Asking a range of questions is one of the most important ways that teachers can seek to actively involve students in lessons.

A student (not at this school): "We never really get asked to talk about our ideas to someone who listens seriously."

Will Self: 'Am I being heard? Because that's what we all really care about, isn't it, being heard, our words having value through their being understood by another.'

Pedagogy pack (DfES) Unit 7: The interaction between teacher and learners is the most important feature of the classroom.

Teachers ask lots of questions - tens of thousands during their career. Peculiarly, they know the answers to most questions they ask! It is the main means by which students are encouraged to have a dialogue with a filed of study, hopefully focussing attention.

Teachers question in order to:
. Provide feedback, checking knowledge, skills and understanding
. Coerce attention, spark curiosity and nurture interest
. Involve students actively, encouraging participation
. Focus attention on an issue or idea
. Develop ideas with rather than for students
. Prompt thinking and nudge it on to deeper or broader issues
. Review, revise, recall, reinforcement and repair
. Rein back the student whose attention is wandering, off-task
. Find out about student's ideas and feelings and encourage empathy
. Engage in dialogue because it's a very helpful way of learning

Teachers are able to ask appropriate questions because of their familiarity with their specialism or discipline. They know what is relevant, significant and worth considering. In time students are encouraged to ask their own questions.

Lower order questions - have single, short answers - involving recall and reporting facts or information. Usually lead to one word answers.

Higher order questions - promote thought and probably involve reasoning about information. They normally lead to sentence or even paragraph answers, allowing a variety of answers or interpretations.

Quiz questions - used to review work or establish what is known already. Brief answers, rapid fire questions.

Recitation - 'ping pong' between the teacher and the student, fairly brief responses, evaluated and probed by the teacher.

Discussion - 'volley ball' teacher/student/student student, group address with extended talk.

From the DfES Pedagogy and Practice, unit 7 (2004)

Creating a climate where students feel safe to make mistakes:
Important so that all pupils have the opportunity to answer questions and it isn't just left to a dominant, vocal, few. Pupils should feel comfortable to offer tentative thoughts without fear of ridicule, building their confidence to speculate and take risks. It is important that students' contributions are listened to and taken seriously by both the teacher and the class. A teacher can model this by ensuring they make appropriate responses to contributions and are not critical. You could also discuss making mistakes when you do so yourself to show that being wrong is acceptable.

Using a 'no-hands' rule:
This tactic or otherwise ensuring that all students, especially the shyest, have an opportunity to contribute in lessons is important. Some teachers choose to direct a question to a girl then a boy, alternately. There is a clear need to create a supportive classroom climate. It ensures that all students are likely to be asked for a response and makes the questioning process more inclusive. If you only ever ask people with their hands up, it limits who is included and can leave some students disengaged from the process. The 'no-hands' tactic also lets you direct questions where you want and to pitch a question at the appropriate level to extend the student you are asking. If you are asking conscripts rather than volunteers, you need to have a range of back-up strategies if the student is unable to answer. Such strategies could include allowing them to say 'pass' or to seek help from a friend.

Probing:
Probing is how the teacher or another student can check meaning; display an interest in their answers; praising and encourage elaboration (i.e. to 'edit or amplify'). When students respond to a question, probes are useful follow-ups and can be used to seek more information, to clarify responses or to get students to extend their answers. Questions such as 'Can you tell me more about that?' or 'What do you think the next step would be?' are probes that can move students' thinking on.

Telling students the big question in advance:
Students will then have an overview and be better able to identify the main purpose of the lesson, how it relates to previous work and other ideas. It also helps to reinforce the main ideas and concepts and gives students time to prepare for the question as they work through the lesson. You could also provide signals to help students recognise the range of possible responses to the question being asked and to help them to select the most appropriate one.

Building in wait time:
This is critical in allowing students to develop and then articulate their ideas. Research suggests that if the teacher waits about 4 seconds, both before the student answers a question and also before speaking after the answer, there are substantial benefits in the classroom. It is likely to:
. encourage longer answers;
. encourage a greater number and variety of responses;
. encourage more confidence and 'risk taking';
. encourage students to ask questions in return.

Allowing time for collaboration before answering:
Asking pairs of students to consider the question for a set period of time before seeking answers leads to more thoughtful and considered answers. It can promote engagement - by giving students a very immediate context for their work. When ideas have been mutually considered they are more likely to be shared with the whole group.

