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Many of us are inclined to see audience response systems only as a way
to deliver multiple-choice and true-false questions. While this may be
true in a literal sense, such a restricted conception can divert us from
myriad possibilities for deep and meaningful learning in our classrooms.
The following list of 39 question types and methods is provided to show
the breadth of possibilities. It is distilled from 85 pages of detailed
recommendations in the white paper, Questioning Strategies for
Audience Response Systems: How to Use Questions to Maximize Learning,
Engagement, and Satisfaction, available from the Work-Learning
Research catalog or
you can purchase it directly by clicking here.
1.
Graded Questions to Encourage Attendance
Questions can be used to encourage attendance, but
there are dangers that must be avoided.
2.
Graded Questions to Encourage Homework and Preparation
Questions can be used to encourage learners to spend
time learning prior to classroom sessions, but there are dangers
that must be avoided.
3.
Avoiding the Use of One Correct Answer (When Appropriate)
Questions that don’t fulfill a narrow assessment
purpose need not have right answers. Pecking for a correct answer
does not always produce the most beneficial mathemagenic (learning
creating) cognitive processing. We can give partial credit. We can
have two answers be equally acceptable. We can let the learners
decide on their own.
4.
Prequestions that Activate Prior Knowledge
Questions can be used to help learners connect their
new knowledge to what they’ve already learned, making it more
memorable. For example, a cooking teacher could ask a question about
making yogurt before introducing a topic on making cheese, prompting
learners to activate their knowledge about using yogurt cultures
before they begin talking about how to culture cheese. A poetry
teacher could ask a question about patriotic symbolism, before
talking about the use of symbols in modern American poetry.
5.
Prequestions that Surface Misconceptions
Learners bring naïve understandings to the classroom.
One of the best ways to confront misconceptions is to bring them to
the surface so that they can be confronted straight on. The Socratic
Method is a prime example of this. Socrates asks a series of
prequestions thereby unearthing misconceptions and leading to a new
improved understanding.
6.
Prequestions to Focus Attention
Our learners’ attention wanders. In an hour-long
session, sometimes they’ll be riveted to the learning discussion,
sometimes they’ll be thinking of other ideas that have been
triggered, and sometimes they’ll be off in a daze. Prequestions
(just like well-written learning objectives) can be use to help
learners pay attention to the most important subsequent learning
material. In fact, in one famous study, Rothkopf and Billington
(1979) presented learners with learning objectives before they
encountered the learning material. They then measured learning and
eye movements and found that learners actually paid more attention
to aspects of the learning material targeted by the learning
objectives. Prequestions work the same way as learning
objectives—they focus attention.
7.
Postquestions to Provide Retrieval Practice
Postquestions—questions that come after the learning
content has been introduced—can be used to reinforce what has been
learned and to minimize forgetting. This is a very basic process. By
giving learners practice in retrieving information from memory, we
increase the probability that they’ll be able to do this in the
future. Retrieval practice makes perfect.
8.
Postquestions to Enable Feedback
Feedback is essential for learners and instructors.
Corrective feedback is critical, especially when learners have
misunderstandings. Providing retrieval practice with corrective
feedback is especially important as learners are struggling with
newly-encountered material, difficult material, and when their
attention is likely to wander—for example when they’re tired after a
long-day of training, when there are excessive distractions, or when
the previous material has induced boredom.
9.
Postquestions to Surface Misconceptions
We already talked about using prequestions to surface
misconceptions. We can also use postquestions to surface
misconceptions. Learners don’t always understand concepts after only
one presentation of the material. Many an instructor has been
surprised after delivering a “brilliant” exposition to find that
most of their learners just didn’t get it.
10.
Questions Prompting Analysis of Things Presented in Classroom
One of the great benefits of classroom learning is
that it enables instructors to present learners with all manner of
things. In addition to verbal utterances and marks on a white board,
instructors can introduce demonstrations, videos, maps, photographs,
illustrations, learner performances, role-plays, diagrams, screen
shots, computer animations, etcetera. While these presentations can
support learning just by being observed, questions on what has been
seen can prompt a different focus and a deeper understanding.
11.
Using Rubric Questions to Help Learners Analyze
In common parlance, the term “rubric” connotes a set
of standards. Rubrics can be utilized in asking learners questions
about what they experience in the classroom. Rubric questions, if
they are well designed, can give learners practice in evaluating
situations, activities, and events. Such practice is an awesome way
to engage learners and prepare them for critical thinking in similar
future situations. In addition, if rubrics are continually
emphasized, learners will integrate their wisdom in their own
planning and decision-making.
