A professor in my undergraduate education also gave a lecture once about how to ask questions to our students. The most important idea that I remember from that lecture is the three second rule. Ask a question and wait at least three seconds for a student to raise his or her hand with an answer. Don’t just jump in and give the answer or call on a student before giving him or her the chance to reflect on the question and develop an answer.
The professor also made us think about asking open-ended questions promoting thinking and solving problems. Remember, I was in the hands-on technology major and much of our students thinking relied on taking chances, designing ideas and trying different methods of solving construction, transportation or communication problems or challenges. It was a difficult thing for my students to grasp the idea that there might be more than one solution to a problem. They were only thought to think of the answer that would answer the comprehension question asked by the textbook. No thinking involved, just memorization. A difficult habit to break!!!!
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You know Barbara, during student teaching we were given the assignment to audiotape ourselves teaching a lesson. We had to listen back and record the types of questions asked, as well as the wait time. While I THOUGHT I was leaving good wait time, and I THOUGHT I was asking a good amount of deeper-thinking questions, the actual results were surprising. My wait time average (while I can't remember the exact amount) was somewhere in the 1.5 second range, and I asked many basic-level questions. It was an eye-opening assignment, and I try to keep that in the back of my mind when I teach even now. This would be a good thing to try now...I wonder if I have gotten any better?
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