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Why is questioning important?

Questioning is the most common form of interaction in the classroom. It underpins much of what happens during a lesson and can be a powerful tool for assessing and developing learning.

How can it be used in lessons?

The types of questions, and strategies for implementing them, should be planned before��lessons and designed to facilitate progress, just like any other classroom activity. When questions are used in a superficial way, they tend to call only for lower-order thinking and recall skills.

Instead, teachers need to prompt debate and the development of ideas and understanding. This could be achieved by:

• Asking open-ended questions that instruct students to further think about the ideas or details being offered. By avoiding closed, factual-recall style questions,��teachers can encourage more creative, critical��thinking, which makes students more confident in their answers.
• Avoiding hands-up��volunteering or calling out answers.��Questions should be targeted and differentiated if they are to develop each student.��By planning key questions in advance, teachers can scaffold the learning taking place, and support and extend pupils, depending on their needs and levels of progress.
• Ensuring that thinking time��is provided.��If the desired response is one that shows deeper understanding and requires students to interrogate and synthesise, then suitable time needs to be offered��for this.��Pupils could think individually for a few minutes or time may be given over to paired or small-group discussion.��The “think-pair-share” method is often used to encourage quick and informal discussion of ideas, while giving pupils Post-it notes or mini-whiteboards to craft short responses means they can be more active.
• Trying unusual, speculative or even ridiculous questions to challenge pupils in their thinking and approach.��Teachers might pose questions with an “if”��beginning, ask something that requires speculation and a change of perspective, or even reverse the question entirely by offering the answer(s).��All of these approaches will take students beyond their comfort zone and encourage critical and evaluative thinking.

Further reading:

Teaching.org website:

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