12.
Questions to Debrief an In-Class Experience
Classrooms can also be used to provide learners with
experiences in which they themselves participate. Learners can be
asked to take part in role plays, simulations, case studies, and
other exercises. It’s usually beneficial to debrief those exercises,
and questions can be an excellent way to drive those discussions.
13.
Questions to Surface Affective Responses
Not all learning is focused on the cold, steely
arithmetic of increasing the inventory of knowledge. Learners can
also experience deep emotional responses, many of which are relevant
to the learning itself. In topics dealing with oppression, slavery,
brutality, war, leadership, glory, and honor, learners aren’t
getting the full measure of learning unless they experience emotion
in some way. Learners can be encouraged to explore their affective
responses by asking them questions.
14.
Scenario-Based Decision-Making Questions
Scenario-based questions present learners with
scenarios and then ask them to make a decision about what to do.
These scenarios can take many forms. They can consist of short
descriptive paragraphs or involved case studies. They can be
presented in a text-only format or augmented with graphics or
multimedia. They can put the learner in the protagonist’s role
(“What are you going to do?”) or ask the learner to make a decision
for someone else (“What should Dorothy do?”). The questions can be
presented in a number of formats—as multiple-choice, true-false,
check-all-that-apply, or open-ended queries.
15.
Don’t Show Answer Right Away
There’s no rule that you have to show learners the
correct response right after they answer the question. Such a
reflexive behaviorist scheme can subvert deeper learning.
Instructors have had great success in withholding feedback. For
example, Harvard professor Mazur’s (1997) Peer Instruction method
requires learners to make an individual decision and then try to
convince a peer to believe the same decision—all before the
instructor weighs in with the answer.
By withholding feedback, learners are encouraged to take some
responsibility for their own beliefs and their own learning.
Discussions with others further deepen the learning. Simply by
withholding the answer, instructors can encourage strategic
metacognitive processing, thereby sending learners the not-so-subtle
message that it is they—the learners—who must take responsibility
for learning.
16.
Dropping Answer Choices
There are several reasons to drop answer choices
after learners have initially responded to a question. You can drop
incorrect answer choices to help focus further discussions on more
plausible alternatives. You can drop an obviously correct choice to
focus on more critical distinctions. You can drop an unpopular
correct choice to prompt learners to question their assumptions and
also to highlight the importance of examining unlikely options. Each
of these methods has specific advantages.
17.
Helping Learners Transfer Knowledge to Novel Situations
“Transfer” is the idea that the learning that happens
today ought to be relevant to other situations in the future. More
specifically, transfer occurs when learners retrieve what they’ve
learned in relevant future situations. As we’ve already discussed,
the easiest and often the most potent way to promote transfer is to
provide learners with practice in the same contexts—retrieving the
same information—that they’ll be required to retrieve in future
situations. But questions can also be used to prepare learners to
retrieve information in situations that are not, or cannot, be
anticipated in designing the learning experience.
18.
Making the Learning Personal
By making the learning personal, we help learners
actively engage the learning material, we support mathemagenic
cognitive processing, and we make it more likely that they’ll think
about the learning outside of our classrooms, further reinforcing
retention and utilization. Questions can be designed to relate to
our learners' personal experiences, thus bolstering learning.
19.
Making the Material Important
Sometimes we can’t make the material directly
personal or provide realistic decisions for learners to make, but we
can still use questions to show the importance of the topic being
discussed.
20.
Helping Learners Question Their Assumptions
One of our goals in teaching is to get learners to
change their thinking. Sometimes this requires learners to directly
confront their assumptions. Questions can be written that force
learners to evaluate the assumptions they bring to particular topic
areas.
21.
Using the Devil’s Advocate Tactic
In a classroom, when we play the devil’s advocate, we
argue ostensibly to find flaws in the positions put forth. The
devil’s advocate tactic can be used in a number of different ways.
You can play the devil’s advocate yourself, or utilize your learners
in that role. From a learning standpoint, when someone plays the
devil’s advocate, learners are prompted to more fully process the
learning material.
22.
Data Slicing
Data slicing is the process of using one factor to
help make sense of a second factor. So for example, through the use
of our audience response systems, we might examine how our learner's
socio-economic background affects their opinion of race relations.
