Research in Brief - January 2007 - Volume 107 (1)

Teachers' Classroom Questions

Alpaslan Sahin
Texas A&M University

There is a large body of literature on the types of questions asked by teachers. Questions are a way that teachers use to bring students around to the correct mathematical concepts and procedures through “the negotiation of meaning for necessary condition of learning” (Voigt, 1992, p. 43). Voigt defines the negotiation of meaning as “the course of negotiation, the teacher and the students (or the students among themselves) accomplish relationships of mathematical meanings taken to be shared“ (p. 35). Teachers ask many questions but we are not sure what their intentions are in asking the questions. Voigt (1992) found that even though “the teacher poses questions in order to elicit definite meanings that he intends; the students interpret the problem differently” (p. 26) The following review of recent literature provides a context for defining the role of and guiding questions in middle grades mathematics classrooms.

Questions serve many purposes, such as: provoking students and making them listen carefully, analyzing their thoughts and thinking critically, and initiating discussion and reviewing material. The importance of questioning cannot be underestimated. Burns (1985), for instance, deems that questioning is important in establishing a classroom atmosphere conducive to the development of students' mathematical thinking. Hence, it is not surprising that questioning has been thought to be a good measure of a teacher's quality for nearly a century (Stevens, 1912). A substantial number of recent studies have investigated teachers' questioning of students and students' learning and understanding of mathematics (e.g., Harrop & Swinson, 2003; Ilaria, 2002; Maher & Davis, 1990; Martino & Maher, 1999, Yackel & Cobb, 1996; Vacc, 1993). Few research studies appear to focus on the importance of probing or guiding questions. It is essential that teachers probe students' thinking at the beginning of a lesson to identify possible misconceptions. It is also important to probe at the end to assess the depth of understanding achieved. Guiding questions are at the center of inquiry and problem-based instruction.

Even though the importance of probing questions has long been known by educators, the use of probing questions is not a frequent practice in many classrooms (Newmann, 1988). Probing questions not only extend students' knowledge beyond factual recall and copying of learned skills, but also push students to use previous knowledge to figure out unknown knowledge (MSDE, 1991). “Teachers who encourage students to elaborate on and explain their thinking through the use of probing questions promote learning because such questions push students to think more deeply about the topic being discussed” (Krupa, Selman, & Jaquette, 1985, p. 453). Moyer and Milewicz (2002) found that asking probing questions helped the teachers to better focus on students' thinking.

Few studies appear to focus particularly on guiding questions. According to Kawanaka and Stigler (1999), these questions guide students to discuss problems and derive mathematical concepts and procedures, thereby functioning to guide students to use mathematical concepts and procedures to solve problems. Ortenzi (2002) mentions leading or helping questions, which also could be classified as guiding. When a student is not sure how to solve or proceed with the problem, the teacher may lead the student with a question such as ‘which method do you need to use now?’ Ortenzi (2002) added, however, that through this kind of questioning the teacher may lead students into convergent thinking the way the teacher wants them to think. Similarly, with helping questions, when the student has a problem with choosing between two methods for adding something, the teacher can intervene and help the student by saying, for instance, ‘I think this method is a good choice here, isn't it?’ In these three question typologies (guiding, leading, and helping), there is a partial overlap. Guiding questions are similar to leading questions, which can promote student thinking. Helping questions provide more direct information from the teacher when the student encounters difficulty.

As Myhill and Dunkin (2002) pointed out, “Just like a good barrister, a good teacher knows how to use questions for maximum impact” on students (p. 8). Our understanding of the topic of questioning should be advanced and the amount of attention given to it should continue, focusing on important instructional processes such as guiding students and probing their understanding.

References

Burns, M. (1985). The role of questioning. The Arithmetic Teacher, 32(6), 14-17.

Harrop, A. & Swinson, J. (2003). Teachers' questions in the infant, junior and secondary school, Educational Studies, 29, No. 1.

Ilaria, D. R. (2002). Questions that engage students in mathematical thinking. Proceedings of the annual meeting (of the) North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (24th, Athens, GA, October 26-29, 2002). Vol. 1-4; SE 066 887.

Kawanaka, T. & Stigler, J. W. (1999). Teachers' use of questions by eight-grade mathematics classrooms in Germany, Japan, and the United States, Mathematical Thinking & Learning, 1(4), 255.

Krupa, M. P., Selman, R. L. & Jaquette, D. S. (1985). The development of science explanations in children and adolescents: A structural approach. In S.F. Chipman, J.W. Segal, & R. Glaser (Eds.), Thinking and learning skills, Vol. 2: Research and open questions. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Maryland State Department of Education. (1991). Better thinking and learning: questioning to promote higher-order thinking, Retrieved September, 5, 2003, from http://www.pgcps.pg. k12.md.us/~elc/isquestiontopromote.html

Martino, A. M. & Maher, C. A. (1999). Teacher questioning to promote justification and generalization in mathematics: What research practice has taught us, Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 18(1), 53-78.

Moyer, P. S. & Milewicz, E. (2002). Learning to question: Categories of questioning used by preservice teachers during diagnostic mathematics interviews, Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 5, 293-315.

Myhill, D. & Dunkin, F. (2002). What is a good question? Literacy, p. 8.

Newmann, F.M. (1988). A test of higher-order thinking in social studies: Persuasive writing on constitutional issues using NAEP approach, Social Education, 54(4), 369-373.

Ortenzi, J. (2002). Probing questions. Retrieved September, 25, 2003 from http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/j/x/jxo151/SCIEDweb458/probing_questions.htm

Stevens, R. (1912). The questions as a measure of efficiency in instruction: A critical study of classroom practice, Contributions to Education, 48, 95. New York Columbia University, Teachers College Press.

Vacc, N. N. (1993). Implementing the professional standards for teaching mathematics: questioning in the mathematics classroom. Arithmetic Teacher, 41(2), 88-91

Voigt, J. (1992). Negotiation of mathematics meaning in classroom processes: Social interaction and learning mathematics. In L. Steffe, P. Nesher, P. Cobb, G. Goldin & B. Greer (Eds.), Theories of mathematical learning (pp. 21-50). Mahwah, NJ: LEA Inc. Publishers.

Yackel, E. & Cobb, P. (1996). Sociomathematical norms, argumentation, and autonomy in mathematics. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 27(4), 458-477.