1188 KKAAPPPPAA DDEELLTTAA PPII RREECCOORRDD •• FFAALLLL 22000055 Inviting Student Engagement with Questioning by Chris A. Caram and Patsy B. Davis Questions that stretch students’ minds, invite curiosity, provoke thinking, and instill a sense of wonder can keep students engaged. Youth of today expect, actually demand, experiences that are action-packed, flashy, entertaining, and propel them into sensory overload. How can teachers capture students’ attention when they must compete with the drama of real life, cell phones and games, loud music, and action movies? How can classrooms mirror that excitement, engage students in learning objectives, and inspire them to advance their own learning? Students actively engage in learning because they are intrinsically motivated by curiosity, interest, and enjoyment, or they want to achieve their own intellectual or personal goals (Brewster and Fager 2000). Learning that students view as purposeful creates for them an insatiable thirst for extending their knowledge. Successful student engagement requires a classroom culture that invites mutual inquiry, gives permission to investigate open-ended and suggestive questions (Levy 1996; VanTassel-Baska 2003), and casts the teacher as a deliberate facilitator. Chris A. Caram is Deputy Superintendent in Gaston County Schools, North Carolina. Formerly, she was Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Her research interests include organizational culture, leadership, team building, and at-risk education. Patsy B. Davis is Director of Academically Gifted Programs in Gaston County Schools. She received her graduate degree in Gifted Education from Belmont Abbey College in North Caro- lina. Her research interests include gifted education and talent development. KKAAPPPPAA DDEELLTTAA PPII RREECCOORRDD •• FFAALLLL 22000055 1199 If creating a culture of investigation is a key As claimed by Hannel and Hannel (1998, 7), student component to engaging students, then why is engagement “should not be optional. . . . Students come the questioning element of teaching “often either to school to learn, and when they are in school they do not underdeveloped or unarticulated” (Hannel and Hannel have the right not to learn. Students are undertrained not 2005, 6)? Teacher preparation programs frequently do underbrained.” Teachers should feel that it is incumbent on not include questioning techniques and engagement them to engage students, invite them to be curious, and help strategies in their training of preservice teachers. When them quench their thirst for knowledge. Teachers must be considering the state of apathy and disinterest of students committed to tap dance, if needed, to secure the interest of in today’s classrooms, school districts clearly should be students. preparing teachers through professional development in Questioning is a highly effective strategy that has the the philosophical belief and techniques of questioning potential to successfully engage students. Questioning a and investigative learning. Arguably, an important skill particular student about an aspect of a lesson prompts the for teachers is the ability to find problems to solve and attention of that student as well as most of the students formulate questions to answer. in close proximity. The distribution of questions should include all students, yet be unpredictable so that students What Successful Teachers Do know that their attention is required. “Classrooms are powerful places. They can be dynamic To engage learners effectively with questions, settings that launch dreams and delight minds or arid teachers must foster a culture of investigation in which places that diminish hope and deplete energy” (Intrator students are receptive to questioning—encouraged and 2004, 20). The teacher is responsible for creating a culture willing to respond. Teachers can reinforce student efforts that fosters motivation and engagement, and for inspiring verbally and thereby sustain engagement. and energizing student learning. While teachers have little control over many factors that contribute to a student’s Effective Strategies interest in school and level of engagement, research has Teacher-initiated questions enhance student learning shown that teachers can influence student motivation, by developing critical thinking skills, reinforcing student certain practices do work to increase task commitment, and understanding, correcting student misunderstanding, methods exist to make learning more engaging and relevant providing feedback for students, and enlivening class for students at all levels (Anderman and Midgely 1998). discussion. Questions serve as a teaching tool by which Effective use of questioning arouses curiosity, stimulates instructors manage and direct learning, test student interest, and motivates students to seek new information. understanding, and diagnose problem areas. The skillful Students engaged in the questioning process benefit from use of questioning can enhance learning and increase the clarification of