Data slicing can be done manually or automatically. It is
particularly powerful in the classroom for demonstrating how
audience characteristics may play a part in their own perceptions or
judgments.
23.
Using Questions for In-class Experiments.
For some topics, in-class experimentation---using the
learners as the experimental participants---is very beneficial. It
helps learners relate to the topic personally. It also highlights
how scientific data is derived. For example, in a course on
learning, psychology, or thinking; learners could be asked to
remember words, but could—unbeknownst to them—be primed to think
about certain semantic associates and not others.
24.
Prompting Learners to Make Predictions
Prediction-making can facilitate learning in many
ways. It can be used to provide retrieval practice for well-learned
information. It can be used to deepen learners’ understandings of
boundary conditions, contingencies, and other complications. It can
be used to engender wonder. It can be used to enable learners to
check their own understanding of the concepts being learned.
25.
Utilizing Student Questions and Comments
Our learners often ask the best questions. Sometimes
a learner’s question hints at the outlines of his or her
confusion—and the confusion of many others as well. Sometimes
learners want to know about boundary conditions. Students can also
offer statements that can improve the learning environment. They may
share their comfort level with the topic, add their thoughts in a
class discussion, or argue a point because they disagree. All of
these interactions provide opportunities for a richer learning
environment, especially if we---as instructors---can use these
questions to generate learning.
26.
Enabling Readiness When Learners are Aloof or Distracted
Let’s face it. Not all of our learners will come into
our classrooms ready to learn. Some will be dealing with personal
problems. Some will be attending because they have to—not because
they want to. Some will be distracted with other stress-inducing
responsibilities. Some will think the topic is boring, silly, or
irrelevant to them. Fortunately, experienced instructors have
discovered tricks that often are successful. Audience response
technology can help.
27.
Enabling Readiness When Learners Think They Know it All
Some learners will come to your classroom thinking
they already know everything they need to know about the topic
you’re going to discuss. There are two types of learners who feel
this way—those who are delusional (they actually need the learning)
and those who are quite clearheaded (they already know what they
need to know). Using the right questions and gathering everyone's
responses can help you deal with both of these characters.
28.
Enabling Readiness When Learners are Hostile
In almost every instructor’s life, there will come a
day when one, two, or multiple learners are publicly hostile.
Experienced instructors know that such hostility must be dealt with
immediately—not ignored. Even a few bad apples can ruin the learning
experience and the satisfaction of the whole classroom. Fortunately,
there are ways to fend off the assault.
29.
Using Questions with Images
Using images as part of the learning process is
critical in many domains. Obvious examples are art appreciation,
architecture, geology, computer programming, and film. But even for
the least likely topics, such as poetry or literature, there may be
opportunities. For example, a poetry teacher may want to display
poems to ask learners about the physical layout of poems. Images
should not be thrown in willy-nilly. They should be used only when
they help instructors meet their learning goals. Images should not
be used just to make the question presentation look good. Research
has shown that placing irrelevant images in learning material, even
if those images seem related to the topic, can hurt learning
results, distracting learners from focusing on the main points of
the material . One easy rule: Don’t use images if they’re not needed
to answer the question.
30.
Aggregating Handset Responses for a Group or Team
Some handset brands enable responses of individual
handsets to be aggregated. So for example, an instructor in a class
of 50 learners might break the learners into 10 teams, with five
people on a team. All 50 learners have a handset, but the responses
from each team of five learners are aggregated in some way. This
aggregation feature enables some additional learning benefits.
Teamwork can be rewarded and competition between teams can add an
extra element of motivation. Using aggregation scoring allows the
instructor to encourage out-of-class activities where learners
within a team help each other. Obviously, this will only work if the
learning experience takes place over time. In such cases,
aggregation can be used to build a learning community. Learners can
be assigned to the same team or rotated on different teams,
depending on the goals of instruction. Putting learners on one team
encourages deeper relationships and eases the logistics for
out-of-class learning. Rotating learners through multiple teams
enables a greater richness of multiple perspectives and broader
networking opportunities. It’s a tradeoff.
31.
Using One Handset for a Group or Team
Although one of the prime benefits of handsets is
that every learner is encouraged to think and respond, handsets
don’t have to be used only in a one-person one-handset format.
Sometimes a greater number of audience members show up than
expected. Sometimes budgets don’t allow for the purchase of handsets
for every learner. Sometimes learners forget to bring their
handsets. In addition, sometimes there are specific interactions
that are more suited to group responding. When a group of learners
has to make a single response, there has to be a mechanism for them
to decide what response to make. Several exist, each having their
own strengths and weaknesses.
