Questioning in the Secondary School

Teachers ask thousands of questions in a year. Even in a single day they may ask between 200 and 400 questions, often at the rate of one or two every minute. The ability to ask intelligent and searching questions, to use questioning for different purposes and to know what to do with the answers is crucial to teachers of all subjects and age groups. Sometimes a whole lesson can be built around one or two key questions. In Questioning in the Secondary School , Ted Wragg and George Brown explore the wide range of questions that teachers can ask, from those requiring simple recall of information right up to those that stimulate complex reasoning, imagination, speculation. The book explores the various strategies open to teachers and, through a combination of activities and discussion points, helps pupils to: *reflect upon their uses of the question *develop their approaches to preparing, using and evaluating questions *explore ways to encourage pupils to ask questions