CPD leader resource: Asking questions for different purposes

last updated:September 2006

Objective
This activity will help you to:

• understand the ways in which you make use of questions
• recognise common patterns in the use of questions.

Before doing this activity you might want to encourage participants to complete the matching activity that accompanies this RfT.  The matching activity will help participants to understand the different purposes for which teacher talk is used, and identify and match different kinds of classroom talk to their purposes.

Timing
This activity will take approximately 20 minutes to complete:

• Introducing the session (2 minutes)
• Completing the activity (10 minutes)
• Debriefing the activity (5 minutes)

Resources
Each group will need:

• a copy of the 'Purposes for asking questions' document.

You will need:

• copies of the 'Findings from the RfT' document showing the frequency with which questions are used for different purposes (provided as a resource for this activity, or on page 10 of the RfT), and
• a flipchart to record the top three purposes for each group as part of the debrief.

What to do
Before the session:

• Download and print enough copies of the 'Purposes for asking questions' document and the 'Findings from the RfT' document as you need for the group you are working with.
• Decide on the composition of the groups. Groups of between three and five seem to work best, including, if possible, people with a range of experience.

Introducing the session (3 minutes):

• Explain to participants that they are going to work together to think about how often they make use of questions for a variety of different purposes.
• They will then compare how often they use questions for different purposes with common patterns in the use of questions from research.
• Finally they will discuss the ways in which they might enhance their use of questions to support teaching and learning.

Completing the activity (10 minutes):

• Give each group a copy of the purposes for asking questions.
• Encourage participants to identify a particular class or year group that they teach to focus on while completing this activity.
• Ask groups to read the purpose at the top of the list and work together to identify what percentage of the questions they ask are for this purpose, ie what percentage of the questions they ask invite children to think about ideas and concepts?
• Ask participants to work through the rest of the list identifying what percentage of the questions they ask are for each purpose. Remind them that the total should add up to 100%.
• Ask each of the groups to share the context they were thinking about (ie which year group/subject) and the top three purposes they use questions for in that context.
• Record the top three purposes for each group using a tally on the flipchart and reflect on the similarities and differences across the groups and their chosen contexts.
• Once participants have worked through them all invite plenary feedback and discussion. Notice and explore interesting differences between the groups.
• Next, encourage participants to imagine a perfect lesson with the same group of pupils in six months time. Ask them to identify the percentage of questions that would be directed towards each of the different purposes in that lesson.
• Then give them a copy of the research findings document, which show how often questions are used for each purpose in common practice.
• Ask participants to compare their percentages with the findings and discuss any similarities and differences and discuss the possible reasons for them.
• If you have more time you might like to encourage participants to repeat this activity for another subject or year group.

Debriefing the activity (5 minutes)

• Ask participants to work together to identify why it might be difficult to use an optimal mix of questions in their lessons.
• Encourage them to work together to discuss possible strategies for overcoming these obstacles.

Activities to take learning further
You might like to encourage participants to extend their learning further between sessions by completing one of the following activities.

• Encourage participants to choose one of the purposes for asking questions and ask them to work together to discuss what an effective question, for this purpose, might look like.
• Encourage participants to make use of the RfT to support and develop their thinking.