How to develop discussion questions

What makes a question effective?
A good question is relatively short, clear, and unambiguous. Ask only one question at a time. Pouring out a string of questions (even if they are on the same topic) is likely to confuse students, who often won't know where to begin an answer.


Pay attention to the responses you get because they will tell you much about how effectively you have phrased the question. Sometimes when students don't respond or respond poorly, it's because the question has been worded either too vaguely or too broadly. It may help to think backwards: Begin with the answer you want to get and then devise a question that will lead to that answer.


What are the different kinds of questions I can use?
Researchers and teaching experts have devised a number of different "typologies of questions," but perhaps the best way to categorize questions for science and engineering classes is to think of them along a continuum of relatively closed or relatively open questions.

Closed questions ask for a very specific answer. In the Torch of the Firehose?, Arthur Mattuck describes "Are-you-with-me?" questions (relatively closed) that ask the students to supply some detail of a problem that is being discussed ("and the derivative of sin x is?").

Open questions require more thought. ("What would happen if the force were reversed?") There may even be a range of potentially good answers--you can ask students to judge which ones are better than others or which one is best . Then ask them to justify their choices. If you are asking a more complex question that requires calculations, write key elements on the blackboard or prepare an overhead transparency that provides necessary information.

One general piece of advice: Be careful about asking a question that is too easy. At best, your students may feel it's not worth answering; at worst, they may feel insulted at having been asked a question with an obvious answer.


Should I let the course of the class dictate the questions I ask, or should I plan out questions ahead of time?
Both. While you need to be flexible enough to allow questions to emerge spontaneously during discussion, you should also prepare questions ahead of time based on the key points you want to make in that class.


Think, too, about the range of answers you are likely to get to your questions and plan your response to each. This will help guarantee the answers you get wion't take you off on a tangent. Having anticipated the responses, you can determine how to get back to the business at hand in the most efficient way possible.
Should I "cold call" students?

When you "cold call," you ask students to answer a question even if they haven't volunteered. While cold calling can increase the level of anxiety in a classroom, one of its benefits is that it gives students the chance to practice speaking while under pressure, a skill that will be important to them in their professional lives. You can also "warm call" by asking a question of one or two students and then giving them five minutes to frame a response while you discuss something else.
Each of these techniques has its strengths and drawbacks. However, their success will be enhanced if you:


* Establish a norm early in the semester and stick to it. (In other words, don't start cold calling students after midterms!)

* Keep track of which students you have called on when so that you can be fair in your calling pattern. Ideally, you will come to know some of the strengths and weaknesses of each of your students (e.g., Sally is good at calculations; Mark tends to think intuitively and globally), so that you can play to their strengths when calling on them.

* Help students save face by responding to wrong answers with tact and generosity.

- UO Teaching Effectiveness Program