Good question. It is a very essential problem many from parents to teachers to students themself have to deal with. I very ofter have a feeling there is a much greater problem than feeling stupid in front of others: It is more the fear of being punished. If you ask a question you show that you do not know something about a topic. Than most fear they might be punished by their teachers. And than again: If you ask too many questions the group might punish you aswell.

Most schools start very early talking to children about the value of asking questions for example by telling them something about hypothesis (especially in language courses). But due to the trouble that school system is still very much into direct query of knowledge there is not much room for simple skills like wondering about things. Pupils/students are never asked: What do you wonder about? It is more about: What kind of information are you able to discover?

I think if you want to motivate especially children and teenagers to wonder and ask questions you need to ask the right question in the first place yourself and make it less a punishment. It could help to tell them that in sciences it is meanwhile almost a common ritual to try to wonder about a task you were not able to find an answer for and create a question for those who follow in order to trigger further research. But this is something kids and teenagers hardly know about. Try it out and ask them what science is about and they won't even know anything about where ideas come from nor how worthwhile asking the right question can be. For them it is all like already given, trimmed and organized.

Talking about wondering would be a good thing and showing them some questions from philosophy one would at first sight really laugh about. Like the question: "What is it like to be a bat?" or "What does someone who never saw color know about color?". You could show them that from such question great discussions arised and also show them that simple questions can have a pretty difficult core hard to find answers for. It could be a nice game to find such easy or stupid questions one first laughs about and than starts to wonder.

Good question. It is a very essential problem many from parents to teachers to students themself have to deal with. I very ofter have a feeling there is a much greater problem than feeling stupid in front of others: It is more the fear of being punished. If you ask a question you show that you do not know something about a topic. Than most fear they might be punished by their teachers. And than again: If you ask too many questions the group might punish you aswell.

Most schools start very early talking to children about the value of asking questions for example by telling them something about hypothesis (especially in language courses). But due to the trouble that school system is still very much into direct query of knowledge there is not much room for simple skills like wondering about things. Pupils/students are never asked: What do you wonder about? It is more about: What kind of information are you able to discover?

I think if you want to motivate especially children and teenagers to wonder and ask questions you need to ask the right question in the first place yourself and make it less a punishment. It could help to tell them that in sciences it is meanwhile almost a common ritual to try to wonder about a task you were not able to find an answer for and create a question for those who follow in order to trigger further research. But this is something kids and teenagers hardly know about. Try it out and ask them what science is about and they won't even know anything about where ideas come from nor how worthwhile asking the right question can be. For them it is all like already given, trimmed and organized.

Talking about wondering would be a good thing and showing them some questions from philosophy one would at first sight really laugh about. Like the question: "What is it like to be a bat?" or "What does someone who never saw color know about color?". You could show them that from such question great discussions arised and also show them that simple questions can have a pretty difficult core hard to find answers for. It could be a nice game to find such easy or stupid questions one first laughs about and than starts to wonder.

In Eastern cultural it is considered to be insulting ask a question to the teacher because it implies that the teacher did not explain the subject well enough.

It is necessary for the teacher to find ways to make the students feel "safe" in asking their question.  This might be done by having EVERYONE ask questions and prefacing the activity by explaining that the questions are welcome.  

But...I think that the issue with student reluctance to ask questions in their L2 is often  not related to the subject matter but rather fear of using improper grammar, vocabulary or pronunciation.  This is also an area in which the teacher needs to make the student feel safe, and that perfection is not always necessary (particularly at the basic language level).

I think the simple answer is that students need practice asking questions.  As a graduate student, it took me years to fully appreciate the importance of asking good questions.  Today, I am still learning how to best ask the questions the get the answers that I need.  The more opportunities to ask questions and the more supportive the environment to allow for such exploration, the better.

Present day students have many outlets for voicing their opinions and asking creative and insightful questions beyond the classroom. Facebook, twitter and other social platforms provide students both the platform and the reach to address a broad community of friends and family members in the moment when the idea spark arrives.   Unfortunately, there are too few of these vehicles for within the academic arena.

Full disclosure, I am the founder of Goodio Inc. (www.goodio.com) which is a social network for the classroom and is built entirely to connect students with each other and their teachers.  It is designed to be a low barrier point-of-access to people that have a vested interest in answering questions that students have about their course work.  We built it precisely to address the problem of the 'quiet classroom' and the blank stares that teachers around the world face from their students.  We believe that with opportunity and access, students will ask more questions, and by doing so, will hone their skills at being effective communicators and life-long learners.

www.goodio.com

I have been teaching in primary, high school and even now in university. Obviously, to me, my students needs aids such as I am creating a context to lead them to ask questions. Even to prepare pictures, animation or short film just to raise up their curiosity and strength to ask questions.As a teacher especially language teacher, we must be patient and always lead them to ask. Sometimes maybe my students will asking some nonsense or stupid questions. To me, it's very good and should praise them because they are actually try to ask but maybe they do not know hoe to ask a good questions. Then, we have to show them the best way to ask.

