Can Effective Questioning Strategies Stimulate Quality Thinking? Vanderbilt Center for Science Outreach Metro Nashville Public Schools Jeannie Tuschl Julia Dobish Primary Objectives Identify effective questions Share expertise Have fun! What do we want to know about questioning strategies?  How can questions lead to increased understanding?  What kinds of questions stimulate higher-order thinking and lead students to better conceptual understanding? Lake Peigneur Disaster: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_feWtkSucvE Sodium Chloride Experiment Key Question: What happens to the temperature of ice water when NaCl is added? While you conduct the experiment On a piece of white paper, list ten questions teachers might ask students to facilitate the learning. Problem/Common Assumption in Hands-on Experiments •Simply engaging in hands-on, inquiry-based activities does not necessarily lead students to conceptual understanding. Solution: •Posing probing questions while students explore enables them to think about their observations and construct meaningful knowledge. The kinds of questions teachers ask affects the level of thinking that students achieve. Research indicates that teacher-initiated questions can enable students to think in new and different ways and develop effective ways of thinking and learning. Effective questions can:  Motivate and sustain interest  Develop and modify attitudes  Stimulate thinking  Solve problems  Inspire ideas  Encourage Inductive And deductive reasoning The Questions Teachers Ask Research says that the questions teachers ask are: Recall Questions Who invented the light bulb? Procedural Questions Henry, turn on the lights? Thinking Questions How has the light bulb changed the way people live?