Asking The Right Questions
ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS!
Adapted from a Workshop on ‘Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom’.
Asking students the ‘right questions’ not only elicits depth to their explanations but is a powerful tool in gaining an insight into their thinking and understandings.
Focus Counter-examples
What is it that puzzles you? Can you think of a case or a time where that
What did you find interesting? wouldn’t work?
When wouldn’t that happen?
Clarification
I didn’t quite understand you. Consistency
Could you explain to me? Is that the same as what you said earlier?
Or have you changed your mind?
Reasons
Why did you say that? Speculation
What reasons do you have? Can anyone think of how that might have
Why do you disagree with…? happened?
Connections Relevance
How does that fit with what…said? How does that help us?
Is that like what…said?
It sounds like you Clarification
agree/disagree with …Is that right? What do you mean by that?
Can anyone help…explain that more clearly?
Distinctions
How is that different from Alternatives
what…said? How else could we think about that?
What if someone said…?
Implications There are some people who think that…what
What can we work out from that? do you think?
What does that tell us?
What follows from what…said? Summarizing
What have we found out?
Assumptions Where have we got to?
How do you know? Well, what have we decided?
Why do you think that? Have we answered…questions?
How did you work that out?
What have you based that on? Listening Strategies
Did I understand you to say…?
Testing Am I right that you said..?
How could you work if that was true? Tell me if I’m wrong but I think you said…Is that
right?
Information Gathering
What do we know about that? I’m not the expert here
I’m not sure.
Examples I’m not sure what do you think?
Can anyone give me an example?
Prepared by: Lorraine Kennedy November 2003