“Asking questions is what brains were born to do, at least when we were young children. For young children, quite literally, seeking explanations is as deeply rooted a drive as seeking food or water.” – Alison Gopnik
We observe how teachers keep asking questions in between the class to keep the students engaged and active throughout. But imagine flipping this role. What if students ask more and more questions?
Talking about flipping the roles, the approach towards teachers is conducted by students thereby leading to an engaging session of information. The idea of asking question in class often holds back the students as they feel hesitated and at times feel scared to get out of their shell. There can also be a possibility that students are afraid because they’ve felt humiliated before on asking questions or simply have the fear of asking “wrong question”. But, the important thing is that students asking question in class is as important as the teacher asking questions.
Read out the points below to understand why students must ask questions in the class and how can you get them raising hands in your next class:
– Fear of Coming Out and Asking Question
Asking a question in between peers and teachers prepares students to face the outspoken and challenging world they are finally going to enter. The trick is to making students comfortable among other students and the teachers that they don’t feel terrified or hesitate thinking about whether they are asking the right question or not. Teachers can encourage students by asking them to make a list of 10 questions from any particular topic and hold class sessions where students get to play the role of the teacher.
– Material Engagement
More questions lead to coverage of more details even the minute ones that you may skip otherwise. Students coming out with questions will also help teachers in understanding the perceiving level of students, which area of the course they understand and which not and will help you to recognize the strength and weaknesses of the students. With them asking questions, you can have a look in their mind and know what makes sense to them and what not. Teachers can further experiment with their teaching strategies for the optimum understanding of the class.
– Instill Students with Creative Thinking
The kind of questions asked by the students talks a lot about the way they think and helps them develop their thinking capabilities. If you ask your students to come up with questions after every session, it will help them look at things with more than one perspective. Knowing answers may help students in the class but when they are being able to ask questions is when you help them for their whole life.
– Discover Students’ Caliber and Help them Grow
The questions that are asked by the students give you a direct insight to the understanding of the individual and the learning capabilities. At times, we come across students who ask questions that lead to a very deep and engaging session that benefits the whole class and one thing that is certain is that whenever a student asks the question the whole class learns along.
– Because it’s “COOL”!
You know what, the “coolest” of the people are those who ask the question and usually they are the geniuses and name one kid who doesn’t like the tag “cool”. So make them believe it and see students splurging over it.
Make Sure You Watch Out This Video Below That Explains the Power of Effective Questioning
What’s your take on this? Do you think that students asking questions in the class is great for both teachers and the students? Share your experience with us in the comment section below.
Also Read:Check out How These Tools Embrace Inquiry-based Learning
