Classroom questioning: teachers’ perceptions and practices

Abstract

Moving from a teacher-centered teaching to a student-centered teaching implies a new perspective of the approaches to questioning. Putting the focus on students’ questions rather then on teacher's questions, and valuing students’ questions rather then emphasizing their responses is imperative in supporting learners’ higher levels of thinking. This paper outlines and action research study with 3 secondary biology teachers and their students. A 2-month course of professional development was designed and implemented as a strategy to promote teachers’ classroom questioning awareness. Important changes in beliefs and practices were found after the intervention, particularly in what concerns the wait-time, the number and the kind of questions asked, both by teachers and students.