Placing a minimum requirement on the answer:
Saying something like 'Do not answer this in less than 15 words' will begin to produce longer responses. By remaining silent after a student has answered; possibly asking them to say more; possibly by asking for them to give reasons as well as ideas ("I think .. because..")

Grosser suggested that effective teacher questions are generally:
. Clear - dealing with one specified point at a time, identifying a single issue to be addressed.
. Purposeful - encouraging progression by identifying then exploring and refining information.
. Brief - used to focus on a point rather than being long and meandering.
. Natural - using words that many students are familiar with and clarifying any new or long words.
. Thought provoking - using and clarifying information, not just reciting it.

Some tactics for questioning, some times:
A mixed bag of suggestions, bearing in mind that all such rules are fuzzy.
1. Nominate students. Do not rely on the volunteer set. Hands down maybe.
2. Re-phrase rather than re-direct a question.
3. Plan and tell students the key, BIG, questions in advance.
4. Pose Qs to the whole class, pause, then ask individuals (pounce).
5. Allow time for students to think about/talk about tricky questions.
6. Have a balance of fact/thought questions. Aim for 50 : 50.
7. Ask questions conversationally/informally.
8. Distribute questions randomly and equitably.
9. Probe student's answers.
10. Invite students to respond to/elaborate another's answer.
11. Use appropriate gestures and mannerisms : look, hmmmm, nod, smile.
12. Praise is good, but needs to be genuine.
13. Move around when asking questions : try to inject enthusiasm.
14. Nice (tone and attitude) and frequent (buckets of questioning).
15. Stop and think. Most questions need to have a well-directed focus.
16. Ask and stop. Wait times are vital after a Q and after an A.
17. Digressions are important, to encourage creative thinking.
18. After asking the question, listen to the answer. Stay with the answer.
19. Ask students to repeat their answer.
20. "Why?" Is often a very good question to ask. Three per lesson.
21. Tag questions at the end of statements invite responses, don't they?
22. General Qs ("Is everyone OK on that?") are not usually worth asking.
23. Closed questions are good for changing direction.
24. "Who can tell me? Does anyone know?" encourage calling out.
25. Play around with ideas they are unsure of, through questioning.
26. Don't ever say something is easy.
27. Use Qs to get them considering and be aware of what they are doing.
28. Mistakes are a mirror. Trouble broadens the mind.
29. Encourage and welcome tentative/speculative offerings.
30. Ask what they don't understand when they say they can't do it.
31. Increase the number of questions that aren't easily answerable.
32. Get rid of the teacher's desk.
33. Use simple Qs at the start of a sequence.
34. Treat all students as the interesting and intelligent individuals they are.
35. Ask, "What's your question?"
36. Disturbers need to be silenced and blurters stopped. Civil order is necessary.
37. Everyone should be involved, even the shyest students. Participation is vital
38. Play devil's advocate - take an opposing extreme view on occasion.
39. It's not necessary for the teacher evaluate every response.
40. It can be helpful to clarify student's ideas, in their own terms.
41. Better lessons wiggle more. It's important to vary the pitch of questions.
42. Speculation, comparisons, analysis and synthesis are all fantastic.
43. Dwell on misconceptions.
44. Encourage public debate.
45. Develop student's ability to raise and formulate questions.

Robin Alexander (Professor at Cambridge) maintains that dialogue is the best way to develop a student's cognitive ability (teacher/class, teacher/group, teacher/individual and individual/individual).

Recognising it is also the most demanding in terms of teacher skills he has developed five indicators of what he calls dialogic teaching:
. collective (all students participating, ideas developed with students rather than for them)
. reciprocal (teacher and students listen, ideas are shared and alternatives are deliberately considered)
. supportive (open up issues and ideas, building confidence, enabling metacognition to take place)
. cumulative (building on previous work or ideas, these ideas developed)
. purposeful (students see where they are going with it)

Listening to students - encouraging and supporting utterances
Open questions (Why, How, What ....) or phrases (Tell me about ..) invite a lengthier response and encourage the airing of views, sometimes tentative.

How a teacher responds will clearly affect a willingness to offer ideas.

