An analysis of students’ perceptions of teachers’ questioning in secondary biology classrooms

Abstract

Secondary students’ perceptions of teachers’ questioning have not been clarified in the literature, but these perspectives are invaluable as they help to make sense of what students notice about teachers’ questioning and enhance teachers’ questioning skills. In this study, eight students from three schools in Xi’an City, aged 12 to 16, were interviewed individually with teaching episodes and student drawings used to elicit in-depth perspectives during those interviews. The findings indicated that students demonstrated sophisticated and thoughtful reflections on open and closed questions, on how teachers used questions differently in two types of classes, on scenario-based questions that asked them to think from the perspective of a scientist, and on other aspects of teacher questioning. The students expressed a preference for scenario-based questions and valued questioning that demonstrated teacher power and authority less and supported student engagement in knowledge construction. These findings have several important implications for teaching and learning and teachers’ professional development: for example, using students’ views to encourage teachers to think about scenario-based questions.