THE QUESTION AS A FACTOR IN EDUCATION
OUTLINE--CHAPTER XXI
Taking Stock.--Miss Stevens' study on questioning.--Miss Stevens
quoted.--Various types of questions: a. The review question; b. The
fact question; c. The leading question; d. The thought or
challenging question.--Some questions on questioning.
How many questions do you ask regularly during a recitation?
What proportion of those questions are answered in full and complete
statements?
How many of the answers to your questions are a matter merely of memory?
How many reveal original, creative thinking?
Such questions as these not only impress us with the force of the
question as a means of teaching, but they lead us to examine into our
own method of asking them. The whole teaching process so easily and
unconsciously develops into a matter of routine that it is good practice
occasionally to take stock of ourselves. It is surprising to find how
many teachers develop a particular type of question which becomes their
sole stock in trade.
Miss Ronniett Stevens, in her thesis, _The Question as a Measure of
Efficiency in Instruction_, has made one of the most enlightening
studies yet made on the matter of questioning. Her results are quoted by
Weigle, in his _Talks to Sunday School Teachers_, in a passage of
interest, not only because of Miss Stevens' findings, but also because
of Mr. Weigle's own conclusions:
"One of the outstanding differences, in present practice, between the
public and the Sunday school, is that most public school teachers ask
too many questions and most Sunday school teachers do not ask
questions enough. For the first half of this statement there is
ample evidence in the careful study by Miss Ronniett Stevens on _The
Question as a Measure of Efficiency in Instruction_. Miss Stevens
secured complete stenographic reports of twenty high school lessons
in English, history, science, Latin, modern languages, and
mathematics; she observed one hundred more such lessons chosen at
random, with a view to counting and noting the number and nature of
the questions asked in each; and she followed each ten classes
through an entire day's work for the purpose of studying the
aggregate question-stimulus to which each was subjected in the course
of the day.
"The results of her study are surprising. In only eight of the twenty
lessons completely reported the teacher asked less than ninety
questions in the period of forty-five minutes, the average being
sixty-eight. In each of the remaining twelve lessons more than ninety
questions were asked in the same period of time, the average being
128. A freshman class in high school, in a day's work of five periods
of forty minutes each, not counting gymnasium, was subjected to 516
questions and expected to return 516 answers, which is at the rate of
2:58 questions and 2:58 answers per minute. The lowest number of
questions recorded in a day's work for a class was 321, and the
average number 395.
"Such rapid-fire questioning, Miss Stevens rightly holds, defeats its
own ends. It maintains a nervous tension in the classroom that must
in the long run be injurious. More than that, it is a symptom of the
fact that the real work of the hour is being done by the teacher, and
the pupil's share is reduced simply to brief, punctuation-like
answers to the teacher's questions. Such questions appeal to mere
memory or to superficial judgment rather than to real thought; they
cultivate in the pupil neither independent judgment nor the power of
expression; they ignore individual needs and discourage initiative;
they make out of the classroom a place to display knowledge, rather
than a laboratory in which to acquire it.
"The second half of the proposition, that most Sunday school teachers
do not ask questions enough, has not been established by any such
investigation as that of Miss Stevens. A similar study, on the basis
of complete stenographic reports, of typical Sunday school lessons,
would be a most valuable addition to our resources in the field of
religious pedagogy. Till such a study is made, one must simply record
his conviction that Sunday school teachers, as a general rule, ask
too few, rather than too many questions. This conviction is based
upon general observation and upon the frequency of such remarks as,
'I just can't get my class to study,' 'There are only two or three
who ever answer my questions,' 'My pupils don't know anything about
the Bible,' 'As long as I do all the talking, things go all right,'
etc." Weigle, _Talks to Sunday School Teachers_.
The whole matter of questioning can be made to stand out most clearly,
perhaps, by listing the various types of question, the purposes which
each type serves, and the characteristics of a good question.
First of all there is the _Review question_. The great purpose of this
type of question is to systematize knowledge. Of course, it is valuable
as an aid to recollection--it is a challenge to memory--but it is
particularly helpful in that it makes the big essential points in a
course stand out in relief with minor points properly correlated and
subordinated. The review question is a guide to the pupil whereby he may
see the relative significance of the work he has covered. One of our
great difficulties lies in the fact that our teaching is so largely
piece-meal. Today's lesson is hurried through, isolated as it is from
all that has gone before and all that may follow. The successful teacher
through the review makes each lesson a link in the chain of thought that
underlies the whole development of the subject in hand.
The review question is essentially a carefully thought out, searching
inquiry. It calls for a turning over, in the mind, of the material of
the whole course and therefore should allow ample time for pondering. If
it does not stimulate a "weighing process," it likely is merely a fact
question--a test of memory. Of course, there is a place at times for
this hurried type of question, but it serves the purpose only of
"connecting up" and should not be mistaken for the evaluating question
of review.
The following questions on the expulsion of the Saints from Missouri are
illustrative review questions:
1. To what extent, if any, were the Latter-day Saints themselves
responsible for their expulsion from Missouri?
