High-level Questions Research Articles

Interdisciplinary Subject “Yakugaku Nyumon” for First-year Students Constructed with Lectures and Problem-based Learning

In 2013, Kobe Pharmaceutical University established "Yakugaku Nyumon", an interdisciplinary course, which consists of omnibus lectures and problem-based learning (PBL) on topics ranging from basic to clinical subjects. The themes of the PBL were original ones; "Study from package inserts of aspirin", which aimed to reinforce the contents of the interdisciplinary lectures, and "Let's think about aspirin derivatives (super-aspirin)", which aimed to engender an interest in studying pharmacy. The PBL featured questions from teachers to help with study and was therefore referred to as "question-led PBL" (Q-PBL). The Q-PBL regarding aspirin derivatives began with preparing answers to the questions for a small group discussion (SGD) as an assignment, followed by a SGD, a presentation, and peer-feedback. From an analysis of the questionnaire survey, it was found that students considered the Q-PBL satisfying and that they had achieved the 4 aims: (1) to increase the motivation to study, (2) to enhance an understanding of the relations and significance of basic and clinical sciences, (3) to comprehend the learning content, and (4) to recognize the importance of communication. The Q-PBL with assignments has two favorable points. One is that the first-year students can challenge difficult and high-level questions when they are given these as assignments. The other is that students, who are unfamiliar with SGD can engage in discussions with other students using the knowledge gained from the assignment. The introduction of omnibus lectures and Q-PBL, along with these improvements in theme, application, and review process, promises increased learning efficacy at the university.

Question generation behavior of reflective teachers

Following the significance of teachers’ questions, the current mixed-method study aims to identify 20 EFL (English as a foreign language) teachers’ most frequent reflective techniques based on the English Language Teacher Reflective Inventory (ELTRI), and compare the quantity of their questions based on non-participant observation of their classrooms’ video recordings. Transcription and further analysis of the teachers’ questions also aimed at comparing the quality of teachers’ generated questions in terms of their cognitive level identified based on Bloom’s taxonomy. The results of the quantitative phase showed no significant difference in the teachers’ choice of ‘reflective,’ ‘cognitive,’ ‘affective,’ ‘practical,’ and ‘critical’ components of reflective teaching. With a very slight difference, ‘metacognitive’ and ‘moral’ components (Mean = 25.05, SD = 4.66 & 27.88, SD = 3.85 respectively) were used more frequently by teachers. Pearson correlation showed a significant relationship between teachers’ reflection and the quantity of questions they generated. The qualitative phase of the study showed very little use of higher level questions in Bloom’s taxonomy by four teachers, TA, MO, EL, and PO. They generated analysis, synthesis, and evaluation questions/higher level questions. However, ‘knowledge,’ ‘comprehension,’ and application questions were used by almost all of the teachers. Implications of the study are discussed.

Science Alive!: Connecting with Elementary Students through Science Exploration.

A novel program called Science Alive! was developed by undergraduate faculty members, K–12 school teachers, and undergraduate students to enrich science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) literacy at community schools located near the university. The ultimate goal of the program is to bolster the scientific knowledge and appreciation of local area students and community members and serve as a model for similar programs. Through the program, we observed that elementary school students made gains toward learning their grade-level science curricula after a hands-on learning experience and had fun doing these hands-on activities. Through the program, undergraduate students, working with graduate students and alumni, build scientific learning modules using explanatory handouts and creative activities as classroom exercises. This helps better integrate scientific education through a collaborative, hands-on learning program. Results showed that elementary school students made the highest learning gains in their performance on higher-level questions related to both forces and matter as a result of the hands-on learning modules. Additionally, college students enjoyed the hands-on activities, would consider volunteering their time at such future events, and saw the service learning program as a benefit to their professional development through community building and discipline-specific service. The science modules were developed according to grade-level curricular standards and can be used year after year to teach or explain a scientific topic to elementary school students via a hands-on learning approach.

