attention to the change and force a decision. Count it for me – has it changed? So, are 2 quarters the same as a half? Can it also be thirds? What do they have to be?

Connecting and leading questions

Once students have let go of a misconceptions, leading questions can be used to develop connections quickly.

  • Comparison/judgment should be used first to check understanding: Does it matter which way you folded the half?
  • Extend immediately if correct: 1/3 + 1/4
  • More instructions as we are using a known strategy: Draw in the lines of cutting. Start at the bottom and colour in the third.
  • Draw attention to the problem and exaggerate it. We are eating that same bit of cake twice… that’s disgusting.
  • Repeat back what the child says, but as a question.
  • Reflect on the nature of the change: Is that the same – so have I still coloured a third?

Generalising and extending questions

Generalising or extending questions create an opportunity for students to go much further in their thinking. This video shows a few. Some other ideas include:

  • Conceptual change questions, when asked to other learners in front of those needing extension, create increased reasoning by helping a student to disprove a wrong idea.
  • Experiment questions: ask it before you show them. They make conjectures to prove or disprove.
  • Deductive questions: work backwards from an answer.
  • Pattern questions: generalise a pattern rather than finding an answer.
  • Complex questions: mess with the structure to add gaps or complexity.
  • Comparison questions: how are these strategies actually the same?
  • Constraints questions: but you must… but you can’t
  • Change questions: what if … happened? How would your answer change? Would the strategy still work?
  • Design questions: ask the learner to design a hard question for you to answer.
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