The skill of asking good questions in mathematics teaching

Abstract

Those interested in mathematics education have recognized the value of asking good questions for centuries. We assume that good teachers ask good (and lots of) questions of their students. Yet this general recommendation fails to consider important questions about how teachers implement question-asking. The purpose of this study is to think more deeply about the implementation of this important practice. We explore question-asking in mathematics classrooms by presenting two case studies, each of which involves a teacher teaching the same topic in different classes. We explore how these teachers implement question asking, both in the context of teachers’ usual curriculum that did not put a premium on question asking as well as curriculum supplements that focused explicitly on question asking.