In some cases (proportionally small number of students) we can lecture through debate - at least partially. Then there are the questions entirely routine.

When we have a large number of students questions are rare. Questions should be moved to the laboratory and numerical exercises.

This requires of course a perfect cooperation of lecturer and leaders of exercises.

Does anybody recall the "Philosophy for Children" (P4C) project, devised c.1980 by Columbia University Professor Matthew Lipman - still flourishing and now offered by numerous rival organizations? 

For Information, there's all you could wish for on Google; do searches both for "Philosophy for Children" and "Matthew Lipman". The official home of P4C is the Institute for Advancement of Philosophy for Children (IAPC), founded by Lipman. Wikipedia's "Philosophy for Children" page is well worth reading for in-depth knowledge.

http://www.montclair.edu/cehs/academics/centers-and-institutes/iapc/index.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_for_Children

Other IAPC affiliated organizations include:

http://www.sapere.org.uk/default.aspx?tabid=162

http://p4c.com/history-p4c

I first became aware of P4C viewing a BBC documentary on it back in 1990. I confess being moved to the brink of tears by a mixture of amazement at the (6-7 yo) kids' total absorption, the incredible wealth and astuteness of their ideas, and my own feelings of having been deprived of anything of the kind by my own rigidly authoritarian schooling, and the years of struggling in vain - as a fish out of water - to make something out of it. Here's a clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp5lB3YVnlE

I have converted my higher education classes into a discussion by giving a list of questions I ask and discuss during a delivery. I make them available before the lecture delivery so that the learners can go through them and get ready, if required. During the delivery of the lecture, I give learners prompts and guides for them to create their own answers and encourage them to participate in the discussion. These practices are along the lines of constructivist theory of learning/practices. The idea is to encourage learners to develop questioning minds through continuing practice during lectures.

The encouragement for each student to ask questions is not an easy task. To make a student used to with asking questions in class requires a long term practice in the classroom which should have been encouraged during early years ( since pre school up to secondary). Such practices becomes a habit and students would tend to regard it as means for discovery of answers..

The encouragement for each student to ask questions is manifested and should be reflected from teacher's pedagogy and assessment, tangibly, from their lesson plans.

One way to encourage students asking questions is

1. Use inductive method of teaching such as discovery. Experiments, problem- basesd approaches, model- eliciting activities etc. This help students development critical thinking and eventually tend to develop skills to ask questions..

2. On the part of the teacher, students should feel that asking questions is very much welcome and should be commended especially if such questions are relevant. 

3. In the assessment part,teachers should often include questions that require students to reason out,analyze,and discuss in their own words, questions which are diverse and requires many possible answers. The idea here is that student when trained on this matter tends to developed asking questions on class.

4. Communication. Personal or not, communication is a practice of interaction which also promotes students not only to answer questions of the teacher but also to ask questions

Dear People,

You all make wonderful points. Like many of you, I believe it is important to create an environment in which students will ask questions and give good feedback. This is not easy with some groups and seems to be there the moment you start with others, no matter what the grade level. I have noticed at the undergraduate level, there seems to be a shift toward greater difficulty for students. I think this is a critical time in which students are moving into adulthood and feel a need to be more "right" about what they say. They tend to be more judgmental toward themselves and others. Even course evaluations tend to be more judgmental and less constructive.  I have wondered what to do to help students move through this and into a place of greater inquiry and less judgmentalism. In my class this coming term (with grad students) I am having them write two pages of constructive feedback and questions each week before the next class. I don't know how this will work, but I feel it may help them to learn to be less judgmental, more thoughtful, and set the stage for more healthy learning and interaction. I call the exercise feedback skill building. We will see. I will let you know later how the activity goes.

You can also prepare blank slips of paper and pass them around asking students to write their questions without revealing their names. You collect the slips of paper and engage the class in a discussion in answering the questions in which you do not always have to give the answers. You also avoid duplicating answers to same questions. 

I also agree with Josef that "In some cases (proportionally small number of students) we can lecture through debate - at least partially." I have done this successfully and the attached linked paper describes the process and the results which I hope you find useful.

I extend best wishes for every success in your research and in the New Year!

Many thanks,

Debra

Conference Paper Debating: A Dynamic Teaching Strategy for Motivating Student...

Here is one of the techniques I used with  students in a teacher education program:

On  quiz over the reading assignment for the day, the test question/requirement was to  make up a higher-order knowledge and skills question over the reading assignment, and answer it. This tested whether they had read and understood some part of the reading assignment, could distinguish between a lower-order and a higher-order knowledge and skills question, and whether they could answer their question.   Of course, such an activity can be used with a wide range of precollege students.

I like to ask  students questions. When I ask a question I sometimes ask the the whole class to comment on whether it is a higher-order or a lower-order question.  My goal is to help my students strive for higher-order (deeper) knowledge and skills.

