Lesson 7 Reflection- Effective questioning strategies

     WOW, time flies; we are now in our seventh lesson with Dr Lina. Before the session began, Dr Lina, as usual, linked previous knowledge and went over some of the criteria for our teaching demo presentation, which is coming up next week. She went into detail about the assignment's requirements, such as group members, learning objectives, and outcomes, as well as the mandatory parts in our slides. It provided us with a clearer picture of the assignment as well as an accurate guideline to keep us on track. She then instructed us on how to write a holistic learning objective utilising SMART objectives and Bloom's taxonomy, as well as displaying some examples. She even explained what learning objectives are and why they are important. She cleared things up at this point, which was quite beneficial to me. Aside from that, she taught us good questioning techniques. She discussed the importance of questioning, including Socrates' skill of questioning, inquiries in the classroom, and the different types of questions we might employ. Following that, she gave each of us a research report on question methods. The article was instructive in terms of question generation, question asking, question lengthening, and implementing HOTS in our daily lives. The session made use of a whole-class discussion.

     Despite having experience writing objectives, I was new to SMART goals in drafting learning objectives. I used to believe that using the ABCD model to set learning objectives was the only way to ensure accuracy. I learned a lot about writing them after this class! It was incredible! This session was incredibly informative for me. I delved deeper into the questioning techniques. It broadened my previous understanding of inquiring. During Dr. Chu's class, I learned about many types of questioning tactics, but I didn't learn much about how to encourage and adjust our inquiries so that we can use higher-order thinking skills. I recently understood how important it is to cultivate, practise, and implement the HOTS in our daily lives.

    Dr Lina's class will show some of the relevant theories. First, there will be a class discussion. Grossman et al. (2014) stated that the whole class discussion can be defined as an educational productive discussion in which the teacher and a diverse range of students contribute orally, actively listen, respond to, and learn from the contributions of others, by Vygotsky's social cognitive theory. It emphasises several benefits, such as possibilities for teachers and students to engage with, make sense of, and learn from other people's ideas (Dunning, 2023). These whole-class discussions are used in problem-solving sessions, where students work on rich mathematical assignments before teachers choose a few student strategies to highlight during the discussion. The cultivation of thinking and metacognition in the whole-class debate is consistent with Piaget's theory, and it closed the ZPD of pupils during a large discussion.

    The reading article comes in second. The teaching and learning method was also implemented through guided reading from Dr Lina's class. Dr Lina thoroughly facilitated the interaction in her guided reading session, taking into account small group composition and text selection, setting intentional lesson objectives, and encouraging strategic behaviour with prompts such as asking questions, giving clues, and demonstrating. Independent reading allows us to improve our reading control, increase our strategic behaviours, and effectively absorb or grasp information (Clay, 1991). Dr. Lina's guided reading in class lowered our cognitive load by chunking and breaking down the literary pieces before they entered our long-term memory. In this session, she obviously used Atkinson and Shiffrin's (1968) human memory paradigm. Aside from that, Dr Lina employed question methods to engage us in serious discussion and boost our reading responses. When teachers lowered our cognitive load (Feldon,2007) by limiting the questions (Leifer et al., 1994), we were able to retain and respond more. It indirectly stimulates pupils by providing them with a sense of achievement. Waiting allows pupils to ponder and respond. 

    Thirdly, there is the application. According to Bloom's taxonomy, application is critical for assessing students' knowledge and improving comprehension. Dr Lina asked us to compose a statement using the question circle method after reading the text. She offered us opportunities to demonstrate our expertise in front of the class. Learners, according to constructivist views of learning, are both producers and consumers of knowledge; the development of unique learning artefacts is crucial to constructivist-inspired conceptions of learning. Learning is facilitated when students actively participate in knowledge-generation activities (Grabowski, 1996). Thus, knowledge application enables us to change and develop unique interpretations, as well as to represent freshly generated knowledge in a flexible and relevant manner.

    Finally, I have found some advantages of using effective questioning strategies in the classroom. Questioning strategies promote critical thinking. Effective questioning encourages students to think critically and analyze information. As noted by Paul and Elder (2006), questioning is a key component of critical thinking, fostering deep understanding and intellectual growth. Furthermore, it also develops communication skills among students. Students' engagement in meaningful discussions in response to questions helps students develop effective communication skills. This aligns with Vygotsky's socio-cultural theory, which emphasizes the importance of language in cognitive development (Vygotsky, 1978).

    In a nutshell, as a human being, I would like to apply more effective questioning strategies in my life to practice my higher-order thinking skills. It helps me to think deeper, view subjects holistically and make judgements fairly without biases. It also promotes my rationale further in making decisions and problem-solving. Furthermore, as a pre-service teacher, I would like to integrate SMART goals with the ABCD model as well as Bloom's taxonomy in writing my learning objectives. I would also like to bring effective questioning strategies into my class and instil students to practice HOTS in their learning journey. This is helpful in driving their interest in learning or even in their future.

References:

Clay, M. M. (1991).  Becoming literate: The construction of inner control.  Auckland, New                 Zealand: Heinemann. 

Dunning, A. A framework for selecting strategies for whole-class discussions. J Math Teacher         Educ 26, 433–454 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10857-022-09536-5

Feldon, D. F. (2007). Cognitive load and classroom teaching: The double-edged sword of automaticity. Educational Psychologist, 42, 123-137. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00461520701416173

Glaser, B. G. (1965). The Constant Comparative Method of Qualitative Analysis, Social Problems,          12(4), 436–445, https://doi.org/10.2307/798843

Leifer, R., Lee, S., &Durgee, J. (1994). Deep structures: Real information requirements determination. Information & Management, 27(5), 275-285. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-7206(94)90022-1

Paul, R., & Elder, L. (2006). Critical thinking: The nature of critical and creative thought. Journal of Developmental Education, 30(2), 2-7.

   

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