concepts, emergence of key points, and student performance. The following strategies lend insight enhancement of problem-solving skills. Using questioning, into successful questioning. teachers assess students’ knowledge, determine needs for 1. Create a classroom culture open to dialogue. A focused reteaching, and encourage students to think at higher positive expression, nod, or verbal acknowledgment of cognitive levels. a correct response encourages students to participate in discussions. Pose questions in nonthreatening ways and Teacher-Generated Questioning receive answers in a supportive fashion. A harsh tone, Successful teachers engage students with questioning rather especially when it interrupts a student’s response, can be than using a stand-and-deliver method of teaching. Teacher- devastating for both the student and his or her peers. initiated questioning is a simple, yet strong method for 2. Use both preplanned and emerging questions. exploring ideas and concepts. It is applicable in all courses and Preplanned questions are those prepared by the teacher is an essential tool for teaching students to think. This teaching to introduce new concepts, focus the discussion on strategy is based on the practice of disciplined, rigorously certain items, steer the discussion in specific directions, purposeful dialogue between the students and teacher. or identify the level of student knowledge on the topic. According to questioning expert and educational consultant Emerging questions derive from the discussion itself and Lee Hannel (Hannel and Hannel 2005), teachers who ask the specific answers given to previous questions. Teachers the right questions kindle fires of critical thinking to create need to go with the flow, using student responses to problem solvers. His research and subsequently developed bring depth and breadth to the lesson. strategies related to his Highly Effective Questioning method 3. Select an appropriate level of questions based have demonstrated how cognitive student engagement on learners’ needs. Assess students’ needs and tailor results from teacher-generated questioning. questions to maximize the number of correct answers 20 KAPPA DELTA PI RECORD • FALL 2005 while moving toward increasingly difficult questions. One times, both after posing a question and after the answer good strategy is to start with knowledge-level questions is given. and graduate to open-ended questions—perhaps building 8. Respond to answers given by students. Listen from the recall of facts to higher levels of thinking and carefully to the answers given by students; do not problem solving. If a question requiring a higher-level interrupt students while they are responding to questions thinking skill confuses a student, pose a question requiring unless they are straying far off course, are unfocused, or a different level of thinking. Progressing from simple are being disruptive. Respond to correct answers with questions to more difficult ones that require reasoning positive reinforcement. Sarcasm, reprimands, accusations, helps students develop cognitive abilities and critical and personal attacks are ineffective and harmful. Repeat thinking skills. answers only when other students have not heard them; So much classroom learning has focused on the repeating wastes time. Keep questioning until the learning lower rungs of the thinking skills ladder—knowledge, objectives for the session have been achieved; this may be comprehension, memorization, and understanding. the best opportunity to teach a particular concept. Handle To correct the imbalance in the types of thinking skills incomplete answers by reinforcing what is correct and required by present classroom questioning techniques, then asking probing questions. Probing questions require teachers must focus on questions that generate higher- the student to think beyond the initial response; they level thinking (Kagan 1999). direct, develop, or refocus the student’s response. Teachers can use effective questioning to maximize 9. Deliberately frame questions to promote learning if they remain cognizant of students’ thinking student interest. Questions should be sufficiently open to skill levels. Table 1 identifies categories of student thinking accommodate diverse interests and learning styles, and to skills (Munk 2001), provides examples of trigger questions allow for individual responses and creative approaches— in each category, and gives key words that teachers can even ones that the teacher has not considered. Consider use when designing questions (Houghton 2003). that there may be multiple answers to many questions. 