How is questioning effective

The instructor can reinforce by making positive statements and using positive nonverbal communication. Proper nonverbal responses include smiling, nodding and maintaining eye contact, while improper nonverbal responses included looking at notes while students speak, looking at the board, or ruffling papers.

The type of reinforcement will be determined by: The correctness of the answer. If a student gives an answer that is off-target or incorrect, the instructor may want to briefly acknowledge the response, then think of ways to help the student provide a correct answer. The instructor could use strategies such as probing, paraphrasing, or asking the question in a different way.

The number of times a student has responded. Instructors may want to provide a student who has never responded in class with more reinforcement than someone who responds often.

Probing: The initial response of students may be superficial. The instructor needs to use a questioning strategy called probing to make students explore initial comments. Probes are useful in getting students more involved in critical analysis of their own and other students' ideas. Probes can be used to: Analyze a student's statement, make a student aware of underlying assumptions, or justify or evaluate a statement.

Instructor : What are some ways we might solve the energy crisis? Student : I would like to see a greater movement to peak-load pricing by utility companies.

Instructor: What assumptions are you making about consumer behavior when you suggest that solution? Help students deduce relationships. Instructors may ask students to judge the implications of their statements or to compare and contrast concepts.

Instructor : What are some advantages and disadvantages of having grades given in courses? Student 1 : Grades can be a motivator for people to learn. Student 2 : Too much pressure on grades causes some students to stop learning, freeze, go blank.

Instructor : If both of those statements are true, what generalizations can you make about the relationship between motivation and learning? Have students clarify or elaborate on their comments by asking for more information. Instructor: Could you please develop your ideas further? Can you provide an example of that concept?

Student: It was obvious that the crew had gone insane. Instructor : What is the legal definition of insane? Student : It was a violation of due process. Instructor: Can you explain why? This technique is also used to shift attention to a new topic. Instructor: What does it mean to devalue the dollar?

Student: Um—I'm not really sure, but doesn't it mean that, um, a dollar doesn't go as far as it used to? Does that mean it's devalued? Instructor: Well, let's talk a little bit about another concept, and that is inflation. How does inflation affect your dollar? Strategies for responding to student questions There are many ways in which an instructor can respond to questions from students.

Then proceed with one of the following strategies: Answer the question yourself. This strategy is best when you have little time remaining in class. The disadvantage of this approach is that you do not encourage student-to-student interaction or independent learning. Redirect the question to the class. This strategy helps to encourage student-to-student interaction and to lessen reliance on the instructor for all information.

Attempt to help the student answer his own question. Does this question raise the visibility of the key concepts the students are learning? Will this question stimulate peer discussion? Is it clear what the question is about? Incorporating effective questions into your course Although the most common way to ask a question is to pose it to the entire class, this may result in nobody volunteering to answer the question or only a few students attempting to answer it. Answers are tallied instantly, and results can be displayed as they come in Allow students to create their own questions, such as: Ask them to write questions they have about a topic or reading.

Consider asking students to post them to an online forum before class Quiz their neighbor on the lecture content or readings Write down one or two remaining questions a few minutes before class ends and turn them in Design questions to guide a small group discussion Suggest and submit exam questions Encourage students to answer questions by creating positive classroom norms and expectations: Provide enough time for students to respond to questions.

Let students handle awkward silences Encourage student responses even if they are wrong. If a student is wrong, inaccurate, or unclear, respond with probing questions such as, "That's interesting. This is particularly useful when introducing new scientific vocabulary.

Hinge questions are a useful way to check if you need to go over something again. Often, they are multiple-choice questions. During lockdown, teachers worked so hard to create engaging remote resources. Link forensic science and the Covid pandemic to your lessons on instrumental analysis, separation techniques, data interpretation and health with UN sustainable development goals 16 and Easy-to-implement ways to link these topics to your lessons on energy sources, water resources, nanochemistry, health and climate change.

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Related articles. Ideas When things go wrong in the classroom, a video can help TZ Practical demo gone wrong in the chemistry lab? In my classroom Curious about other chemistry classrooms? A recent study of more than , business-to-business sales conversations—over the phone and via online platforms—by tech company Gong.

Consistent with past research, the data shows a strong connection between the number of questions a salesperson asks and his or her sales conversion rate in terms of both securing the next meeting and eventually closing the deal. This is true even after controlling for the gender of the salesperson and the call type demo, proposal, negotiation, and so on. However, there is a point of diminishing returns. Conversion rates start to drop off after about 14 questions, with 11 to 14 being the optimal range.

The data also shows that top-performing salespeople tend to scatter questions throughout the sales call, which makes it feel more like a conversation than an interrogation. Just as important, top salespeople listen more and speak less than their counterparts overall.

Taken together, the data from Gong. If the goal is to build relationships, the opposite approach—opening with less sensitive questions and escalating slowly—seems to be most effective. The pairs who followed the prescribed structure liked each other more than the control pairs.

Asking tough questions first can make people more willing to open up. Good interlocutors also understand that questions asked previously in a conversation can influence future queries. However, when the same questions were asked in the opposite order, the answers were less closely correlated.

People are more forthcoming when you ask questions in a casual way, rather than in a buttoned-up, official tone. The control group was presented with a neutral-looking site. Participants were about twice as likely to reveal sensitive information on the casual-looking site than on the others. For example, if they are told that they can change their answers at any point, they tend to open up more—even though they rarely end up making changes.

This might explain why teams and groups find brainstorming sessions so productive. In a whiteboard setting, where anything can be erased and judgment is suspended, people are more likely to answer questions honestly and say things they otherwise might not.

Of course, there will be times when an off-the-cuff approach is inappropriate. Participants were told either that most others in the study were willing to reveal stigmatizing answers or that they were unwilling to do so. In a meeting or group setting, it takes only a few closed-off people for questions to lose their probing power.

The opposite is true, too. As soon as one person starts to open up, the rest of the group is likely to follow suit. Group dynamics can also affect how a question asker is perceived. But when third-party observers watch the same conversation unfold, they prefer the person who answers questions.

This makes sense: People who mostly ask questions tend to disclose very little about themselves or their thoughts. To those listening to a conversation, question askers may come across as defensive, evasive, or invisible, while those answering seem more fascinating, present, or memorable. Just as the way we ask questions can facilitate trust and the sharing of information—so, too, can the way we answer them. Answering questions requires making a choice about where to fall on a continuum between privacy and transparency.

Should we answer the question? If we answer, how forthcoming should we be? What should we do when asked a question that, if answered truthfully, might reveal a less-than-glamorous fact or put us in a disadvantaged strategic position?