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An ongoing formative assessment tool used to scaffold students understanding by asking complex questions that give students the chance to think critically, and gives teachers insight into the depth of the student's understanding.  The Questioning method engages students in higher-order thinking. Teachers ask probing questions to dig deeper and clarify understanding.

Questioning reaches knowledge and reasoning targets. Students must use the conceptual knowledge and reasoning to respond to the teachers questions.

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This video explains the what sort of questions shape a adequate performance assessment.

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Performance Assessment - Classroom Vignette (TELL Project)

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These are useful and effective resources for us as future teachers because they provide techniques that allow the student and ourselves to grow from the higher-level question techniques in these resources.

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Questioning is used to scaffold students into the right direction without explicitly giving answers. It is also used to pinpoint where students are in their level of understanding to further inform instruction (formative assessment).

Example: CGI Lessons
CGI Lessons are cognitively guided instructions, in the math setting; that are guided specifically through questions. Teachers ask probing question to students and allow them to construct meaning on their own. This leads to a deeper conceptual understanding versus the traditional teacher dominated lesson. The CGI lesson includes two problems: the first is discussed with the whole class and the second is taken as an assessment.

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Discussion and Supporting Materials

Discussion

Supporting Materials

Thought starters

1. Why is it helpful for students to discuss the mental images they formed?

2. Ms. Latimer takes multiple student answers to the same question. What effect does this have?

3. How could this lesson be connected with addition and subtraction?

4. See also Mathematical Practice Standard 7 in the CCSS?

Newest

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Quick Images: Visualizing Number Combinations

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Stephanie Latimer begins her lesson on quick images by showing students an image of eight objects. She shows the image for only three seconds, which discourages students from counting by ones. Students put their thumbs up when they think they know how many objects are shown in the image. Stephanie c…

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Edutopia: The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom http://www.edutopia.org/asking-students-good-questions

Tips for Teachers - Asking Good Questions http://www.edb.utexas.edu/minliu/pbl/TIPS/question.html#hots

Inviting Student Engagement with Questioning http://www.redorbit.com/news/education/258931/inviting_student_engagement_with_questioning/

Questioning Techniques: Research-Based Strategies for Teachers http://onramp.nsdl.org/eserv/onramp:1244/oct08_pl_tas.html

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The assessment of knowledge is determining whether or not students have a general understanding of concepts. It is the facts, the vocabulary, and the context of the subject being taught. Questions should strategically assess the students ability to recall the facts and more general ideas of the topic. 

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The assessment of knowledge is determining whether or not students have a general understanding of concepts. It is the facts, the vocabulary, and the context of the subject being taught. Questions should strategically assess the students ability to recall the facts and more general ideas of the topic. 

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Reasoning is the application of knowledge. It is how the student uses the knowledge to make connections. Questions that assess the student's ability to reason should require the students to think through the situation or problem solve.

Skill is the actual process of using the knowledge and reasoning to help you perform a task. It is knowing how to do the task at hand. These questions should address the students understanding of the procedures. The question should require the application of knowledge and reasoning to work through the problems.

Product targets are tangible pieces that make the knowledge evident. For instance  producing a written paper, performing a choreographed danced, or giving a speech. None of these tasks can be complete without the knowledge , reasoning , and skill.

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Importance of Questioning

Questioning in teaching and learning not only encourages students to think critically; it allows teachers to assess whether their students understand a particular concept. This requires the teacher to be able to come up with the right questions in order to get students to provide responses that are both relevant and of high standard.

Critical thinking means your students are able to go beyond what's on the surface and really dig deep in order to answer a given question. This means the teacher does not want to ask a basic question like ''Who are the main characters in the story?'' Instead, the teacher may ask ''How are each of the main characters important to the progression of the plot?''

Students will not only have to be able to identify the main characters, but they will also need to understand the plot in order to provide meaningful responses to the latter question. This type of questioning, if done consistently, will develop the critical thinking skills that students need as 21st-century learners.

The Questioning Process

When teachers raise the level of their questions, they will increase the likelihood that their students will raise the level of their responses. If in doubt about the type of questions that should be used in order to encourage critical thinking skills, it may be a good idea to use a tool like Bloom's taxonomy as a guide.

Bloom's taxonomy is a systematic approach to teaching and learning that can be used as a resource for question design. Levels of teaching and learning are broken into at least six components:

Teachers can use the various levels to create questions based on learning objectives. If you, as the teacher, want to assess students' ability to analyze, you might ask ''How would you compare the hero and the villain in this story?'' If you want students to synthesize, you may ask ''How would you develop the plot so that the ending of the story would not be tragic? ''

Asking Effective Questions

There are many ways in which to ask effective questions. Here are some guidelines to use when you need to do so:

Questions should be asked in a positive manner so that students will enjoy responding. If your students perceive your questions to be too negative or too aggressive, they will probably not want to answer them.

The idea of questioning is to engage students in the learning process, not put students on the spot as punishment for misbehavior. For example, if Sally is talking during instruction, you wouldn't want to punish her by asking her a question regarding the instruction. By doing this, you as the teacher have turned a positive learning opportunity into a negative one.

Questions should be clear and to the point. While your goal as the teacher is to challenge your students, you certainly don't want them to disconnect from the process because they don't understand what you're asking.

Ask a question and pause for a few seconds before calling on a student to answer it. This gives students a chance to think about the question and form an appropriate response.

Try to not interrupt students while they're responding unless it's absolutely necessary. This tells students that their responses are valued, and it makes the learning environment more student-centered.

Questioning Techniques

As your students become more comfortable with the manner in which you ask questions, you may consider using other techniques to engage them in the questioning-answering process. Some of these techniques include reflective questioning, divergent questioning, and evaluative questioning.

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questioning techniques in the classroom - video & lesson transcript | study.com

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Questioning Techniques in the Classroom - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com

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Questioning in teaching and learning not only encourages students to think critically; it allows teachers to assess whether their students understand a particular concept. This requires the teacher to be able to come up with the right questions in order to get students to provide responses that are both relevant and of high standard.

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Sound Design: Asking good questions that relate directly to the objectives

Clear Purpose & Clear Learning Target: informing the students that they are being questioned on a specific topic

Effective Communication of Results: Teacher is able to provide immediate feedback and scaffolding to aid students in critical thinking

Student Involvement: Students will be involved in answering probing questions