High 5: 04 May 2018 by Mr Tan Kian Beng
Tips of Asking Good Questions
Good morning, Mdm Tan, Mr Chung and Mrs Selva. Good morning, teachers and all Gessians. Today, I would be talking about asking good questions.
An inquiry approach to teaching and learning is based on, amongst other things, a belief that we will be more engaged if we are curious, have a ‘need to know ‘or a problem to solve. When we ask questions that need addressing, we have a purpose for our learning…. in short, we WANT to find out. Effective learners ask questions, they tend to be people who remain curious and who approach life with ‘wonderment’. Questioning helps us ‘uncover’ – it propels us to think and drives us as life-long learners.
If you ask the wrong questions, you’ll probably get the wrong answer, or at least not quite what you’re hoping for. Just imagine during the checking script session, if a student receives his script and discovers that he has obtained a low mark for his paper, a wrong question could be, “Why is the teacher so unfair?” or “Why am I so weak in this subject?” These questions are ‘wrong’ because the first question blames the teacher, with the student failing to acknowledge his responsibility, and the second question is ‘wrong’ because the student has labelled himself as ‘weak in this subject’.
We all have the ability to learn and grow, and a low mark today doesn’t mean a low mark tomorrow. Neither does a low mark mean that you are bad at the subject, just that perhaps you need to change your study strategy or put in more effort into understanding the concepts.
A ‘right’ question to ask when receiving a lower-than-expected grade would be: “How can I improve next time?”, “What are some things that I did right this time, that I can repeat in future exams?”, and also “What do I need to do in order to be better in this subject?” By using the right questions, allow you to be reflective thinker, you can also build stronger relationships with your peers and teachers and help others to learn too.
Well-crafted questions can stimulate, draw out, and guide discussion. Now I would like to share with you some tips for asking good question:
Plan your questions.
Before your meeting with your teachers, outline your information goals and a sequence of related questions to help you follow the conversation and cue your notes.
Know your purpose.
Every question you ask should help you gather either knowledge/facts or an opinion. Know which kind of information you need and frame your questions accordingly.
Open conversation.
Unlike simple yes-or-no questions, open-ended questions invite the respondent to talk — and enable you to gather much more information. “What do you like best about this subject/CCA?” is likely to generate more valuable information than “Do you like this subject/CCA?”
Speak your listener’s language.
Use words and phrases that your listener understands, avoid jargon. If someone doesn’t seem to understand what you’re asking, try rephrasing. It is important that the teacher can fully understand what you are asking.
Focus your questions so they ask one thing at a time.
To get more complete answers, craft short questions, each of which covers a single point. If you really want to know two different things, ask two different questions.
Don’t interrupt.
Listen to the full answer to your question. The art of good questioning lies in truly wanting the information that would be in the answer.
Hope you have write down the tips, may I wish you all the best for your paper and a meaningful and memorable weekend ahead. ONWARD GESSIANS!
Adapted from: http://www.dummies.com/careers/find-a-job/interviews/ten-tips-for-asking-good-questions/