“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”

- Albert Einstein

How often do teachers allow students to ask questions in school? Not very much actually. Studies have shown that teachers usually do most of the talking. Most teachers don’t even practice “wait time”. A constant droning of the teachers seems to be the norm in most classrooms. Many teachers will disagree but as Betty K. Garner has pointed out in her book, Getting to “Got It”, most teachers are surprised to see that when they have been videotaped, that they are the ones doing most of the talking in the class and they are also the ones who answer their own questions.

The rush to complete the syllabus doesn’t allow for much reflective thinking on the part of the students (and teachers too). Yet getting students to ask questions is an excellent way to gauge how much learning has taken place. As Garner said:

“The true level of understanding is evident in the kinds of questions students ask.”

Teachers therefore should model asking open-ended questions. The concomitant side of this is of course to give students time to think about these questions, and better still, ask further questions about what they are learning. Unfortunately, the only kinds of questions that seem to be prevalent in the classrooms are the kinds that we see being given as part of the homework or written assessments so common in schools of today.

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