4. Avoid trick questions and those that require 10. Use questions to identify learning objectives only a Yes or No response. Trick questions frustrate for follow-up self-study. Pose questions toward the students and tend to encourage frivolous responses. Yes end of the teaching session to identify specific areas for or No questions encourage students to respond without additional learning opportunities that students can pursue fully understanding or thinking through the issue. on their own to extend learning (Walsh 2004; Wiggins 5. Phrase questions carefully, concisely, and and McTighe 1998). clearly. Using multiple questions that are related to the same topic, are phrased improperly, or cause overlapping responses may result in unintentional cueing and a teacher’s inability to accurately assess student Progressing from simple understanding. 6. Address questions to the group or to individuals questions to more randomly. Pose the question to the entire group and wait before identifying a student to respond. The wait difficult ones that require time encourages all students to think about the response, because they do not know who will be selected to answer. reasoning helps students To keep everyone attentive and involved, select students at random to answer questions. Select both volunteers develop cognitive and others to answer questions. Occasionally calling on a student prior to asking the question is a technique that abilities and critical can be used to redirect an inattentive student. 7. Use sufficient wait time. Wait time is the amount thinking skills. of time an instructor waits for students to respond before giving the answer or posing another question. At least five to ten seconds are needed for students to think about and respond to the questions. Of course, questions at higher Student-Generated Questioning cognitive levels tend to require longer wait times. The Teachers who are successful in motivating and engaging teacher can enhance the analytic and problem-solving students often establish the classroom practice of skills of students significantly by allowing sufficient wait inviting student-generated questions. Student-initiated KAPPA DELTA PI RECORD • FALL 2005 21 Table 1. Thinking Skills Model Categories, Trigger Questions, and Key Words Category Examples of Trigger Questions Key Words KNOWLEDGE • Define the word ____. define, repeat, identify, what, • What is a ____? label, when, list, who, name • Label the following ____. • Identify the ____ in this ____. • Who did ____? ORGANIZING • Compare the ____ before and after ____. compare, differentiate, • Contrast the ____ to the ____. contrast, order, classify, • Differentiate between ____ and ____. distinguish, relate • Classify ____ by ____. • Order ____ by ____. APPLYING • How is ____ an example of ____? apply, demonstrate, calculate, • How is ____ related to ____? complete, illustrate, show, • Why is ____ significant? solve, examine, modify, relate, • Predict what would happen if ____. Explain. change, classify, experiment, • Choose the best statements that apply to ____. discover, dramatize, sketch • Identify the results of ____. • Tell how much change there would be when ____. ANALYZING • What are the basic elements (ingredients) in a ____? subdivide, categorize, break • What is/are the function(s) of ____? down, sort, separate • Inventory the parts of ____. • Categorize the ____ of ____. • Sort the ____. • What is the order of steps in ____? GENERATING • Hypothesize what will happen if ____. deduce, anticipate, predict • Predict what would be true if ____. what if, infer, apply, speculate, • Conclude what the result will be if ____. conclude • What if ____ had happened instead of ____? INTEGRATING • What would you predict/infer from ____? combine, integrate, modify, • What ideas can you add to ____? create, design, invent, • How would you create/design a new ____? compose, theorize, develop, • What might happen if you combined ____? devise, originate, revise, • What solutions would you suggest for ____? synthesize, conceive, project, hypothesize EVALUATING • What you would do if ____ happened? Why? evaluate, argue, judge, • Judge what would be the best way to solve the problem recommend, assess, debate, of ____ . appraise, critique, defend • Why did you select that solution? • Evaluate whether you would ____ or ____. Why? (Munk 2001; Houghton 2003) 22 KAPPA DELTA PI RECORD • FALL 2005 questions are a powerful force for encouraging creative Closing Thoughts dialogue. By engaging in student-led questioning, Curricular concepts or objectives rarely lure students students are confronted with varied perspectives, are away from playing video games, watching television, pushed to evaluate and articulate their own thinking or daydreaming. Though establishing and maintaining beyond a level they could attain on their own, and focus have much to do with the integrity of teaching actually influence and enhance the learning of others and learning, they have little to do with the magic of (Kagan 1999). the classroom. Much of the fine art of teaching comes Student-generated questioning parallels inquiry- in finding creative ways to deliver the standard required based learning. In both methods, students are curriculum in ways that are irresistible to young minds encouraged to think, investigate, ask pertinent (Tomlinson 2003). questions, and gather information. When students Teaching is about designing, creating, and use