Topic: Questions

10-second review: What type of question do you ask?

Summary: “There are really two different reasons for asking questions of a class: to find out if each individual has done his work...and to expose the difficulties they have found...in preparing the work; the former is a method of making them learn, the latter helps them to learn.”

Source: Highet, The Art of Teaching, p. 125. Highet’s book gives common-sense advice on how to teach effectively. Emphasizes lecture, but there are good lecturers and lecturers who put their students to sleep. Highet tells the reader how to be a good lecturer. Victims of boring lecturers will appreciate his advice.

Comment: Highet’s types of questions are about catching the students in not doing their work vs. finding out the difficulties in completing the work and helping them complete the work successfully.

For me, there are two other types of questions. The first type of question is to elicit from the students the answers given to them by the teacher. There’s a correct answer and the game is whether students have memorized what the teacher has taught them. Such questions are a bore.

With the second type of question, both teacher and student do not know the answer and must figure out how to find the answer. That type of question is honest inquiry, involves students actively in seeking the answer and helps students learn how to learn. RayS.