Volume 1: Maximizing Participation in Class Discussion
In most college classrooms, verbal questions and answers represent the exchange and mutual construction of knowledge between professor and student. Effective questioning can enhance student achievement. Wilen and Clegg (1986) found the following practices to be among those that positively correlated with student achievement.
I. Phrase Questions Clearly
"Are there any questions" is the typical catch-all question asked at the end of a topic, but this type of question is so broad that the student may have difficulty focusing on the material just presented in order to formulate a question. Sometimes instructors inadvertently ask two questions at once, or a question within a question, which confuses and frustrates students. Wilen and Clegg (1986) found that when questions are focused on a specific topic, presented in a clear and concise manner, opportunity for student response is maximized. Try asking, "What questions regarding [specific topic] do you have?" This implies that you expect students to be thinking and have questions.
II. Allow sufficient wait time
Wait time is the time that elapses from the end of a question to the beginning of a student response. Estimates of appropriate wait times vary according to content and context, but educational researchers unanimously agree that most of us don't wait long enough. If it takes 5-10 seconds to formulate a response and we wait only 1-3 seconds students will not have time to respond. Try estimating your own wait time the next time you teach and see if by increasing it five seconds you increase the number of student responses.
III. Probe Student Responses
Asking for clarification or support for a point of view stimulates student's thinking and serves to add emphasis and focus to answers. "Tell me more," or "Can anyone give a specific example?" or "Can we add anything new?" extends the discussion and invites additional students to respond. Try using words such as advance, affirm, analyze, conclude, consider, deduce, establish, examine, imply, justify, propose, or submit, in probing student responses. This type of language helps students organize and communicate their own thinking more precisely and intelligently (Tishman et al., 1995).
References
Tishman, S., Perkins, D., and Jay, E. (1995). The Thinking Classroom.
Wilen, W., and Clegg, A. (1986). Effective Questions and Questioning: A Research Review. Theory and Research in Social Education.
|