(1) Being encouraging, try to:
(a) suspend your own point of view (not guess what's in my head)
(b) see what they are saying, their perspective
(c) focus on content rather than delivery (listen hard and long)
(d) look at them (without staring) and make encouraging signs : nods or unnns
(e) ask them to repeat what they've said (it usually take two goes to absorb)
(f) give them time and be patient

(2) Four 'C's of active listening:
(a) Confirm that what you have received is what they said - repeat things back to check that you have got it right
(b) Check any assumptions that you have made: "It seems to me that ....". "Am I right in thinking that..". "I suppose that you are thinking/feeling that.."
(c) Clarify any points that you are uncertain about: "What you said.. can you say a little more about that?". "What did you mean by...?". "I didn't quite get what you said about.. can you say it again/in a different way?"
(d) Consider that they have some reason for what they are saying and try to fathom what it is.

(3) Paraphrasing:
(a) helps you to listen attentively
(b) affirms that you have an interest in what they are saying
(c) provides opportunity for correction, editing and clarification
(d) should focus on what they have said, and be brief

(4) Other thoughts:
(a) move around the room so that students can ask questions more privately
(b) squat/sit down when they are talking to you
(c) put ideas on the board (with/without names attached) to record thoughts
(d) asking "Are you sure?" or "Why?" is often interpreted as 'Oh, I've got it wrong'
(e) Asking "Is everyone OK on that?" is a non-question!
(f) Encourage students to build on/criticise previous remarks
(g) Talk to all students as intelligent human beings
(h) Deal firmly with derision/giggling on the part of students (and teacher . )
(i) Only ask questions that you are interested in

Looking at questioning in the classroom:
An attempt to indicate observable behaviours of teachers and students for those wishing to consider and reflect upon classroom observations:

Bloom: this classification can be helpful to students and the teacher.
Around 1956 Benjamin Bloom and a group of people involved in education attempted to categorise levels of intellectual behaviour - what you are able to do with what you know and understand. A better piece of work will involve trying to answer some higher order questions, using skills that use more brain power.

Example (1) Bloom and Year 11 GCSE Drama

Working with non-naturalistic theatre techniques: masks, puppets and choral speaking.

Knowledge
Recalling a production they all saw: Describe the masks that the clowns wore in the opening sequence. What did the actors do to make the masks effective? Pick out a moment when you, as audience, felt the full impact of the mask.

Comprehension
After initial experiments with basic masks: As audience, how important do you feel it was that the actor faces the front? What happens when the actor varies this? As audience, how important do you feel the use of speech was? As performer, how difficult was it to always face the front? As performer, was it important to have the words in your head even if you didn't speak them?

Application
After small group work, to the performers: Tell me about any problem you had in creating your piece and how you overcame it. Which aspect of the work did you find particularly difficult to implement?

Analysis
After small group work, to audience: What did you particularly like about each performance? What would you suggest to the group as one way of sharpening the work?

Synthesis
Offer the class a choice of well-known myths and legends: Which of these do think is most appropriate for a performance using the three identified techniques and why? How could you use each of these three techniques in preparing your story for a performance?

Evaluation
As a continuing response to work-in-progress and after final performances of groups' work: What did you like about each small group performance? What would you suggest to each group as a way of developing their work?

Example (2) Design and technology questions and Bloom (from Strategy training materials)

Knowledge

Comprehension

Application

Analysis

Synthesis

Evaluation

Discussion: alternatives to questioning.
Talk in classrooms is unlikely to lead to discussions as long as the teacher asks a string of questions and evaluates or probes student's answers. Much helpful work has been done by James T Dillon ('Using Discussion in the Classroom' and 'Questioning and Teaching') and David Wood ('Learning to Think') on ways to encourage discussion in classrooms.

James T Dillon uses the term `community of inquiry' to summarise the desirable group end point. Discussion is a group address to a question. Students respond at greater length and with greater initiative to statements rather than questions. He offers some alternatives to questioning, strongly suggesting that these will far better promote student thinking:
. Make statements. Say what you think in relation to what a student has just said.
. Student Questions. Invite or wait for a student to ask a question in relation to what another student has just said.
. Non-verbal signals. Indicate and acknowledge what a student has said without taking the floor. Encourage another student to speak by means of a look or gesture.
. Keep quiet. Maintain a silence until someone else joins in.

Examples:
. State a thought that occurs, either a complementary or a counter view.
. Answer the question that you might be tempted to ask.
. Offer a reflective statement, re-phrasing or repeating what someone has said so that there is opportunity for a student to edit or amplify their remark.
. Describe your state of mind: agreeing, disagreeing or seeing the sense in what someone has said.
. Indicate an interest in an aspect of what has been said, possibly inviting other views.
. Relate what someone has said to another observation or remark.
. State what you'd like to hear more about.

DfES - Unit 7 Questioning