Do you have a Question?
You might have heard, “I have a dump question to ask.....”, “Can I ask a question, I know it is silly but...”, “I am not sure whether I should be asking this or not, ....” and many more such responses from your students when they are asking a question. The students may be hesitant to ask a question and not all students may be sure and confident to ask the question.
How about the questions asked by the teachers? The students may not be very keen or show it that they are not, while a response to the questions raised by the instructor is awaited. Does that mean they do not know? Not really.
Questioning is a technique that helps to foster learning among students. Whether they are asking or responding to a question, the technique enables the student to reflect on their learning, organize their thoughts and put their thoughts into words for the topic or question in hand.
Questions by the students
When the students raise a question, the instructor has to handle the curiosity or clarify the students. The teacher should be able to answer or handle it tactfully based on the situation. Questions related to the current topic should be answered linking it to the previous knowledge and making it relevant to the context. Other students could be encouraged to answer the question that would reinforce others knowledge as well. You could give the clues and hints so that the student could use their meta-cognitive and problem solving skills to get an answer to their question and you may not answer the question directly. As a result the students do not feel discouraged and tend to go and explore their own learning and apply the knowledge. However, answering a question from the future topics can lead to loose pieces of information and information overload and should be handled in a manner that the student does not feel discouraged or hesitant in the future to raise a question.
Questions by the teacher
The questions asked by the instructor can help to assess learner’s previous knowledge, opinion of the students, and encourage them to reflect on. The questions asked by the instructor should motivate and challenge the students to think, understand, reflect, focus and then respond to the question. The encouragement to apply and relate the current topic and acquired knowledge can make the experience more rewarding for the learner. Sufficient time depending on whether it a low order or high order learning/thinking question, should be given to the students so that they can respond efficiently. Based on the learning style (Visual, Aural, Reading/Writing, Kinesthetic) and nature (introvert or extrovert) of the learner, more time might be required to get the answer to the question posed. Preparing your questions prior to the class can help you formulate it in a more concise manner with clarity, making the students to think in the right direction, using their analytical skills and be able to apply their learning.
So plan out, put your words together, go ahead and ask your question,
References
Thinking picture from Website Pixabay.com Retrieved on April 22, 2016 from https://pixabay.com/en/deep-thought-mind-question-1296377/ under license CC0 Public domain