THE POTENTIAL OF CLOSED-ENDED AND OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS IN HISTORY TEACHING

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to highlight the results of empirical research on the effective use of open-ended and close-ended questions in teaching history. The material is revealed on the examples of the history of Ukraine and world history. In the Ukrainian teaching methodology, questioning as a teaching method is almost ignored, which significantly reduces the potential of using this tool in lessons. Studies show teachers’ poor understanding of the role and place of questions, opportunities and limitations of different types of questions in history teaching, building a question system in a particular lesson, depending on the learning content. In general, teachers use questions only to test students’ knowledge, not paying attention to their potential for developing in students not only the ability to think logically and consistently, but also to apply such complex types of thinking as divergent (creative), convergent (critical) and metacognitive (reflective) thinking. The article highlights the main approaches to developing an effective methodology of asking questions in a lesson by the teacher and teaching students the ability to ask questions as a basis for the development of their thinking. The role and place of questions in the educational process are described. The advantages and limitations of building close-ended and open-ended questions in history lessons are highlighted. The requirements for the formulation of close-ended and open-ended questions, the basics of their development and the sequence of formulation, in particular, during the processing of historical sources, are disclosed. The principles of constructing a system of questions with the establishment of functions and place of questions of different types (focusing, supplementary and evaluative) in the lesson, depending on the stage of the educational process at which they are used and didactic tasks that the teacher solves. A model of using close-ended and open-ended questions in a competency-oriented lesson is proposed.