Students' questions: a potential resource for teaching and learning science

Chin, Cheng Siong; Osborne, Jonathan

doi:10.1080/03057260701828101

Cited by 526 publications

(468 citation statements)

References 101 publications

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“…Question posing can be considered as a task that demonstrates both behavioural and cognitive engagement, as students demonstrate active participation in the lesson, especially if they initiate discussion, and can make their thinking process visible to the teacher and other students. Thus, within our study, students' questions were considered as an indicator of attempts to actively engage with the topic under discussion and to make links with their existing knowledge and experiences (Chin & Osborne, 2008;France & Bay, 2010;Morgan & Saxton, 1991;van Zee, Iwasyk, Kurose, Simpson, & Wild, 2001). The following sections present the findings about the nature of interactions that took place based on (a) the content of the discussions and the strategies scientists used to engage students in the session and (b) the content of students' questions to the scientists.…”

Section: Scientist -Student Discursive Interactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Meet the Scientist: The Value of Short Interactions Between Scientists and Students

Woods-Townsend

Christodoulou

Rietdijk

et al. 2015

International Journal of Science Education, Part B

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Students have been reported to have stereotypical views of scientists as middle-aged white men in lab coats. We argue that a way to provide students with a more realistic view of scientists and their work is to provide them with the opportunity to interact with scientists during short, discussion-based sessions. For that reason, 20 scientists from 8 professional areas were asked to share their experiences of becoming and being a scientist, in short sessions with groups of 7 -8 students. The student sample consisted of 223 students between 13 and 15 years. Student and scientist questionnaires were used before and after the sessions to assess students' views of scientists and their work, and scientists' experiences of interacting with students. The pre-session questionnaires revealed that students considered scientists as 'boring' and 'nerdy' whereas after the sessions students focused extensively on how 'normal' the scientists appeared to be. The faceto-face interactions with scientists allowed students to view scientists as approachable and normal people, and to begin to understand the range of scientific areas and careers that exist. Scientists viewed the scientist-student interactions as a vehicle for science communication. Implications discussed include the need for future training courses to focus on developing science communicators' questioning and interaction skills for effective interactions with students.

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Section: Scientist -Student Discursive Interactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Meet the Scientist: The Value of Short Interactions Between Scientists and Students

Woods-Townsend

Christodoulou

Rietdijk

et al. 2015

International Journal of Science Education, Part B

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Researches acknowledge the importance of classroom questioning as an efficient learning and instructional strategy (Almeida, Pedrosa de Jesus, & Watts, 2008;Chin & Osborne, 2008;Graesser & Olde, 2003) and as an important aspect of AfL (Black, Harrison, Lee, Marshall, & Wiliam, 2003;Black & Wiliam, 2012). Classroom questioning helps students gain a better appreciation of what they are learning as well as how they are learning.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Malaysian Primary School ESL Teachers’ Questions during Assessment for Learning

Sardareh¹,

Saad²

2013

ELT

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Classroom questioning is a crucial learning and instructional strategy. It has also been regarded as an important aspect of Assessment for Learning (AfL) by researchers. Classroom questioning helps students gain a better appreciation of what they are learning as well as how they are learning. It also helps teachers understand students' learning progress. This qualitative case study is a part of a larger study on classroom questioning during AfL and it has to be reminded that only a part of the study is presented here which involves two ESL teachers (one teaching Year One and the other teaching Year Two class) and the types of questions they used during AfL. The current study was conducted in a selected primary school in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. To collect data, ten periods of each teacher's classroom were observed and then interview was conducted with each teacher. Observations and interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed for further analysis. The results of this study showed that the participating teachers were aware of the importance of questioning technique during AfL, however, they asked lower cognitive questions that did not trigger thoughtful reflection. The data also revealed that the teachers in this study formulated questions that at the first sight may seem to be open questions but they expected the students to provide a short-specific answer. Although questions were designed to suit the content of the lesson, it was observed that most of the questions asked by the teachers focused on content, structure and students' background knowledge and elicited specific, predetermined answers. In short, Most of the questions asked by the teachers in their mixed ability classes were below the students' Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and did not help the students promote their thinking skills.

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“…According to Chin & Osborne (2008), this ought not be unusual, instead it should be a key feature of academic scientific discourse and, from this standpoint, questioning is central to eliciting explanations, postulating theories, evaluating evidence, justifying reasoning and clarifying doubts. Thus, our central premise is that the act of questioning can lead learners to engage in critical thinking and reasoning.…”

Section: Approaches To Teachingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contexts for questioning: two zones of teaching and learning in undergraduate science

et al. 2012

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Higher education institutions are currently undertaking a challenging process in moving from teacher-orientated to student-focused approaches. Students' ability to asking questions is fundamental to developing critical reasoning, and to the process of scientific enquiry itself. Our premise is that questioning competences should become a central focus of current reforms in higher education. This study, part of a broader naturalistic research project, aims at (1) describing teachers' reactions to students' questions; (2) exploring how these reactions are perceived by students, and (3) how these two dimensions interrelate to create 'contextual questioning zones'. Specific components of a context, such as 'Settings', 'Social' and 'Individual/Personal', will be highlighted. The discussion of two 'opposite' contexts of enquiry is based on qualitative data gathered through close collaboration with four teachers of undergraduate biology at a Portuguese university. During an entire academic year these teachers were observed during their 'daily activity'. The teachers and a group of seven selected students were also interviewed at the end of the year. Discussion of the interview data, validated by the respondents, is used to illustrate the different kinds of 'questioning zones'. The paper concludes with some reflections and suggestions to promote authentic enquiry-based learning experiences. Contexts for questioning Contexts for questioning: two zones of teaching and learning in undergraduate scienceHigher education institutions are currently undertaking a challenging process in moving from teacher-orientated to student-focused approaches. Students" ability to asking questions is fundamental to developing critical reasoning, and to the process of scientific enquiry itself. Our premise is that questioning competences should become a central focus of current reforms in higher education. This study, part of a broader naturalistic research project, aims at (1) describing teachers" reactions to students" questions; (2) exploring how these reactions are perceived by students, and (3) how these two dimensions interrelate to create "contextual questioning zones". Specific components of a context, such as "Settings", "Social" and "Individual/Personal", will be highlighted. The discussion of two "opposite" contexts of enquiry is based on qualitative data gathered through close collaboration with four teachers of undergraduate biology at a Portuguese university. During an entire academic year these teachers were observed during their "daily activity". The teachers and a group of seven selected students were also interviewed at the end of the year. Discussion of the interview data, validated by the respondents, is used to illustrate the different kinds of "questioning zones". The paper concludes with some reflections and suggestions to promote authentic enquirybased learning experiences.

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Students' questions: a potential resource for teaching and learning science

Cited by 526 publications

References 101 publications

Meet the Scientist: The Value of Short Interactions Between Scientists and Students

Meet the Scientist: The Value of Short Interactions Between Scientists and Students

Malaysian Primary School ESL Teachers’ Questions during Assessment for Learning

Contexts for questioning: two zones of teaching and learning in undergraduate science

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