Critical thinking, questioning and student engagement in Korean university English courses

The paper explores the viability of higher-level questioning in student-centered activities to elevate critical thinking and increase student engagement among Korean university English majors. The author examines research that identifies limitations for Korean students associated with their reluctance to speak or share opinions in class due to sociocultural influences in the classroom. Participants in the study posed and responded to higher-level questions in structured, small-group conversation activities. Findings revealed that cultural and institutional factors, as well as limitations in English language proficiency, can impact participation in student-centered, critical thinking activities. The author argued, however, that the evidence demonstrates that Korean students will overcome sociocultural obstacles and successfully engage in group conversations with peers in critical dialog when they possess adequate English language skills and when they are challenged to do so in lessons.

Evaluation of the effectiveness of progressive disclosure questions as an assessment tool for knowledge and skills in a problem based learning setting among third year medical students at The University of The West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago.

BackgroundAt the University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago, third year undergraduate teaching is a hybrid of problem-based learning (PBL) and didactic lectures. PBL discourages students from simply getting basic factual knowledge but encourages them to integrate these basic facts with clinical knowledge and skills. Recently progressive disclosure questions (PDQ) also known as modified essay questions (MEQs) were introduced as an assessment tool which is reported to be in keeping with the PBL philosophy.ObjectiveTo describe the effectiveness of the PDQ as an assessment tool in a course that integrates the sub-specialties of Anatomical Pathology, Chemical Pathology, Haematology, Immunology, Microbiology, Pharmacology and Public Health.MethodsA descriptive analysis of examination questions in PDQs, and the students’ performance in these examinations was performed for the academic years 2011–2012, 2012–2013, and 2013–2014 in one-third year course that integrates Anatomical Pathology, Chemical Pathology, Haematology, Immunology, Microbiology, Pharmacology and Public Health.ResultsThe PDQs reflected real life scenarios and were composed of questions of different levels of difficulty by Blooms’ Taxonomy, from basic recall through more difficult questions requiring analytical, interpretative and problem solving skills. The integrated PDQs in the years 2011–2012, 2012–2013, 2013–2014 respectively was 52.9, 52.5, 58 % simple recall of facts. By sub-specialty this ranged from 26.7 to 100 %, 18.8 to 70 %, and 23.1 to 100 % in the 3 years respectively. The rest required higher order cognitive skills. For some sub-specialties, students’ performance was better where the examination was mostly basic recall, and was poorer where there were more higher-order questions. The different sub-specialties had different percentages of contribution in the integrated examinations ranging from 4 % in Public health to 22.9 % in Anatomical Pathology.ConclusionThe PDQ asked students questions in an integrated fashion in keeping with the PBL process. More care should be taken to ensure appropriate questions are included in the examinations to assess higher order cognitive skills. However in an integrated course, some sub-specialties may not have content requiring higher cognitive level questions in certain clinical cases. More care should be taken in choosing clinical cases that integrate all the sub-specialties.

Pre-service Elementary Teachers’ Preferences and Competencies in Relation to Inquiry-based Instruction and High Quality Questions

This study investigates pre-service elementary teachers’ preferences and competencies related to the design of inquiry-based instruction and the posing of questions in science lessons. The three Lesson Plans (LPs) that pre-service teachers created were analyzed for their preferences in terms of the types of instruction and questions. The pre-service teachers completed two forms inquiring about their preferences. Volunteer participants in focus groups were then interviewed about their general preferences. The results of this study reveal that preservice elementary science teachers’ general preferences were for active direct instruction, didactic direct instruction, and guided inquiry. In most of their lessons plans they employed didactic direct and active direct instruction. The results indicate that pre-service teachers’ beliefs influenced their choice of instructional design. Even as they write better questions, they seem to have difficulty asking high-level questions in microteaching activities, limited, no doubt, by unfamiliarity with questioning techniques and lack of teaching experience.

Asking a Great Question: A Librarian Teaches Questioning Skills to First-Year Medical Students

In a single one-hour session, first-year medical students were taught a framework for differentiating between lower-order questions that lead to knowledge of facts and higher-order questions that lead to integration of concepts and deeper learning, thereby preparing them for problem-based learning (PBL). Students generated lists of questions in response to an assertion prompt and categorized them according to Bloom's Taxonomy. These data were analyzed in addition to data from the course exam, which asked them to formulate a higher-level question in response to a prompt. Categorizing questions according to Bloom's Taxonomy was a more difficult task for students than was formulating higher-order questions. Students reported that the skills that they learned were used in subsequent PBL sessions to formulate higher-order learning objectives that integrated new and previously-learned concepts.

