The greatest confusion to children is caused by a lack of precision in teacher's questions during explanation, according to Wragg and Brown (see references, p18). In other words, the moment practitioners open their mouths, they confuse children.
This is worrying, because we are supposed to be the experts at helping children to develop their understanding. Why does this happen? Because practitioners tend to say they will ask questions about a particular topic, but don't then spend time working out what those questions are and how they will aid children's learning.
It's important that we spend time thinking what learning we want and how the questions will help us to get there. Take the following two questions:
- Why can birds fly?
- Why is it birds fly?
Though similar, these questions do elicit different answers. The first question relates to the mechanics of flying; the second gives scope to consider both purpose and mechanics. So, unless we really consider and write down the questions we are going to ask, it will only be chance that we get the response that really helps learning.
Ask yourself
Do you ever:
- fire too many questions at once?
- panic if the children don't answer immediately?
- answer the question you have just asked?
- get confused by your own question and hope that the children get the gist of it?
- give no time for answering?
- ask the same type of questions all the time?
- choose the same children to answer?
- never correct wrong answers?
- never hear wrong answers until about three hours later on the bus home?
- get confused by an answer and move on to something completely different?
- not know how to build on what a child says?
INFORMATION AND UNDERSTANDING
Day to day, we ask a huge range of questions so we can be informed, so that we find out. Early years practitioners, likewise, use questions to acquire information: 'Who is having lunch?', 'Who remembers ...?', 'Who knows ...?'. Sometimes, practitioners use questions as a device for managing children's behaviour ('Who is sitting nicely?').
But what is not asked nearly often enough are the kinds of questions that deepen children's understanding and develop their learning.
The types of questions we need to concentrate on are those that help children to:
- develop their imaginations
- stimulate their thinking
- have a go
- solve problems
- talk and express their ideas and feelings
- help each other and
- ask questions themselves.
Ask yourself
To assess the range of questions you ask, try the following exercise:
- List four questions you have asked your family/friends today.
- List four questions you have asked the children in your setting today.
- Why did you ask those questions?
- Did you know the answer already?
- Were the questions going to develop your thinking and understanding?
TYPES OF QUESTION
The types of questions we ask depend on what it is we want children to learn. If the desired outcome of the lesson or activity is to promote spoken language, it is no good asking 'what colour is grass?' but to ask 'how' and 'why' and 'what do you think?' questions.
If the outcome is to encourage children to ask questions, there needs to be a culture of openness in the setting, where children are given time to ask questions of one another.
If the outcome is to encourage problem-solving, then when children come to you to solve those problems, you have to ask such questions as: 'Can you build/mend this?' 'Would you build it in the same way again?' 'What would you do differently another time?' One of the ways to help you ask the right questions is to consider the dimension or scope of them.
Dimensions of questions
1. Open and closed
If I ask 'what colour is your hair?', that is a closed question. If I ask 'What do you like or dislike about your hair?', that is an open question. We need to consider what we are trying to gain from asking a child a particular question and whether the form of the question will deliver the kind of response we want. Closed questions elicit information; open questions elicit so much more.
2. Observation/recall/thought
The second dimension to consider is whether you require a child simply to make an observation, or to remember something from the past or to use their thinking skills.
The problem with recall questions is that they often start a session and can be very simple. Children then remain quiet because they can't believe you have asked something quite so banal! You panic; you taught the subject only yesterday, so how could they have forgotten, you wonder! So once again your question has only caused confusion.
It is much less confusing to start a session by telling the children what they did yesterday and then move on with a thought question. In this way you do not confuse them or frighten yourself, and they are able to engage their thinking skills.
3. Confused/clear
All questions need to be clear and succinct. But to achieve this you need to write the question down, read what you have written and consider the kind of answer that it will elicit.
4. Encouraging/threatening
Finally, the dimension of the question needs to be challenging but not aggressive. Children need to know that mistakes can be good, and that unless children get things wrong you cannot help them. They need to know that they can have a go and if they falter, you will help them to understand. So, again, you need to check the phrasing of your questions.
'Why has that happened?', said quite matter-of-factly, may feel aggressive. But with a quizzical look on your face 'Hmmm ... I wonder why that has happened? Do you know why that has happened?' is less threatening.
Sometimes we need closed, clear observation questions, but we also need open, clear, thought questions, and we need more of those to help children in their learning.
TACTICS
The following ideas will go some way to helping you consider and improve your approach.
1. Structuring
Make sure you start a session with a summary of what you are doing and why. In that way, children know where you are going. 'We are going to read Duck in a Truck today, and I want you to listen carefully and see if you can work out what is going to happen before I turn the page. But don't call out, just think about it, and then we can talk about it once we've read the page.'