And, for the fun of it I sometimes suggest to my students that a useful definition of "lower-order" is that a computer can answer the question or accomplish the task. I believe that this is an idea worth thinking about at every grade level. What can a human brain do better or in a more timely fashion than a computer, and vice versa? Should we place greater emphasis on higher-order and less on lower-order (using my definition) in our educational system?

Thank you for raising this question, which has had several interesting replies. In fact student reluctance to raise questions may have multiple causes: culturally, emotionally but also cognitively, for raising a good question might not be so easy as it seems. But more interesting than the causes might be the solutions to the problem and this exactly the topic I am preparing a review article about for my PhD. I will try to summarize some of our findings, for the article is unfortunately still under review

Although for a long time researchers have focused on the right type of questions students need to ask (learn to question), researchers have gradually shifted the last decennia to a more motivational approach in which they research how we can support students to transform their wonderings into questions (question to learn).

I agree with the suggestion that we first need to create a welcoming atmosphere to invite questions, by modeling our own wonderments and questions and appreciating all student questioning, even when not correctly phrased or very clear.

Another strategy to generate student questioning is prompting, The idea is that students become aware of a cognitive conflict between what they know and the new information. Various techniques can be applied depending on the topic or field of study for example by modeling a question, demonstrating an experiment or a bold statement. By connecting the elicited wonderment to the key concepts of the topic under study students are more likely to raise relevant questions

Peer-support has also been proven to be effective for both generating, formulating and answering questions. A strategy that has been widely used to generate questions is the Question Formulation Technique of Rothstein and Santana (2011). By first focusing on generating questions, without being hindered by considerations about phrasing or answering, students can be supported to come into the "questioning modus"

Finally, visualizing all generated student questions, preferably in relation to the key concepts under study- also support student questioning. By seeing a range and variety of questions, students will be able to choose or construct questions most fitted to their needs.

Above design principles have formed the foundation on which we developed a scenario for supporting effective student questioning through design based research. Although originally developed for primary school students in recent years we are also experimenting with this scenario in several Teachers Colleges for Primary Education to allow for more student questioning in our curriculum. I added the scenario as attachment, but for more details feel free to contact me or visit my profile page on researchgate

Kind regards and best wishes for 2016

Harry Stokhof

I have tried one at teacher education level and it worked well. I usually ask them to come prepared with five questions on the topic to be taught. We have devised training on questioning skill. It acts as a guide for writing those five questions.

Thank you Mool Raj Sharma, That sounds like a good practice, a good habit, because to ask a question of a subject means that you have begun to be engaged with it at a personal level and then what follows is more meaningful and valuable. I hope your teachers will take this into their classrooms. If teachers value question asking skills then they will look for that skill in their students, I hope. 

I had a list of the six question asking words posted on the wall, I called them Key Words because they are the ones that open up knowledge. Best wishes Laurence

Harry Stokhof, I am delighted to read your reply and realise that you have put a great deal of thought into this aspect of learning. I am retired from teaching but just had a hunch that here was an aspect of learning that had been little researched. 

Guy Claxton said:

"Trying to find a form of schooling that enables all young people to get better at learning - to come at life venturesome, imaginative and questioning - is the most important task that faces education." Expanding Young People's capacity to Learn.2007

To me the primary issue in a science class, and probably most disciplines, is a matter of risk. As some of you have said, students do not want to sound "stupid" by asking a bad question. It is a risk. What I used to do as a science teacher, and now as a teacher educator, is create an atmosphere of questioning. That is, I intentionally start my classes with very open-ended problems that clearly do not have a definitive correct answer that students should already know. Students begin to feel more comfortable expressing their speculations as well as increase the number and tupes of questions they ask. Once students realize that asking and answering questions is not a high risk situation, signficant changes occur..

I agree with you, Harshvardhan. These are very good points.

What age students did you have in mind?

How does this translate into a Primary situation and then Secondary schooling?

In UK there has been an unnecessary and painful rift between school learning and college learning. Schools have not given enough attention to this issue, so students find themselves being expected to learn in a completely new way and many struggle.

You have clearly presented the theory now we need see how this can be translated into practical exercises. Lots of specific examples, perhaps.

Best wishes, Laurence

Yes, a most worthy question to address and some very useful advice already offered. Curiosity and wondering are the engines that drive learning. I would argue that it's not an isolated skill to be practised but rather integral to one's leaching and learning. It's about the atmosphere one creates in the teaching space, the problems that are raised, the uncertainty in the content where different theories are posed, and the possibilities that are presented. It is the 'What if's 'in teaching. Student questioning is of course far easier to achieve when staff in a department or school are in agreement and all working towards the same goal so that students are receiving a consistent message. Questioning by students also needs to be valued through feedback and assessment.

