QUESTIONING IN THE
SCIENCE CLASSROOM
PAT BROWN, PHD AND KATHY HOPKINS
SECONDARY SCIENCE AND SOCIAL STUDIES CURRICULUM COORDINATORS
FORT ZUMWALT SCHOOL DISTRICT
Think about your classroom…
What features of academic
conversations are happening…?

Do all students get a chance to
answer?

Do students have time to discuss and
follow up on their answers?

Do students get to hear other student
answers in order to reflect on their
own understanding?
Video Analysis A (8:13-9:40)
Questioning
types
 What do you
notice about the
questioning?
 Take notes as you
watch the clip.
Other
Feedback
Classroom
Conversation
Talk Time/
Contribution
Interactional
Patterns
Video Analysis A – What does the research
say about questioning?

75% of the questions teachers ask are of a
factual or literal nature. (Bromley, 1992, 139)

80% or more of classroom questioning may be
based on low order, factual recall questions
(Quigley, 2012)

Teachers ask an average of 70 factual
questions in an average 30-min lessons (Bromley,
1992)
Video Analysis A – What does the research say
about questioning?

True dialogue occurs when teachers ask
questions to which they do not presume to
already know the correct answer. (Lemke, 1990)

Research indicates that teachers specifically
trained to ask high-quality questions show
significant improvement in constructing and using
such questions in the classroom. (Angletti 1991; Blanchard,
Southerland, and Grandger 2008)
Video Analysis B (8:13-9:40)
Questioning
types
 What do you notice
about teacher
feedback?
Other
 What do you notice
about the
interactions—
between teacher
and student AND
student and
student?
Feedback
Classroom
Conversation
Talk Time/
Contribution
Interactional
Patterns
Video Analysis B – What we noticed
about interactions?
•
Question-Response-Feedback
• Teacher-Centered
• Form of I-R-E (Initiation-Response-Evaluation) pattern
• Very common type of classroom discourse (Mortimer & Scott, 2003;
Lemke, 1990)
Limited participation per interaction (teacher-student)
• Established norms for participation
• Students respond when called on
• No evidence there is room for student questions
• Adversarial in nature
• Teacher knowledge versus student knowledge
•
Video Analysis C (8:13-9:40)
 What do you notice
about the talk time?
Questioning
types
Other
Feedback
Classroom
Conversation
 Is there anything else that
you notice about the
clip?
Talk Time/
Contribution
Interactional
Patterns
Conversation Analysis
T:
S:
T:
S:
T:
S:
T:
S:
T:
Conversation
Ok, I am a square field with an area of 169 square
feet, what’s the length of one of my sides, Janae?
13
13, What?
Ahhh, Feet.
Excellent! I am a square field with a parameter of
48 feet. What’s my area, Katrina?
144
Excellent! I am a regular octagon with a side that
measures 8X plus 2. What is my perimeter,
Taneise?
64x Plus 16.
Excellent! I am an isosceles triangle…
Conversation Analysis
Conversation
T:
S:
T:
S:
T:
S:
T:
S:
T:
Ok, I am a square field with an area of 169 square
feet, what’s the length of one of my sides, Janae?
13
13, What?
Ahhh, Feet.
Excellent! I am a square field with a parameter of
48 feet. What’s my area, Katrina?
144
Excellent! I am a regular octagon with a side that
measures 8X plus 2. What is my perimeter, Taneise?
64x Plus 16.
Excellent! I am an isosceles triangle…
Word
Count
22
1
2
2
16
1
19
3
6…
General analysis/points

This was a teacher-centered classroom

The talk time consisted mainly of teacherstudent vs. student-student conversation
 Unwritten
rules for participation
(answer when randomly called upon)
 Do
not ask questions

Talk time was fast paced with little time
for student processing

Questions were focused versus broad
Focused Versus Broad Questions

Focused Question - anticipates predictable
response planned by the instructor.

Focus on “correct” response

Can require students to remember, recall,
recognize information
 Useful
to help students recall a fact, define a
term, review a topic
 Beneficial
for helping students confirm previous
classroom experiences
Broad Questions

Broad Question – elicits a variety of acceptable
and generally unpredictable responses.
 Allows
for unplanned, divergent outcomes
 Promotes
unique thinking processes
 Encourages
synthesizing/extending ideas,
deduce and predict, or organize elements of
what they’ve learned into a fresh pattern
 Allows
 Values
students to co-constructing knowledge
individual contributions at all stages of
development
We’ll focus more on broad question, accepting
student responses, and wait time
Question Planning Wheel