these methods, they have more ownership in inventing intellectually challenging work for students— the learning process and become active participants, work that engages students and is so compelling that responsible for their own growth. Further, letting students persist when they experience difficulty and students lead generates a motivation that is distinctive. feel satisfaction, indeed delight, when they successfully As an additional benefit, when students question accomplish the challenge (Schlechty 1997). “More students to construct their own knowledge, they than any other thing, or at least more than any other develop lifelong social skills and caring attitudes toward thing that we have the power to control, good and their peers. Interestingly, cooperation increases and engaging instruction is our best hope to unleash the competition decreases (Wiggins and McTighe 1998). learning potential of our students in this time of great Cognitive engagement is ensured in situations that educational change. If this change is to occur, it must involve students to this degree. be because of the engagement with students, not in spite of them” (Hannel and Hannel 2005, 7). Gaston County Schools Engaging learners in questioning, both teacher- Teachers in Gaston County, North Carolina, are expected directed and student-initiated, impacts not just the type to establish inviting classroom climates that promote of thinking we develop in our students but also the active engagement, stimulate creative development, and depth of thought (Kagan 1999). Whether thinking skills maximize learning opportunities for all students through are taught directly or integrated into the curriculum, the infusion of effective questioning strategies. Through the goal is to develop students who question, are staff development provided district-wide, teachers critical thinkers, and are creative. Questions that and administrators at all grade levels (K–12) receive stretch students’ minds—the kind that invite students’ training in the integration of questioning skills to create curiosity, provoke thinking, and instill in students a powerful learning experiences. The training includes sense of wonder—keep students engaged. demonstration teaching and exploration of strategies that can elevate student performance in all academic areas. References Anderman, L. H., with C. Midgely. 1998. Motivation and middle school students. The district encourages teachers to develop thinking Champaign, IL: ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Educa- tion. ERIC ED 421 281. classrooms that purposely give priority to teaching Brewster, C., with J. Fager. 2000. Increasing student engagement and motivation: From time-on-task to homework. Portland, OR: Northwest Regional Educational students in multiple ways, encouraging students to think Laboratory. Hannel, G. I., and L. Hannel. 1998. The seven steps to critical thinking. NASSP Bulletin about what they are learning, and helping students to 82(598): 87–93. transfer newly acquired skills into more complex content. Hannel, G. I., and L. Hannel. 2005. Highly effective questioning, 4th ed. Phoenix, AZ: Hannel Educational Consulting. Gaston County teachers use strategies that invite students Houghton, R. S. 2003. Comparing thinking skills model—Adapted from Marzano. Available at: www.ceap.wcu.edu/HOUGHTON/Learner/Think94/NCmarzanoThink.html. into the learning situation, excite their curiosities, and Intrator, S. M. 2004. The engaged classroom. Educational Leadership 62(1): 20–25. entice them to investigate further. Rather than placing Kagan, M. 1999. Higher-level thinking questions, book series. San Clemente, CA: Kagan Publishing. emphasis strictly on drill and practice, these teachers Levy, S. 1996. Starting from scratch: One classroom builds its own curriculum. Portsmouth, NH: Heineman. operate from a cognitive perspective, designing questions Munk, T. 2001. North Carolina thinking skills: An introduction. Chapel Hill, NC: Learn NC. Available at: www.learnnc.org/articles/thinkingskills0403. that stretch their students’ thinking and challenge Schlechty, P. C. 1997. Inventing better schools: An action plan for educational their understanding. By asking appropriate, thought- reform. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Tomlinson, C. A. 2003. Fulfilling the promise of the differentiated classroom. Alexan- provoking questions, these teachers are able to stimulate dria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. VanTassel-Baska, J. 2003. Curriculum planning and instructional design for gifted learning and engage students in learning experiences learners. Denver: Love Publishing. Walsh, J. 2004. Effective questioning. Birmingham: University of Alabama at that emphasize the development of critical and creative Birmingham. Available at: www.uab.edu/uasomume/cdm/questioning.htm. Wiggins, G., and J. McTighe. 1998. Understanding by design. Alexandria, VA: As- thinking. sociation for Supervision and Curriculum Development. KAPPA DELTA PI RECORD • FALL 2005 23