Here are some questions I found to get started with good questioning. These are by no means the only possibilities, but this table of questions gives a great start on THE PROBLEM.
| To promote problem solving, ask:
*What do you need to find out? *What strategies are you going to use? *What information do you have? |
To help when students get stuck, ask:
*How did you tackle similar problems? *What do you know that isn't stated in the problem? *What about putting things in order? |
To make connections among ideas, ask:
*How does this relate to ...? *Can you give me an example of...? *What previous ideas helped in solving this? |
| To help students collectively make sense of math, ask:
*What do you think about what ______ said? *Can you convince the rest of us that your answer makes sense? |
To help students learn to reason mathematically, ask:
*Is that true for all cases? Explain. *How would you prove that? *What assumptions are you making? |
To encourage reflection, ask:
*Does your answer seem reasonable? Why/not? *What are the key points/main ideas in this lesson? *Can you describe your method to us all? |
| To encourage conjecturing ask:
*What would happen if ...? *Do you see a pattern? Can you explain it? *Can you predict the next one? |
To check student progress, ask:
*Why did you decide to use this method? *Is there a more efficient strategy? *What do you notice when ...? |
To help students build confidence ask:
*How did you reach that conclusion? *Why is that true? *Can you make a model to show that? |
My students often say, "Why can't you just answer my question? You always answer me with another question." Most often I reply, "I answer your question with a question because I don't want to take away the feeling of power you'll have when you figure out the answer for yourself."