Provides teachers with specific areas of probing
questions

Can promote student to student conversation and
elaboration on ideas

Allows teachers to provide acceptance of student
ideas (not always feedback) and promote student-to
student conversations
Questioning Wheel
Elaborate
and Clarify
Student
Response
Synthesizing
Student
Response
Student
Response
Broad
Question
Student
Response
Rewording
Examples
Student
Response
Building on
Ideas
Elaborate and Clarify
Prompts:
• Can you elaborate on ….?
• What does that mean…?
• What do you mean by…?
• Can you clarify the part about…?
• Tell me more about…
• How is that important?
• How does it support your point
that…?
• I understand the part about … but I
want to know…
• Can you be more specific…?
Support Ideas with Examples
(Labs and Demos, Discussions, Text, other texts, world, one’s own life)
Prompts:
• Can you give an example from
the [lab, demo, discussion, text,
etc…]?
• [When using texts] Where does it
say that?
• What is a real-world example?
• Are there any cases of that in
real life?
• Can you give an example from
your life?
Build on and/or Challenge a
Partner’s Idea
(Pick a point, stay relevant, connect ideas, challenge and adapt ideas)
Prompts:
• How can we add to this idea
of…
• What other ideas or examples
relate to this idea?
• What else could support this
idea?
• Do you agree?
• What contradicts this? What
are other points of view?
Rewording and Paraphrase
(Shows true listening, negotiates meaning between speaker and listener)
Prompts:
• Can any one say [idea]
in their own words?
• Is that clear?
• Does that make sense?
• Do you know what I
mean?
• What do you think?
Is this
clear?
Makes
sense
Synthesize
(Building skills such as organizing and prioritizing)
Prompts:
• How can we summarize what we
discussed?
• What have we discussed?
• How can we bring these ideas
together?
• What is the main point we want to
communicate after discussing this?
• What is our conclusion?
Social Studies Example
Synthesizing
Student
Response
Student
Response
Broad
Question
Student
Response
Rewording
Student
Response
Broad Question:
What was the
impact
of the Battle of Iwo
Jima on the
eventual
victory for the
Allied forces?
Elaborate
and
Clarify
Examples
Student
Response
Building
on Ideas
Elaborate and Clarify
(Analogies and Examples)
Can you elaborate on ….? (what the visual
represents and various aspects of visual)
What does that mean…? (raising the
American flag)
What do you mean by…? (the importance
of several men raising the flag)
Can you clarify the part about…? (the
significance of the American flag being
raised here and the impact on soldiers )
Tell me more about… (the Battle of Iwo
Jima)
How is that important? How does it
support your point that…? (What role did
the Battle of Iwo Jima play in WWII)
Support Ideas with Examples
(Text, other texts, world, one’s own life)
Prompts:
Can you give an example from the text? (relating
the importance of the victory)
Where does it say that? ( primary or secondary
sources)
What are examples from other texts? (can those
examples be interpreted the same way)
What is a real-world example? Are there any cases
of that in real life? (similarities/differences to this
situation/celebration in US history)
Can you give an example from your life?
(something that has been a struggle and you
overcome it)
Science Example
Elaborate
and
Clarify
Broad Question:
Student
Response
Synthesizing
Broad
Question
Student
Response
Rewording
Student
Response
How are chemical
and physical changes
different?
Student
Response
Examples
Student
Response
Building
on Ideas
Elaborate and Clarify
• Tell me more about [changing color, forming a
precipitate, producing gas]?
• How is forming a gas an important clue that a
chemical change has occurred?
• Can you clarify the part about changing color is a
chemical change? What about painting a wall?
• Can you elaborate on what a physical change is?
• I understand that you listed the word precipitate
but I want to know more about what it means?
Support Ideas with Examples
(Labs and Demos, Discussions, Text, other texts, world, one’s own life)
• Can you give an example from the lab to show
the difference between a chemical and physical
change?
• When we close read the book, what picture was
used to show a precipitate?
• What is a real-world example of a physical
change?
• Are there any cases of chemical changes that
occur in your everyday life?
• Can you give an example from your life that
happened today of of a physcial change?
Build on and/or Challenge a
Partner’s Idea
(Pick a point, stay relevant, connect ideas, challenge and adapt ideas)
• How can we add to this idea of the formation of a
precipitate?
• What other ideas or examples are there of
physical changes?
• What is a non-example for color changing as
evidence of chemical change?
Rewording and Paraphrase
(Shows true listening, negotiates meaning between speaker and listener)
• Can someone else explain what a chemical
change is in their own words?
• Does the idea of “formation of a precipitate”
make sense?
Synthesize
(Building skills such as organizing and prioritizing)
• How can we summarize what is important
evidence that a physical change has occurred?
• In the next unit we will study states of matter. How
might learning about chemical and physical
changes relate to states of matter?
• If you had to explain the difference between
chemical and physical changes to a young kid
what would you tell them about how they are
different?
Skulls Activity

How can you use the planning wheel to create
questions for skulls?
 Use

planning wheel themes
Share planning wheels