Beyond Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How: Preparing Students to Generate Questions in the Age of Common Core Standards

Using a case study design, our research explored question generation as a reading comprehension strategy, focusing on the types of questions 4th- and 5th-grade students posed before, during, and after reading narrative text. The authors aimed to determine whether their participants are ready to pose the higher-level questions expected of them by the U.S. Common Core State Standards (2010). The results indicated that students asked mainly memory-based and convergent thinking questions, with far fewer divergent thinking and evaluative thinking questions. Instructional implications for classroom teachers include teacher modeling and demonstration of how to ask divergent and evaluative thinking questions through explicit instruction, mentorship, and more teacher use of language related to deeper thinking comprehension questions. These findings are explained in connection to the Common Core State Standards.

The use of Quality Talk to increase critical analytical speaking and writing of students in three secondary schools

This study was carried out in three secondary schools of varying socioeconomic levels within the usual framework of tasks completed by students while studying towards a national assessment. The study examined the change in the nature of the interactions between students in group conversations, in the context of a film unit and a geography unit using Quality Talk. Quality Talk is an interventional approach promoting text comprehension via a critical‐reflective thinking approach. The study also sought to determine whether there was a positive intervention effect from the use of Quality Talk, on the students' ability to write from a critical analytical (CA) stance. Differences in the pre‐ and post‐treatment writing achievement of seven intervention and one comparison class were assessed. Analysis revealed a large intervention effect within the intervention classes with marked improvements in students' abilities to talk and write with aCAstance (d = 0.92). The change in behaviour for the students in the intervention classes appeared to be associated with their increased use of authentic questions, uptake questions and high‐level questions, which appeared to foster higher levels of dialogic spells, supporting the development of higher levels ofCAtalk and writing.

Inquiry Into Teaching: Using Reflective Teaching to Improve My Practice

How effective is reflective teaching in increasing the engagement and achievement of pre-service teachers when utilized by a first-year college instructor? This article documents a practitioner inquiry project in which I reflected both on my own observations and student feedback regarding what teaching methods were most beneficial in an undergraduate elementary education class. Data included student feedback, personal researcher journal entries, student quiz scores, and format for presenting material in class. Pre-service teacher engagement and learning were both enhanced by integration of videos, activities, and higher level questions into class sessions. The results of this research affirm the power of reflective teaching while also reflecting the need to more actively engage pre-service teachers in this practice. As a new instructor at the college level, I came in with preconceived notions based on my own previous experiences of what teaching undergraduate students looks like. These prior experiences included a great deal of lecture, independent work, and whole class discussion of the material within each class session. However, as a reflective practitioner, I pushed myself to question those notions and search for more effective methods and strategies. This perspective of the reflective practitioner aligns with Dewey’s (1904) statement that one who truly wishes to “grow as a teacher” must be a “student of teaching” (p. 791), reflecting on their own practice and continuing to seek for and learn as much as possible about pedagogy, content, the needs of their students, etc. I sought to analyze my own teaching, determine its effectiveness, and actively engage in improving my strategies to benefit my students.

Finding Similar Mobile Consumers with a Privacy-Friendly Geosocial Design

This paper focuses on finding the same and similar users based on location-visitation data in a mobile environment. We propose a new design that uses consumer-location data from mobile devices (smartphones, smart pads, laptops, etc.) to build a “geosimilarity network” among users. The geosimilarity network (GSN) could be used for a variety of analytics-driven applications, such as targeting advertisements to the same user on different devices or to users with similar tastes, and to improve online interactions by selecting users with similar tastes. The basic idea is that two devices are similar, and thereby connected in the GSN, when they share at least one visited location. They are more similar as they visit more shared locations and as the locations they share are visited by fewer people. This paper first introduces the main ideas and ties them to theory and related work. It next introduces a specific design for selecting entities with similar location distributions, the results of which are shown using real mobile location data across seven ad exchanges. We focus on two high-level questions: (1) Does geosimilarity allow us to find different entities corresponding to the same individual, for example, as seen through different bidding systems? And (2) do entities linked by similarities in local mobile behavior show similar interests, as measured by visits to particular publishers? The results show positive results for both. Specifically, for (1), even with the data sample’s limited observability, 70%–80% of the time the same individual is connected to herself in the GSN. For (2), the GSN neighbors of visitors to a wide variety of publishers are substantially more likely also to visit those same publishers. Highly similar GSN neighbors show very substantial lift.