I definitely agree with the need for students to have opportunities to practice posing questions. Some things I have seen work:

- teachers require students to write 1-3 questions as part of a daily learning journal process (for homework)

- students spend time in pairs or small groups taking turns asking each other questions (and answering)

- games where students draw a card - which could either contain a question prompt / starter for students to use to form a question (e.g. "what does the term ... mean?") or a topic / fact / concept students must pose a question about (e.g. "Pythagoras' theorem")

- use of WWWWWH question dice - which have a word on each face (who, what, when, where, why, how) which students must use to form a question

- frequent use of student questioning as a plenary / lesson ending strategy - can take various forms e.g. students write 2-3 questions and model answers which sum up the main points of the lesson; students are in pairs and each asks the other a question about a main point of the lesson; students write 2 questions they know the answers to and 2 questions they don't about the topic of today's lesson ... etc

HOWEVER - I think any questioning practice needs to be in a context of *teaching, scaffolding and feedback* around the art of posing questions - not just more and more time to 'practice' (which risks students repeating performance at the same level/quality of questioning and not really improving their questioning skills).

*Teaching* could include explicit discussion of what types of questions there are; open vs closed; low-order vs high-order; why it is desirable to try to ask open / higher-order questions; opportunities for students to look at samples of questions and sort them into open/closed or low-order vs high-order (or some other classification if you have older / more sophisticated learners e.g. blooms, SOLO etc)

*Scaffolding* could include providing question starters or prompts (Why does ...? What would happen if ...? What is ...? What is the same about ... and ...? etc) for students to use when writing their own questions or frames reminding students to ask several types of questions (e.g. write a question about recalling a fact or definition; write a comparison question; write a question linking this topic to something in the real world ...)

*Feedback* could include teacher feedback on students' questions (bearing in mind what many others have said about maintaining a 'safe' learning environment) as well as peer feedback from students to other students. The usual principles of good feedback apply! (e.g. Hattie & Timperley, 2007 - link below).

http://rer.sagepub.com/content/77/1/81

Hello

Please see some of my papers. You may find some interesting findings that answer your questions.

Kind regards

NP

Hello

Please see some of my papers. You may find some interesting findings that answer your questions.

Kind regards

NP

Lets begin with the end in mind. What do we expect learners to master when we ask them to conduct an experiment? It consist of multiple construct , namely comprehension, analysis, synthesis and evaluation? We want them to reason out  and solve problem at the same time find a solution. Experiment are able to inculcate  all these skills., therefore they need to ask questions such as the normal Wh- Question and the How's. Begin with What I expect to see, Why am I conducting this experiment, How do I find the answer for the solution, When is the appropriate time for me to analysis and actually what problem am I solving. When we are clear of the targets that we are teaching and assessing , we will be clear to provide students with the scaffolding and help them to ask what they are up to!

A colleague & I did some research a while back in which we noted that students reluctance to ask & answer questions seemed to be rooted in their misconceptions about how school & learning works. They believed in quick learning & the teacher as holder of all information (these are related to Dweck' "mindset'). Then, we set about investigating if their ideas about learning can change & we discovered that with focus d attention, teachers can change students views of learning. Now, whether that changes students behavior is an ongoing question. 

Excellent, Jerrid, to hear of some research into question asking from the learner's point of view. There are mountains of research papers relating to improving the teacher's question-asking-skill but almost nothing on how to improve the learner's skill.

I remember one child, in a class I was try to encourage question asking, said that she found it hard to ask questions because she did not know the answers! In other words she was trying to mimic the way teachers ask questions (they know the answers before they ask) which is a very different position. 

Set up a board in class with the title -These are questions we do not yet know the answers to. (list the 6 QA words) Then ask for contributions!

 Nickolaos, I am sorry,  I think you should make a contribution either by way of practical suggestion or by agreeing or disagreeing with current contributors - rather than waving your papers in the air, however worthy! It gets academics a bad name.

• Jerrid, having worked with young children over the years and collected their questions I know that asking powerful and important questions they wonder about is what children do naturally. 'Where is the knot when I untie my shoe,' Who was the first person?' 'Why do people die?'Then they go to school and are conditioned to 'do school' where they unlearn this wondering. I believe if we don't alter the system we can't alter the thinking.  How I wish it was merely presenting them with alternative ways of thinking, practising questioning. If teachers asked the questions they too wondered about - truly wondered about, it would be a start in the right direction but as so many have said before me, teachers ask the questions they believe they already know  the answers to and questioning becomes, 'guess what's in my head?'

In this day of technology, especially when computers and digital appliances are used in the classroom and during live streaming with online programs, students are able to send instructors text messages that can be read online in one way or another that provides anonymity IF the student does not want to be pointed out. It too will allow the instructor to include such questions into the lecture itself. We have had this format for a couple of years where I teach and it proves to be quite beneficial for both the instructor and the students. 

 This is a very interesting question which I think at one time or other each of us was faced with the fear as discussed here, because no one wants to be considered "stupid" and because of this fear, it leads to a very quiet classroom. It is therefore the responsibility of the teacher to provide engaging topics that would lead to questions being asked. I always find having a leader that motivates and encourage students' activities gets far more engagement from students. Someone earlier mentioned having open-ended questions to start off, this I think will allow the teacher to delve deeper as students respond; but it is up to how the teacher to structure his/her coursework for the day that will be engaging.

