Forget the answer, what’s the question? We all know the value of effective questioning, but should it be the students rather than the teacher doing a bit more of the asking? After reading about Question Formulation Technique (getting students to think of their own questions rather than just answering mine) a few weeks ago I was really keen to give it a whirl. Tait Cole However, Dylan Wiliam’s SSAT 2010 keynote is still ringing in my ears: we (teachers) should not waste time on self indulgent gimmicks if it causes us to move away from AfL and other proven high impact teaching & learning strategies. I’m not aware of any research on QTF and Prof Hattie hasn’t commented directly but does give an effect size of 0.74 to seemingly similar reciprocal teaching so probably worth a punt.
So, with caution as my watch word, I started thinking about how QFT could complement the way I teach and the way I want my students to learn. Back to QTF. “It makes you think deeper…”“I had to consider more things than usual.” Was it worth it? Like this: Assessment to find out what everybody in class knows. Decide where you are going to take the lesson? Decisions? Decisons? As the name of the hinge point question indicates, it is a question with answers which can take the lesson in at least two different directions. The directions of the lesson are therefore dependent upon the teachers’ assessment of the students’ understanding. For a direction to be determined, a hinge point question must be based on a concept in a lesson that is important for students to understand before the teacher moves on in the lesson.
By assessing for this purpose, a teacher can make a striking impact on learning by delivering tailored teaching to each individual student. In the “Outstanding Lesson Framework” the question is after the teaching episode and meant to assess the skills which are to be practiced in the differentiated tasks. This allows the teacher to give out differentiated activities/roles as well as help students who don’t clearly understand the learning in the lesson. Ofsted 2012: Questioning to promote learning — From Good to Outstanding. Have you ever noticed that often, when someone is being interviewed, they say “That’s a good question.”? It’s usually when it’s a question they can’t answer quickly and easily. Indeed, “good” questions are ones that generally need thinking about. Inspectors must consider whether: “teachers use questioning and discussion to assess the effectiveness of their teaching and promote pupils’ learning” School inspection handbook from September 2012 Notice, in this instance it does not say “ASSESS” learning, although clearly this is undeniably a major purpose for questioning.
Questions that are easy to answer don’t move learning on; they might indicate that learning has happened, or that at least something has been noticed, thought about or memorised, but they don’t promote learning. How do questions promote learning? Questioning can fail because: Questioning succeeds when: What kinds of questions do you routinely ask, and how do you ask them ? E.g. E.g. T: How might you describe a hexagon? E.g. Applying.