Fixed group and opportunistic collaboration in a CSCL environment

This study investigated synchronous discourses involving student collaboration in fixed groups during an introductory research methods course’s first 8-week phase, and opportunistic collaboration during its second 8-week phase. Twenty-seven Chinese undergraduates participated in online discourse on Knowledge Forum as part of the course. A multi-faceted analysis was performed to examine different aspects of collaboration – interaction patterns, knowledge characteristics distributed over inquiry, discourse patterns, and knowledge advances that emerged from discourse threads. The results show little variation in social interactions, but substantial differences in knowledge distribution between fixed groups. Groups that were productive in constructive discourse tended to generate higher-level questions and ideas. When engaged in opportunistic collaboration, the students were capable of engaging in a large range of interactions and of contributing higher-level questions and ideas; however, they were constrained by making little use of metacognition and having scattered interactions. Additionally, this study tested the relationship between online discourse and individual performance in the end-of-course assessment tasks. The results indicate that actively participating and contributing high-level ideas were positively correlated with students’ domain knowledge. The study’s implications for understanding online discourse dynamics within and across fixed groups and opportunistic collaboration in a computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment are discussed.

Spacing in a simulated undergraduate classroom: Long-term benefits for factual and higher-level learning

Despite showing robust benefits in lab-based research, there remain relatively few studies exploring the spacing effect in educational contexts with meaningful materials. In this study, participants (N = 169 undergraduate students) attended a simulated university lecture where they were presented with natural science curriculum material. Participants reviewed the material either one day or eight days after the lecture via an online review. Participants completed a final test on the material five weeks after each respective review. During the review and final test participants were asked both factual and higher-level (application) questions. Results showed that reviewing material eight days after the lecture led to better final test performance for both types of questions when compared to reviewing only one day after the lecture. This study suggests that spaced review is a robust and effective strategy that can be and should be adapted to classroom practice.

QUESTIONING BEHAVIOR OF STUDENTS IN THE INQUIRY CHEMISTRY LABORATORY: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SECTORS AND GENDERS IN THE ISRAELI CONTEXT

The present research is part of a longitude research study regarding the questioning behavior of students in the inquiry chemistry laboratory in Israel. We found that students who were involved in learning chemistry by the inquiry method ask more and higher-level questions. However, throughout the years, we have observed that differences between the two groups of students, control and the inquiry, have been reduced. The results of our study indicated that the gap between the Jewish and Arab students regarding their questioning ability is minor and inconsistent. If we assume that the source of this difference lies in the culture and different standards for teachers’ qualifications in the two sectors, our current results suggested that the differences between chemistry teachers in the two sectors are now diminished. Teachers from both sectors utilized the inquiry program as part of their teaching repertoire, and the students in the two sectors learned the inquiry skill of asking questions.

PENERAPAN METODE BRAIN BASED LEARNING PADA MATA KULIAH SEBAGAI UPAYA MENINGKATKAN KOMUNIKASI MATEMATIS DAN KETRAMPILAN BERPIKIR TINGKAT TINGGI MAHASISWA