Having been a forever student, it took me a long time to speak up in class even when I felt my questions or answers were correct. I found it intimidating to ask questions especially if someone in the class seem to always have the right questions and the correct answers, one does not want to be incorrect, and this is where as teachers we come in, by our encouragements and guiding students that expressing themselves and asking questions is okay, letting them know that no one knows all the answers and as a teacher, I have to look these up for myself. It is the guidance that is given in the classroom setting that will encourage participation and questions asked.

Again, I am a big fan of debates and activities that will allow for camaraderie. 

I believe Michael's response about cultural differences, who holds the knowledge and who asks the questions is most important to consider. I will take this opportunity to retell an experience I shared in another forum because it had  a profound affect on me. I was teaching reflective learning and teaching to post graduate students and for their final assessment they had to give an oral presentation on what they had learned about reflection and share this with peers and lecturers. A man from Pakistan had never in his life been asked to reflect. He was a silent participant and had such a steep hill of understanding to climb.  In his oral he shared that all his life he was taught to learn the book but for the first time he began to realise that he was the book. Our students come to us with all sorts of different dispositions, experiences, expectations and attitudes that we must consider in our approach to teaching.

To touch further upon the issue of "reflective learning" I would add to the points raised among the threads/group here that providing more opportunities for "practicing their own questions" in a course also includes more modalities and a structured approach.

For example, providing reflective time could include a start or end-of-class "quiz" in which students must answer something about a recent topic (content or context) and application to be followed by a question they create that builds upon that information. When done repeatedly during a course term, students can hone this skill and more readily (usually) ask questions as the course progresses. The "quiz" is a means of participation and can even be used anonymously by the instructor to address or pose issues in the following class meetings. If class time is too limited there are plenty of online interfaces that can accomplish the same goal.

Another approach - in addition, not in place of - is to assign students to teams that must engage further about topics/themes covered in a class in order to answer or pose further questions or investigations of interest. This requires students to interact outside of the classroom and to bring forward their own background and experience as it relates to the course material. This helps them to learn the material more deeply and to learn how to construct and test new knowledge and applications in terms of content and context. Again, this can be accomplished via online tools.

There are many other ways to engage, but the key (in my experience at least) is to provide a background structure (hidden or obvious) that gives students time to repeat the exercise throughout the term of a course. Within the structure can be elements of scaffolding and the instructor must provide some examples in class (and this includes demonstrations) of "how it is done" for the students. Each time the methods are repeated during the term, they are more focused, more complex, and typically more demanding so as to encourage deep learning skills rather than mastery of a technique that is repeated week to week in a course.

Connecting the course week to week is helpful in lab courses especially as some students will view each lab as a task unrelated or not relevant to any preceding or any that follow. In fact, they will see labs as unrelated to the lecture content as well if the structure is not built-in from the beginning.

Hope the above is of some value/use to you Laurence.

You have raised a very important question, particularly in our current educational environment in which teachers are encouraging and developing students to be creative and critical thinkers and problem-solvers.  This expectation necessitates that teachers are also creative and critical thinkers and problem-solvers, and that they model these attributes daily in their interactions with students, parents, and colleagues.  For example, do we engage with current literature in our respective disciplines (including educational literature) asking probing questions of ourselves and others?  Do we, ourselves, actively pose relevant and meaningful questions?  If not, then it is difficult to expect it from our students.

If we model effective questioning (not just expecting students to answer questions in class that have pre-determined answers), we can create an environment in which questions are valued and in which the teacher is also a questioner and learner.  Students want to see us wonder, explore, and investigate.  They don't need us to be the keepers of information; they need us to model our curiosity.

The approach of creating an environment that values questioning  is useful for parents as well.  Like most parents, when my children were young I realized very quickly that asking the age-old, "What did you do in school today?" was an useless exercise.  Instead, I began asking, "What good question did you ask today?"  Over time we negotiated what defined a "good" question as well as how we might find answers or solutions.  It didn't take long before the question was turned back on me ... and I had to be prepared to present my good question of the day as well.  My children are now in university and we still practice the "good question of the day" conversation.

We cannot expect from our students that which we are not willing to develop in ourselves.   

Good question! First, we have to inculcate in them self-confidence. We really as teachers need to guide them gradually build their self-worth and let them feel that in all situations, they 'can do it' Once this virtue is successfully instilled, then we have to then question learners as teachers. If a child does something, we need to question the child how they were able to achieve it. As Albert Bandura's social learning theory hypothesizes, the children may then learn this from us through the cues provided by the teacher. In fact, that theory maintains that children learn through imitation and so by inference, a teacher who does not, himself/herself question the status quo is highly  unlikely to develop learners with critical minds full of questions. Teachers ought to be role models for learners. Another way is also to encourage asking of questions in class. There should even be times, during the learning process where the teacher consciously reward 'minds' that throw questions. Again, learners could also be taught to ask questions when we encourage them to read widely, critique what they read, synthesis perspectives. All these efforts may yield not much if parents fail to encourage their wards to ask questions. They, in fact, complement teachers' efforts in this regard. With other things in place, we shall be heading towards preparing millennium millionaire minds which question almost everything.