2. Asking questions clearly
Make sure you have decided what learning you want, which will tell you the dimension of the question. If I want children to solve problems, having watched water stop moving when I lift the end of a piece of pipe above the water level, then I would say, 'Goodness, that is amazing! Why do you think that has happened?'
3. Directing and distributing
Undirected questions thrown into the air to a group of children often lead to chaos. So, direct the majority of questions to named individuals, to avoid the children rushing to be first to put up their hand or having just one child answering all the questions.
This approach makes you really consider why you are asking a question. It ensures that no one feels inadequate because they were not as quick as Jane; or to simply switch off because they will never be as quick as Jane.
Some children are shy and will find this a difficult time, so perhaps you could ask them a question later about whatever you were discussing. But if you really support them, they will find that voice. 'I can see you know this, can you tell us all, would you like to whisper it in my ear?' (see box, p17).
4. Staying quiet
Early years practitioners tend to talk too much, and on average we wait only three seconds before expecting an answer to our questions. However, if we wait longer, there are so many benefits to be had:
- Children have time to think about it and find the answer
- They don't panic or feel they are up against the clock
- Children to whom learning is more difficult will find the answer
- Children will have time to formulate longer answers,
- All children will naturally gain in confidence.
Try this exercise
Get a watch/clock with a second hand. Explain to a friend that you will ask them a question, wait three seconds and then say 'Answer, please.' The second time, you will wait ten seconds before asking for an answer.
Ask, for example, 'What is 7x13?' (Did the person get the right answer after three seconds?)
Now ask, for example, 'What is 8x17?' (Did the person get the answer right after ten seconds?)
5. Slowing down
When we speak, we need to be clear and breathe periodically. When I watch my student teachers, the greatest challenge is to get them to slow down! They fear the silence and so push on with no time for any reflection and then lose the children. Silence truly is golden!
Try this exercise
When you finish reading a story, do you immediately put the book down and move on to something else? I like novels, and when I finish the last word in the last sentence on the last page I never just slam the book shut and swiftly move on to something else. I always re-read the last few lines, just stare into space and think about the ending. Most people do, and yet we forget that special moment when reading to children.
Next time, think about doing it this way: read the last line, 'They lived happily every after', keeping the book open. Wait, maybe ten seconds. Then quietly ask the children/child to take a deep breath and breathe out and relax. In this way you allow the story to sink in and enable the children to wallow in it and reflect on its ending. You get more learning from it, because part of being literate is the love of reading.
6. Listening and responding
When you listen to children, look interested, and when you respond, be interested as though the piece of information helps your learning. If you are trying to build up learning, try repeating what the child has said.
Having read 'Cinderella' and a child responds with 'I don't like Cinderella's sisters, they were horrible', you can respond with 'Helen doesn't like Cinderella's sisters, they were mean to Cinderella, making her work for them and never being kind.' By repeating what a child has said and then developing their ideas, you are repeating for those children who may not have heard, extending the learning by building on what the child has said and boosting the child's confidence because the adult has just said what they said!
Try not to think of questions as stand-alone. Think of a series of questions so you can build up the children's knowledge. If you want to help children express their ideas about the characters' mean behaviour, then the following might start that process:
'Hmm, that was an interesting story. What do you think of the step-sisters?' 'Why do you think the sisters were like that?' 'How could we help them to be kinder?'
In conclusion
- We need to ask far more questions of children, both in groups and to individuals, which help their learning.
- We can only do this if we consider those questions carefully. So, think about what it is you want children to learn, how you are going to achieve that, and what questions will get you there. You will then find you ask fewer questions, but those you do will be effective.
- Finally, stay quieter for longer; remember the ten-second silence rule. Try it today and see the difference.
Helen Bilton is PGCE programme director at the University of Reading
MANAGING A GROUP
When you have a group time, think about how you manage it so you can maximise the learning.
Rather than firing questions into the air for anyone to answer, consider the following.
- Direct questions to individuals; don't throw a question out to the crowd for the usual one or two to bat back the answer.
- Don't get those children who put their hand up first to answer.
- Not all questions are appropriate for everyone. One question may be hard for some and easy for others. So tailor the question to develop the individual's learning.
- Do you give more time to the more interesting answers? Is this fair?
- Do you favour certain children answering, as you know they will know the answer?
- Make sure you look at everyone in the group. Practitioners often miss children at the sides, in the middle and sometimes right under their noses. Improve your scanning techniques, so all feel included in the discussion.
- Tell children you are coming to them next to ask a question.
REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING
This article is based around the work of the Leverhulme project in
- Wragg, EC and Brown, G (1993) Explaining in the primary school. London: Routledge
- Brown, G and Wragg, EC (1993) Questioning in the primary school. London: Routledge