# Commentary

Asking questions is a stimulating and interesting way to engage students in new topics and assist their learning. Some recent research asked teachers who were new to teaching why questions were important. The main reason given was “to find out about students’ knowledge and understanding.” But research in many classrooms shows that teachers can easily forget this!

One study analysed more than 1,000 questions heard in a series of Year 1–6 classes in one small town. The researchers first looked at whom the questions were addressed to. They found that 12 per cent were addressed to groups of pupils, 22 per cent to the whole class and 66 per cent to individuals. This could be construed as encouraging, as the teachers were providing an individual focus.

The researchers, however, then looked at the sort of questions being asked. They found that:

The researchers in this project found that teachers were asking lots of questions, but only a small number of them could be seen to be supporting a more active engagement by students in their own learning.

The next activity looks at a transcript of a lesson and asks you to do some analysis of the types of questions one teacher asked in a session. This will help you develop your understanding and ability to recognise different kinds of question

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