32.
Using Questions in Games
As several sales representatives have told me, one of
the first things instructors ask about when being introduced to a
particular audience response system is the gaming features. This
excitement is understandable, because almost all classroom audiences
respond energetically to games. Our enthusiasm as instructors must
be balanced, however, with knowledge of the pluses and minuses of
gaming. Just as with grading manipulations, games energize learners
toward specific overt goals—namely scoring well on the game. If this
energy is utilized in appropriate mathemagenic activity, it has
benefits. On the other hand, games can be highly counterproductive
as well.
33.
Questions to Narrow the Options in Decision Making
Sometimes the audience in the room must make
decisions about what to do. For example, a senior manager running an
action-learning group may want to take a vote about which project to
pursue given a slate of 15 possible projects. A professor in an
upper-level seminar course might give students a vote in deciding
which of the 10 possible topics to discuss in the final three weeks
of the course. A supervisor might want her employees to narrow down
the candidates for employee of the year. A primary school teacher
might want to give her students a choice of field trip options.
Audience response systems can be used in two ways to do this, single
round voting and double round voting.
34.
Questions to Decide Go or No Go
Sometimes it’s beneficial to give our learners a
chance to decide whether they’re ready to go on to the next topic.
You might ask, “Are we ready to go ahead?” Or, “Are we ready to go
ahead, or do I need to clarify this a bit more?” Using an audience
response system has distinct advantages over handraising here
because most learners are uncomfortable asking for additional
instruction, even when they need it.
35.
Perspective-Taking Questions
There are some topics that may benefit by encouraging
learners to take perspectives of others in answering questions. In
other words, instead of only asking our learners to express their
opinions, we can ask them to take a guess as to the opinions of
others. For example, we might ask our learners to guess the opinion
of both rich and poor people to affirmative action, the importance
of education, etc.
36.
Open-Ended Questions
Some people think that audience response systems lack
potential because they only enable the use of multiple-choice
questions. In contrast, the research on learning suggests to me that
(a) multiple choice questions can be powerful on their own, and (b)
variations of multiple-choice questions add to this power, and (c)
open-ended questions can be valuable in conjunction with
multiple-choice formats, for example by letting learners think first
on their own, providing student ideas, providing more authentic
retrieval practice, etc.
37.
Matching
Matching questions are especially valuable if your
learning goal is to enable learners to distinguish between closely
related items. The matching format can also be useful for logistical
reasons in asking more than one question at a time. Although the
matching question has its uses, it is often overused by instructors
who are simply trying to use non-multiple-choice questions. Often,
the matching format only helps learners reinforce relatively
low-level concepts, like definitions, word meaning, simple
calculations, and the like. While this type of information is
valuable, it’s not clear that the classroom is the best place to
reinforce this type of knowledge.
38.
Asking People to Answer Different Questions
Some audience response systems enable learners to
simultaneously answer different questions. In other words, Sam might
answer questions 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9, while Pat answers questions 2,
4, 6, 8, and 10. This feature provides an advantage only when it’s
critical not to let (a) individual learners cheat off other
learners, or (b) groups of learners overhear the conversations of
other groups of learners. The biggest disadvantage to this tactic is
that it makes post-question discussions particularly untenable. In
any case, if you do find a unique benefit to having learners
answering different questions simultaneously, it’s likely to be for
information that is already well learned—where in-depth discussions
are not needed.
39.
Using Models of Facilitated Questioning
In the paper that details these 39 question types and
methods, I attempted to lay bare the DNA of classroom questioning. I
intentionally stripped questioning practices down to their essence
in the hope of creating building blocks that you, my patient
readers, can utilize to build your own interactive classroom
sessions. For example, I talked specifically about using
prequestions to focus attention, to activate prior knowledge, and to
surface misconceptions. I didn’t describe the myriad permutations
that pre- and postquestions might inhabit for example, or any
systematic combinations of the many other building blocks I
described. While I didn't describe them, many instructors have
developed their own systematic methods---or what I will call,
"Models of Facilitated Questioning." For example, in the paper I
briefly describe Harvard Professor Eric Mazur's "Peer
Instruction" method and the University of Massachusetts’s
Scientific Reasoning Research Institute and Department of Physics' "Question-Driven
Instruction" method.
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