Identifying Student Teachers’ Inquiry-Related Questions in Biology Lessons

Prior research has shown that both teacher-led and recitation questions dominate in classrooms; teachers ask closed-ended questions more than open-ended questions. Even though classroom questioning has been studied in many previous studies there has been very limited research addressing the questioning of student teachers during inquiry-based biology lessons focusing on the inquiry stages: introduction, examination, and conclusion. In this study, a total of 21 lessons by 12 student teachers in primary and secondary schools were video- and audio-recorded. The recorded discussions were transcribed and the qualities of the questions were analyzed using content analysis, and the questions of student teachers were categorized into 10 different question categories. The findings revealed that primary school student teachers asked mainly for factual knowledge, concepts, and basic knowledge of species in all inquiry stages. Secondary school student teachers also asked mainly for concepts and basic knowledge of species. They also asked students to generate ideas and explain their answers, especially in the examination and conclusion stages. The present study indicates that student teachers’ questioning needs to be developed more towards higher-order questioning such as analyzing, synthetizing, and evaluating to scaffold students in inquiries and develop future teachers’ questioning skills in teacher education.

Scaffolding Students’ Learning through Teacher’s Questioning

Questioning plays a significant role in teaching as teachers’ questions can help develop students’ learning and enhance students’ engagement in the classroom. The purpose of this study was to investigate on the types of questions asked by Commercial Studies teachers and on how they used questions to scaffold their students’ learning. The study focused on three secondary schools in Brunei Darussalam. The data collection processes involved classroom observations during Commercial Studies lessons and interviews with three teachers. The findings showed that the questions asked by Commercial Studies teachers varied according to the purpose of the lessons and teachers’ perceptions on the requirements of syllabus and examinations. Teachers were observed to have used questions to scaffold students’ learning by utilising lower-level questioning which focused on remembering, understanding and applying in order to engage the students with the new content. As the students progressed, the teachers began to employ higher order questioning which focused on analysing, evaluating and creating. As part of the process of scaffolding, the teachers drew on students’ personal experiences, linked what students had known to the new content, broke the questions into parts and offered clues or hints to the students. This study also recommended for teachers to be given professional development training to further improve their questioning techniques.

Effects of Higher Order Questioning in Prekindergarten for School Readiness

This study investigated whether the strategy of higher order questioning during interest area time would have a positive effect on kindergarten school readiness (specifically focusing on mathematical and language concepts) for students in a low-socioeconomic area school. Evidence from the Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning/ Third Edition (DIAL-3) scores (completed upon entering kindergarten) establishes that the students in this low-socioeconomic area school were not kindergarten ready. Statistical analyses concurred that increasing the frequency of higher order questioning during interest area time significantly improves the test performance of students within the mathematical and language concepts area of the DIAL-3 assessment. The student achievement results of providing teacher training in higher-order questioning techniques during interest area time (the most vital learning time of the prekindergarten day) has provided evidence of increased cognitive development, ultimately increasing student achievement in mathematical and language skills. High-quality prekindergarten services involving best practices are the precursors for kindergarten; therefore, improving teacher-child verbal interactions in prekindergarten ultimately addresses the issue of kindergarten school readiness. Additional findings included a correlation indicating that the students who did well in Language skills also did well in Mathematics and a statistically significant correlation existed between better scores and positive behavior. It is anticipated that the contributions of the present study will encourage future research that will continue to elaborate upon the effects of higher order questioning at the prekindergarten level on kindergarten school readiness.

Empirically Supported Strategies for Encouraging Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is the ability to construct and evaluate arguments (Facione, 1990). Teaching students to think critically is undeniably one of the most important goals of university education. Accordingly, much of the teaching literature provides suggestions for improving critical thinking among students. Unfortunately, many of these papers contain anecdotal evidence, relying heavily on personal testimony without the support of empirical data and statistical analysis (Abrami et al., 2008; Behar-Horenstein & Niu, 2011). These findings have important implications for instructors who try to foster critical thinking in their classrooms. The present workshop addresses this problem by discussing the following three teaching techniques which have been empirically tested and found to reliably improve critical thinking across multiple investigations: (a) the use of higher-order questioning (Barnett & Francis, 2012; Fenesi, Sana, & Kim, 2014; Renaud & Murray, 2007; Renaud & Murray, 2008; Smith, 1977; Williams, Oliver, & Stockdale, 2004); (b) peer-to-peer interaction (Abrami et al., 2008; Smith, 1997); and (c) explicit critical thinking instruction (Abrami et al., 2008; Bangert-Drowns, & Bankert, 1990; Behar-Horenstein et al., 2010; Tiruneh et al., 2016). This workshop is intended for members of all disciplines seeking to work together to develop an empirically supported framework for teaching critical thinking at the university level.

Higher –Order Questioning in SL classrooms –a study

Higher order questioning (HOQ) benefits first language and second language learners in various ways. Various studies prove that asking students higher order questions open many learning avenues. Higher-order questioning (HOQ) influences the question types like test scores, amounts of language production for understanding the language abilities of students etc., This study examined:The HOQ patterns of a college teacherThe teacher’s foundation for this patternLearners perceptions of answering HOQ The study comprised nearly 400 questions, teachers and students’ interviews. Students’ survey showed that HOQ may be effective by general theories of learning than by perceptions of learners’ abilities.Keywords: Higher-order questioning, perceptions, practice