The Art and Science of Asking Questions

Quality communication and interactions between the teacher and the students within a classroom are seen as an essential aid to active learning. This article explores the significance of asking the right questions in science education and how it can improve students' understanding. It provides practical examples and tailored questions that can be asked within the class to promote higher-level thinking.

Running Head: SOCIOLOGY 1
The Art and Sconce of Asking Questions
Name of University

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Introduction
Quality communication and interactions between the teacher and the students within a
classroom are seen as an essential aid to active learning. Rogers, & Abell (2008) draw attention
to as to how teachers can modify their questioning techniques to stimulate the young minds to
understand the science concepts. The main take away from the article is as to how students’
science learning can be improved by asking the right questions.
According to Rogers & Abell (2008), the right type of questions motivates higher-order
thinking skills among the students. The children get eager to “show rather than to say” the
answers. Well, this is the “Aha moment” in the article for me as I had never thought before that
scientific concepts could be shown within the classroom, instead of just being discussed. It is
interesting to read as to how Rogers, & Abell (2008) give examples of attention focusing
questions like “Have you seen?” for better understanding in the article. Students can be
motivated to make comparisons by asking questions like what ways are these alike or asking
action-oriented questions include “What will happen if.” Researchers have found that in those
classrooms, where the nature of science was addressed explicitly, showed a significant
improvement in their understanding of science (Hanuscin, 2013).
My personal thoughts after reading the article are that asking the right questions keeps
the students motivated and promotes s higher-level thinking. However, the teachers need to come
prepared first with a list of right kind of questions to ask to achieve specific outcomes. The
open-ended questions should spark animated discussions and generate a series of new questions
among the students (Rogers, & Abell, 2008). I always found my science class boring as it was
more of passive learning. The teacher just explained the basic concepts and asked us to make

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notes. There was hardly any questioning or interactions within the class. Sometimes I wonder if I
would have become better with my scientific skills if my teacher had asked me the right
questions?
To conclude on the subject, I feel that science faculty should be educated upon the
significance of asking the right questions. Every science concept or lesson should come with
practical examples and tailored questions that can be asked within the class to promote higher
understanding among the students. The teacher can tap the prior knowledge of the students and
motivate them to reason and apply their thinking by designing a series of customized questions
on a specific scientific subject.

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References
Hanuscin, D.L. (2013). Perspectives: Research & Tips to Support Science Education, K-6. NSTA
Press, 1(1), 1–129.
Rogers, M.A. P. & Abell, S.K. (2008). The Art (and Science) of Asking Questions. Science and
Children, 1(1), 54–55.