This study investigates the components within teacher questioning and how theyaffect communication within the mathematics classroom. Components examined are thetype of question, the amount of wait time allowed, the use of follow-up questions, andthe instructional setting. The three types of questions analyzed in this study were highorder,low-order, and follow-up questions. High-order questions are defined as questionswhich promote analysis, synthesis or evaluation of information versus low-orderquestions which only seek procedural or knowledge of basic recall of information. Thethird type of question, follow-up, is the second question asked of a student when theinitial question is not answered or answered incorrectly.This study observed video of three teachers from three different adjacent schooldistricts. Upon watching three lessons of each teacher and recording data, conclusionswere made. All three teachers were found to use low-order questions at least 50% of thetime during instruction. Wait time following high-order questions met the minimumthree second time as suggested from previous researchers. Follow-up questions werefound to occur more frequently after high-order questions, but followed similar trends asstated above related to the type of question asked. Instructional setting does differ in the types of questions asked with a small group setting more likely to elicit high-orderquestions than a whole group setting. The researcher concluded that high-order questionswith a minimum of three seconds wait time in a small group setting encouragecommunication within the mathematics classroom.
展开▼