2. To what extent were the persecutions of Missouri political?
Religious?
3. How do you account for the fact that the Lord's people have always
been a chastened people?
4. Show how the Missouri persecutions have been ultimately a blessing to
the Latter-day Saints.
The second type of question is the _fact_ question. It serves to check
up on mental alertness and recall. It is often helpful in arresting
attention and therefore has a certain disciplinary function. The
teacher, of course, must make sure that his pupils are grasping the
subject-matter presented, and the fact question serves admirably as a
test of knowledge. It is usually a short question calling for a short
answer, and therefore may be used in a rapid-fire way that stimulates
thought. It is this type of question that is hurled so frequently at
classes with the consequences pointed out in the quotation from Miss
Stevens.
The same author lists as objections to the continued use of these
rapid-fire questions the following bad features. They result in:
1. Nervous tension.
2. The teacher's doing most of the work.
3. Emphasis upon memory and superficial judgment.
4. Little time for the art of expression.
5. Little attention to the needs of particular individuals in a class.
6. The class being made a place for displaying knowledge.
7. Little self-reliant, independent thinking.
As illustrative of the fact question may we set down the following:
Who was Joseph Smith?
What was his father's name?
What was his mother's name?
Where was he born?
How old was he when he received his first vision?
When did he receive the plates?
The _challenging question_ and the _leading question_ are closely enough
allied that we may well discuss them together. They are both intended to
provoke creative thinking. The leading question aims to capitalize on
what is already in the pupil's mind in getting him to go one step
further to a conclusion we already have in mind. Instead of telling a
class of young children that Joseph Smith prayed to the Lord for help in
choosing the church to which he might best belong, we might proceed by
saying that the Prophet had asked his father and mother--he had asked
his best friends--he had talked with all the ministers he could find--he
had read in all of the available books--now who can tell what else he
could do? The chief merit of the leading question lies in the fact that
it paves the way for the answer. It is particularly helpful in
encouraging young and backward pupils. But is easily subject to abuse.
So much so that its use is very largely restricted in law courts. It
results too frequently in the teacher's thinking for the pupil, and
therefore ought to be used with care.
The challenging question is the question that fosters originality of
thought, independence of judgment. It simply raises a problem and leaves
pupils free to arrive at their own conclusions. It makes for an
intelligent faith so much desired in a democratic Church such as ours.
It is the one question above all others that guarantees a vital class
distinction.
Of course, there is a place for all four of these types of questions.
As was said relative to the methods of the recitation, the best method
is a variety of methods. So with questions. It is perfectly clear,
however, that for general purposes that question which prompts greatest
reflection and independent thinking is the best one to indulge most
frequently. The following questions out of a lesson on Joseph Smith's
First Vision are set down as typical of thought-provoking questions:
1. In view of the fact that when men choose a man for president of a
bank they look for a man of maturity and experience, how do you explain
that Joseph Smith, a mere boy, with little training or experience, was
entrusted with the great responsibility of founding what we claim is the
greatest institution of these latter days?
2. How can you convince the world that a just God would declare that
none of their churches is right?
3. What vital truths are announced to the world through his first
vision?
Let us conclude this chapter with one more quotation from Miss Stevens.
When asked to name the three outstanding characteristics of a good
question, she set them down as follows:
1. A good question should stimulate reflection.
2. It should be adapted to the experience of the pupil.
3. It should draw forth a well-rounded answer.
* * * * *
QUESTIONS ON QUESTIONING
Do I call on my pupils to recite in a fixed order, according to alphabet
or seating, so that they are warned not to attend till their turn comes?
Do I name the pupil who is to answer before I put the question?
Do I ask direct questions or alternative questions which can be
answered without knowledge or thought?
Do I ask chiefly fact questions?
Do I ask leading or suggestive questions?
Do I repeat my questions? Attention.
Do I answer my own questions?
Do I ask confusing, changed questions?
Do I ask foolish questions that no one can answer?
Do my questions make pupils think?
Do my questions follow up the answer and lead to new organization of
knowledge?
Do I repeat the pupil's answer?
Do my questions reach all the members of the class?
Do I make the recitation an inquisition, or do I pursue a slow pupil and
listen while pupils express themselves freely and naturally?
* * * * *
QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER XXI
1. Why is it essential that we prepare questions as we do other
material?
2. What are the dangers that attend the asking of a great number of fact
questions?
3. Discuss the relative value of the "W's"--what, who, when, where, and
why.
4. Discuss each of the questions on questioning in this chapter.
5. Bring in three thought-provoking questions on one of the current
lessons in the month's work of one of the auxiliary organizations.
HELPFUL REFERENCES
Fitch, _The Art of Questioning_; Stevens, _The Question as a Measure of
Efficiency in Instruction_; Weigle, _Talks to Sunday School Teachers_;
Horne, _Story Telling, Questioning, and Studying_; Brumbaugh, _The
Making of a Teacher_; Driggs, _The Art of Teaching_.