Questioning
Photo Credit-Flickr: Oberazzi
Have been reading “Formative Assessment in the Secondary Classroom” by Shirley Clarke. I like her use of practical examples, and was particularly interested in the section on questioning. She reproduces a page by science teacher Dave Tuffin, who presents a series of “before” and “after” questions, designed to show how, with practice, we can reframe many questions to elicit a better response, and to encourage pupils to think more deeply. Mostly the questions go from the recall type (eg give a list, provide a word) to ones which require some thought. Among the strategies Tuffin uses are:
- Provide supporting vocabulary
ask a question to be answered from the opposite standpoint;
set up an hypothesis to be debated/challenged.