"What did you do in school today?" was an useless exercise.

Instead, I began asking, "What good question did you ask today?"

Quoted from Hyacinth Schaeffer above because I believe  this needs repeating again and again!

Thank you Hyacinth. 

Young children naturally wonder about the world. They ask powerful questions that are not always taken seriously. Or in other instances, their questions are answered by an adult with one certain answer. Thus young children are quickly learning not to roam in possibilities. 'Why is my face in the front of my body and not on the side?', 'What happens to the knot when I untie my shoe?'  These are questions my daughter asked and they invite discussion not answers. Then children learn to 'do school' and in many instances,the teacher asks all the questions which have one correct answer ( which is in the teacher's head)  and children's questioning ceases. Children who refuse to 'do school' and continue to ask questions are often viewed as disruptive. Is it any wonder that we as educators have difficulty reigniting wonder and curiosity in later learning? I certainly agree with other posters that the way forward is for teachers to reward questioning and for the teachers to raise ideas that have no answer and for them to truly wonder alongside their students.

Asking questions in class must be a normal activity that a student should not feel any sort of stupidity or its equivalent.  A rule established in the very beginning of the class is one of the most important way to discuss this matter as the teacher can emphasize that asking questions in class is a sign of interest and curiosity and thus it is encouraged for this is one way for them to learn. 

Whether a student is in the basic education or in college, he /she must be trained and encouraged to address his/her questions independent of whether he will appear to be stupid or not...after all, sometimes, the feelings of being stupid in asking questions in class is just running around the persons' mind and not actually happening...

Asking questions on the part of the teacher is also one way to assess how a student thinks,,,it is usually followed by development of critical thinking which is very important quality to be able to understand and solve problems.

I agree with the points you make, Marc, and certainly - "Asking questions on the part of the teacher is also one way to assess how a student thinks." but also if teachers are listening well then they should perhaps also be able to assess students by the level of question that they ask.

Fundamental understanding on subjects, includes how to frame and ask meaningful questions about the subject, which contributes to individuals’ more basic understanding of principles of learning that can assist them in becoming self-sustaining, lifelong learners.

http://www.colorado.edu/MCDB/LearningBiology/readings/How-people-learn.pdf

Dear Mr. Smith,

When it comes to testing, it's usually all about answering questions, so students are usually more receptive of what kind of answers will impress the tester the most; a good grade means answering the questions well. Students have been programmed in this way for so long.

So I think one way to encourage students to learn to ask more questions is to give more tests that require the asking of questions in order to restructure their learning perspectives. Also, showing them how to derive good questions from the information as well as giving some examples of good questions may help motivate them to question more.

Hope this is relevant.

Sincerely,

Cameen

I want to add here something because it is indeed a topic which I was rereading just yesterday. When social psychology started there was a scientist called Walter Moede. And Moede was researching how to improve performance when it comes to children. His paper is from around 1920. And here Moede assumed that good performance must be the reason of a need to be equivalent compared to others. Later on Floyd Allport found out that competition was not the reason. But it was rather just and very simply the mere presence of other people. So in some postings we were assuming it maybe could be the believe that one looses credibility or the fear that one does not want to feel stupid. But I rather think it is exactly this effect. Because if is well known that performance is not necessarily improved by the presence of others. Especially when children are facing tasks which are not overlearned people (everyone and not specifically just children) show arousal. And this arousal can block the recall of knowledge. Now we are here only talking about the blockage of knowledge because this was back than part of cognitive theories and so nobody researched it from a different perspective. However since it is blocking knowledge it could likewise instead block behavior. Like it blocks the behavior to speak. I think this is something which needs than more research if there are differences in behavior when it comes to overlearned and new topics. If it is than a natural bahavior I am honestly not quite sure what one can do against it. Maybe try a cognitive upgrade by explaining this to children that they should try to overcome this feeling.

What ways can we devise to give more opportunities for learners to practice asking their own questions?

Perhaps following approach can be explored:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeopardy!

In a course for teachers, I gave weekly quizzes over the required reading. I sometimes uses the question" Make up a higher-order thinking question over the required reading and answer it." This tested whether they read the reading, understood higher-order thinking, and could pose a suitable question.

If the issue is peer related anxiety then submerging the students into smaller groups could make it easier for them to be able to ask questions they would feel uncomfortable about in front of the class. An option for this could be deviding them and asking them to develope one or two questions within the group. This would allow them to comunicate with each other about topics they are finding difficult or they are currious about. Once they understand that their peers may be in the same situation as them over time the fear of sounding stupid will go away. I would say this could be more idea at the start of semesters to accelerate the rate in which the students feel comfortable within that specific learning enviroment. 

I do not think that smaller groups will change the outcome. And do you know what happens if you take smaller groups? Those kids who anyway react according to arousal will show conformity in those smaller groups (or even worser 'social loafing' when not even interacting and showing conformity or disturbing the group). And you cannot (or at least in a realistic situation it should be harder) monitor here who made a contribution and who did not.