From the profile of data organizing the educational process at the Department of Mathematics Unimed indicates that the failure rate of repeat and students are still high, especially in the advanced course. In MatDis I know graduation percentage in 20012 s / d in 2013 that the gain value of A is still low at 17%, the value of B is 39%, 7% received C grades and 37% gaining grades E. One indication of the cause of this problem is a lack of communication skills and creative thinking mathematically solve students’ problem that is already supported by some of the concepts that have been previously known. If the issue is offered at the level theorem proving, students must start from where finish confusion. Moreover, at the level of analyzing the problem, questions synthesizing, solve problems, and evaluate the matter. The main objective of this research is to improve the skills of lecturers in applying the model to the course, specifically whether the application of the method of high-level questions on subjects MatDis I can improve mathematical communication and higherorder thinking students’ skill, this study included classroom action research. Based on the results obtained class action; for student participation was found that students who perform activities such as participation in rubric be on the score 1-5 contained 86%. The increase 77.7% overall. For the 86% graduation rate obtained from 36 or 31 students. And of the interview was obtained that 94% of students, or 34 of 36 people found the applied learning method is appropriate and suitable researchers in an effort to improve communication and mathematical thinking skill high level students.

An Investigation of Elementary Teachers’ Use of Follow-Up Questions for Students at Different Reading Levels

Asking questions to promote higher-level thinking is often promoted as a way to challenge students, especially talented readers, to think more deeply about text and share their thinking. Recent research in a variety of educational fields has indicated that follow-up questions may be used to move all students forward in their abilities to understand and respond to such questions accessing higher-level thinking. The purpose of this qualitative investigation was to identify the types of follow-up questions frequently asked by three teachers at a small, urban elementary school in the Northeastern region of the United States and whether those types varied by students’ reading readiness levels. Results indicated that the teachers asked a variety of follow-up questions accessing both higher- and lower-level thinking during reading conferences with students whose reading levels varied; the results also indicated that each teacher tended to ask a greater percentage of higher-level questions of his or her higher-level students than of other students. The identified follow-up question types may be helpful in supporting other elementary reading teachers to expand their repertoire of questions to ask students during discourse around text.

The Use of Low-Order and Higher-Order Questions in Mathematics Teaching: Video Analyses Case Study

The aim of this video analyses case study was to compare levels of teacher questioning in mathematics classrooms between two countries (United States and Australia) whose language and mode of classroom instruction is English. Data were collected by analysing the video lessons from the United States and Australia in the Learner’s Perspective Study. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data. The findings revealed that in both the United States and Australia, male students were more engaged in questions posed by their teachers as compared to the female students. The overall results showed that male students volunteered, and were called on more to teachers’ questions compared to the female students. There were similarities and differences observed and the striking similarity was the frequently asked low-level questions in the lessons. Furthermore, male students were asked more high level and low level questions compared to the female students. In contrast, there were more students in Australia than in the United States who were asked more than two high and low level questions. The data in this study suggest that gender biased teacher questioning do occur in the Year 8 mathematics classes.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Combining the Use of Corrective Feedback and High-Level Practice Questions

A growing trend in teaching practices is to combine instructional techniques to optimize learning. If two instructional techniques can independently facilitate comprehension, it may be reasonable to assume that their combination would contribute to even greater learning. Here we examine the effects of using corrective feedback (present or absent) and practice questions (high level or low level) during initial learning on subsequent comprehension test performance. Results suggest that there was no added benefit from combining feedback with high-level practice questions. Providing feedback or practice questions were equally likely to benefit learners but the combination provided no additional benefit.

A discourse model for überhaupt

The German particle "überhaupt" exhibits a variety of uses with seemingly unrelated meanings. Correspondingly, only partial and non-unified theoretical accounts have been proposed. I show how the various intuitions and ostensibly different meanings can be derived from a unified characterization of "überhaupt" as a move to a higher-level question under discussion. The account explains how "überhaupt" could correspond to a single word in German, and it provides additional support for questions under discussion as an important aspect of contexts. http://dx.doi.org/10.3765/sp.7.1 BibTeX info

Fostering Student Questioning in the Study of Photossyntesis

The aims of this study were to: (i) design and implement strategies aiming to promote student questioning in the study of photosynthesis, and (ii) identify the strategies that lead to the formulation of a higher number of high level cognitive questions. A qualitative approach was adopted involving participant observation and collection of students’ written questions. Science-Technology-Society (STS) and practical strategies were conceived and implemented in a 10th grade Biology class. The results show that the students asked mainly low level cognitive questions. The greatest number of questions was raised when the STS strategy was implemented. However, the practical activity originated the greatest number of higher cognitive level questions.