Teaching Techniques

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Teaching Well Workshop Cal Poly Center for
Teaching and Learning
Questioning Techniques
Al Estes Department Head, Architectural
Engineering
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Group Activity
Why ask questions in class?
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Why Use Questioning?

• Get students engaged with the subject
• Develop rapport between teacher and student
• Stimulate critical thinking
• Add variety to the class
• Assess student learning (but questioning is not
  particularlyeffective as a classroom assessment
  tool.)

Contact is the key!
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A Good Question Is...

• Short
• Clear
• Unambiguous
• Nontrivial (most of the time)

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• Q100
• BasicQuestioning

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Q100 The Default

• Ask the question
• P a u s e
• Call on a student

Master this technique, and use it as your
standard!
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Q100 The Volunteer

• Ask the question
• Pause
• (wait for a raised hand)

Use for conceptually challenging questions.
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Q100 Jump Ball

• Ask the question
• P a u s e
• Anybody

Use for conceptually challenging questions and
when you need a fast answer.
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Q100 The Choir

• Ask the question
• Pause
• Everybody

Use for simple but important points that everyone
should know cold.
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Group Activity
Formulate two questions that you would ask as you
develop this board in class.
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• Q200
• AdvancedQuestioning

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Q200 Advanced Questioning

• Misleading Question
• The Expert
• The Un-Expert
• Blind Question
• Misdirected Question

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Preconditions for Effective Questioning

• Preplan most of the questions you will ask in
  class.
• Know your students(names and personalities).

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Preconditions for Effective Questioning

• Preplan most of the questions you will ask in
  class.
• Know your students(names and personalities).
• Be willing to take a risk.
• Be willing to assume a leadership role in the
  classroom.

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Plan Questions to

• Review or refresh prior knowledge.
• Connect prior knowledge to a new topic.
• Stimulate critical thinking about a topic.
• During problem-solving, use questioning to
• Develop the problem-solving methodology
• Develop diagrams
• Develop equations
• Crunch the numbers

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Responding to Students Answers

• Listen carefully.
• Separate the wheat from the chaff
• Affirm and praise the wheat.
• Ignore the chaff
• Correct errors only when necessary to prevent
  problems or misconceptions later.
• Be positive.

Remember why youre asking questions!
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Teaching Well Workshop Cal Poly Center for
Teaching and Learning
Answering Questions
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When a Student asks a Question

• Repeat or clarify it, if necessary.
• Whenever possible, help the student answer the
  question herself.
• Ask other students to answer the question.
• Defer until later, if appropriate.
• Answer it yourself, only as a last resort
• but never let a students question go unanswered.

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A Good Answer Is...
Be willing to say I dont know

• Accurate
• Direct
• Efficient
• Clear
• Positive

but be so well prepared that you never have to
say I dont know.
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What if a Student Says
I Dont Know
As a General Rule
Dont Let Them Off The Hook
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Lets TryAn Experiment
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What is the effect of correlation between failure
events on the reliability of series and parallel
systems?
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Teaching Well Workshop Cal Poly Center for
Teaching and Learning
Questioning
Questions?
References Lowman, J., Mastering the Techniques
of Teaching, Jossey-Bass Publishers,
(1995). Wankat, P., and F. Oreovicz, Teaching
Engineering, New York, McGraw-Hill, (1993).