Subordination and self learning still in vogue, and not interactive.

People fear asking questions thinking it may not be appropriate or even wrong manner in certain cultures.

At 3 years of age all children ask questions, hundreds of questions. When children start school we teach them 'how to do school' and generally even at a young age, the teacher asks the questions. When critical thinking and questioning and creative ideas are the survival skills and competencies for 21st century learners, education must change. As Krishnan, says, some cultures still deem it disrespectful for students to ask questions. Just think what a wonderful thing it would be if that changed and the questions children ask at a young age seamlessly continues. While the questions would change, curiosity continues. Asking questions is accepted and encouraged far into adulthood. At the tertiary level we are trying to reclaim a skill that has been squashed.

This is very true, Krishna,

 and every generation must learn the richness and reasons for they own culture and respect the highest values. One hopes that the calm, neutral atmosphere of the classroom, that can be provided by a teacher, will at least allow for open discussion and genuine questioning where the pupils feel safe from critical judgement of their ideas and can grow with confidence.

Yes Gloria and Lawrence

Learning is more facilitated by inquisitiveness. Such innocent questions pop up during child stage. The teacher requires patience and ready Kit to clarify with suitable understanding of audience and questions. This opportunity opens up and facilitates the teacher to seek more information and self learning.

Student-teacher questions are not encouraged by all cultures or all personalities (introverts may feel less comfortable asking questions in front of a class or to a large number of students). Asking students to change this perspective may take longer than a semester and would be helpful if students could be given a chance to work on these skills across years. Alternatives to give students these opportunities may depend on age/education stage. They may be asked to generate questions in a group, in collaboration with other students, anonymously in a question box with the option of writing their name, be asked to write 'exit' questions at the end of a class or unit of study, or using chat or other online devices either with their name or a pseudonym. A central idea is to model and encourage asking questions and fostering participatory discussion and others can learn from hearing the questions asked and which ones did or not generate such climate and why/how. 

Not all teachers have your sensitivity, Maria, to what the learners need.

"introverts may feel less comfortable asking questions in front of a class" - It just shows how important is the building of confidence for early learners. Asking questions is at the core of conversations. The learners must feel that their questions are valued and not only their answers. It is this change of emphasis and giving them the freedom to open up a subject in their own way. I believe that recognising how learners ask questions at their own level, can give a teacher clues to assessing their understanding.

School in 21th century must learn to put questions more that done responses or information. We found now easely a greater quantity of information. Information isn't knowledge. Knowledge adquisition is only posible putting good questions to the good quality information.  Hierarchical societies needs people that integrate elaborated information without critical thinking. Democratical societies need teach citiizen that  ask. Researchers creative thinking must be learn asking questions.

When I was making my Ph Dissertation a good teacher sayed to me: "pregunta, pregunta, que más vale parecer tonta un momento que serlo toda la vida" (in english: "Ask, ask more, that it  is preferable to look silly a moment than to be it your whole life"). I use  this citation in each course with my students. It works, and we as teachers, we learn very much with our students questions.

In order to ask questions, students need to understand the main themes of a lesson. As was noted, many are reluctant because of language or culture issues. I have found that using Exit Slips (the last 10 minutes of the lesson) serves 3 purposes: 1.forces students to reflect on what they have heard, seen, or read, and 2. solves the problem of reluctance to ask questions in public, and 3. tells the instructor what is not clear for each student so that it can addressed in the next lesson. The exit slip consists of 3 questions which the students need to answer: 1. what was the main topic of the lecture/lesson - if there were several they can note this. 2. What was most interesting for you and why? and 3. What did you find is still difficult to understand?  Students hand in the exit slips before they leave. The question regarding clarification needs is addressed in the next lesson so that it is timely and useful to the student. The other answers are discussed as well, and anonymity is always preserved unless the student chooses to share their thoughts. I found that using Exit Slips is a sound pedagogical practice with benefits, without any negative consequences, and is based on evidence.  

Thank you Yvette,

I like this suggestion. It answers my question well by providing a good opportunity for the learner to think about the subject and to ask their own questions.

Thank you Laurence and Yvette for your input

I would like to react on this suggestion. Although.I agree it is a good idea to make students aware of what they already know, for me it  does not solve the problem that we would like the students to ask the questions and become self-regulated learners. In the example of Yvette, it is still the teacher who asks the questions and from research (for example of Dillon, 1988) we know that students won't ask questions in classrooms when teachers dominate the questioning. Therefore I would like to advocate to let the students write down their questions on the exit-slips

Thanks Lawrence. I learned a lot about the need to engage students' thinking from Eric Mazur, a physics professor at Harvard U. Exit Slips or Minute Papers are a beginning when instructors are changing their lecturing to dynamically engaging students (ref: articel attached). 

Dear Harry, you misunderstood the point of exit slip, the student asks the question to clarify what they had learned. It is a good start.

I would like to add the following to this most interesting thread on eliciting questioning from students. Perhaps it should start with emphasizing self-questioning: Bloom's Revised taxonomy of learning is a helpful model. There are two dimensions in learning: Knowledge- factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive. The last is where the learner is aware of their learning and thinking and knows what she needs to move forward- this one engages executive functions which guide all learning efforts. Cognitive dimension: proceeds from lower order thinking includes remembering and so on, to higher order analyzing and synthesizing or creating. An example for comprehension of texts, for each of the 6 thinking levels the type of comprehension and the self-questioning needed is specified by Buehl (2007)- e.g. In Remembering Comprehension statement: I can recall specific details, information and ideas from the text (I would say this can apply to both written and oral texts); Focusing Question: what do I need to remember to make sense of this text? Using this taxonomy and the models of the focusing questions on a regular basis  with students, soon will lead to the confidence they will gain in asking 'intelligent' questions- caveat, this is easier to do in a Thematic texts rather than Phatic conversation where it is a 'conversation about nothing'. How one implements this depends on one's pedagogical approach (I tend to be Vygotskian: I believe in mediated learning).  

References:

 Anderson, L.W. (Ed.), Krathwohl, D.R. (Ed.), Airasian, P.W., Cruikshank, K.A., Mayer, R.E., Pintrich, P.R., Raths, J., & Wittrock, M.C. (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (Complete edition). New York: Longman.

Doug Buehl:  (2007): Bloom Taxonomy Self-Questioning Chart

Dear Lawrence:

You ask the following "What ways can we devise to give more opportunities for learners to practice asking their own questions? 

As I see it your question goes to the core and gist of any process of teaching/learning/education. This means that the more a lesson, a lecture, a conference, and so forth gives rise to questions on the part of pupils/students/audience the more the respective lesson, lecture or talk is, as it were, a true presentation, be it a lesson, a lecture, a talk, and the like. If this is not the case, then it is likely that (a) nothing new was presented, and hence, there was no teaching/learning at all, or (b) what was supposed to be taught was so new and above the audience's capacities to understand that no learning occurred. This means that learner's questions greatly depend on what it is (supposedly) to be taught to him/her.

In Piagetian terms neither (a) nor (b) provoke any cognitive disequilibrium on the target and, hence, do not lead it to raise any question, let alone "irritating"  questions or doubts. As I see it, only irritating questions (see, for this respect, C. S. Pierce's thinking)  and doubts deserve to be called questions. Contrary to rhetorical questions, irritating questions are those that lead teachers professors, presenters, and so forth, to rethink or reformulate what they had supposedly taught either in terms of form or content. Obviously, when no learning takes place, "learners" do not raise any question.

Although I understand it, it is a sad reality that In Eastern cultural it is considered to be insulting ask a question to the teacher because it implies that the teacher did not explain the subject well enough. The idea that teachers/professors are always well versed in the details of their expertise is a myth. Of course, it is more likely to expect irritating questions from a university or college student than a from primary or secondary school grader.

There should be a plethora  of ways to give opportunities for learners to practice asking their own questions. To foster this practice, it is quintessential to say to pupils, students, and  so fort, among other thing, the following.

a) Questions are always welcome.

b) In the long run, no question is stupid for the questioner.  If s/he raises it, it is because s/he wants to know more about the issue at hand.

c) Even so, there are questions and questions. Irritating  questions, for example, make more sense and are more interesting than rhetoric questions.

d) Those who ask questions are showing that they know something about he issue at hand, otherwise they would not have any question to ask. 

e) Their interesting questions are much appreciated and helpful for their masters, so to speak, and  those questions will be taken into  account in their marks.

f) As a university professor, I often required from my students to prepare a written exam, this being their respective  written exam. Of course, when elaborating a written exam my students had to raise questions on the  subject matter at  issue.

It is likely that my comments on your  intellectually  stimulating  question share several ideas with other RG members. If  this  were the case , I will be happy.

Best regards.

.

Thank you Orlando, you make some very useful observations. The more opportunities we can give the learner the better they will become at their skill at asking. We know from research that teachers can improve their skill of asking to draw out knowledge and understanding from their students, but I think so little time is allowed for students to increase their skills of enquiry.

Demonstrate a life of inquiry.

And, from a position of status,

show how it can pay off.

I also think that it is important to say things that are controversial,

to cause the students to want to ask questions.

Tenure and respect for a life of inquiry are supposed to insulate the teacher from attacks in response, because people are offended by words and ideas.

Learning is learning how to learn, if it is done well,

and learning how to learn means learning how to be wrong.

That by its nature hurts.

It takes courage to ask questions.

Because one risks being wrong.

At the level of government, maybe most important is an environment in which inquirers are not (often pre-emptively and externally, without finding an answer) punished for asking "wrong" questions, an open inquiry, without a censored Internet, and grounded in a robust education in fundamental science and natural philosophy.

Surprise - the whole class. They will automatically think why? how?what? And if it's the whole class they will feel safe to ask. - former science teacher