moodle/lang/en/help/questions.html

<P ALIGN=CENTER><B>Questions</B></P>

<P>A good way to help other people think about a subject is to 
   ask them a question about it.  Being asked a good question
   can really help us put information together, evaluate our
   existing ideas and create new ideas.</P>

<P>Asking questions that are specifically intended to help 
   others learn is known as <I>Socratic questioning</I>, named
   after Socrates in Ancient Greece.</P>

<P>Socratic questions require you to listen very carefully
   to the other person to help you judge and phrase your question
   in a helpful, constructive, and hopefully non-confrontational way.

<P>Here are some examples of such questions:</P>

<!--Hidden comment: Someday I will include a great example dialogue here -->

<h3>Questions of clarification</h3>
<ul>
  <li>What do you mean when you say ______?</li>
  <li>What is your main point?</li>
  <li>How does _____ relate to _____?</li>
  <li>Could you put that another way?</li>
  <li>Let me see if I understand you; do you mean _____ or _____?</li>
  <li>How does this relate to our problem/discussion/issue?</li>
  <li>Jane, can you summarize in your own words what Richard said? ... Richard, is this what you meant?</li>
  <li>Could you give me an example?</li>
  <li>Would _____ be a good example of that?</li>
</ul>
<h3>Questions that probe assumptions</h3>
<ul>
  <li>What are you assuming here?</li>
  <li>What is Jenny assuming?</li>
  <li>What could we assume instead?</li>
  <li>You seem to be assuming _____. Do I understand you correctly?</li>
  <li>All of your reasoning depends on the idea that _____. Why have you based your reasoning on _____ instead of _____?</li>
  <li>You seem to be assuming _____. How do you justify taking that for granted?</li>
  <li>Is that always the case?  Why do you think the assumption holds here?</li>
  <li>Why would someone make that assumption? </li>
</ul>
<h3>Questions that probe reasons and evidence</h3>
<ul>
  <li>Could you explain your reasons to us?</li>
  <li>How does that apply to this case?</li>
  <li>Is there a reason to doubt that evidence?</li>
  <li>Who is in a position to know that is true?</li>
  <li>What would you say to someone who said that ____?</li>
  <li>Can someone else give evidence to support that view?</li>
  <li>By what reasoning did you come to that conclusion?</li>
  <li>How could we find out if that is true? </li>
</ul>
<h3>Questions about viewpoints or perspectives </h3>
<ul>
  <li>What are you implying by that?</li>
  <li>When you say _____, are you implying _____?</li>
  <li>But, if that happened, what else would happen as a result? Why?</li>
  <li>What effect would that have?</li>
  <li>Would that necessarily happen or only possibly/probably happen?</li>
  <li>What is an alternative?</li>
  <li>If _____ and _____ are the case, then what might also be true?</li>
  <li>If we say that ____ is ethical, how about _____? </li>
</ul>
<h3>Questions that probe implications and consequences </h3>
<ul>
  <li>How can we find out?</li>
  <li>What does this question assume?</li>
  <li>Would _____ ask this question differently?</li>
  <li>How could someone settle this question?</li>
  <li>Can we break this question down at all?</li>
  <li>Is this question clear? Do we understand it?</li>
  <li>Is this question easy or hard to answer? Why?</li>
  <li>Do we all agree that this is the question?</li>
  <li>To answer this question, what other questions must we answer first?</li>
  <li>How would _____ state the issue?</li>
  <li>Why is this issue important?</li>
  <li>Is this the most important question, or is there an underlying question?</li>
  <li>Can you see how this might relate to ________?</li>
</ul>

<HR>
<FONT SIZE=1><I>Questions adapted from Paul, R. (1993). Critical Thinking: How To Prepare Students for a Rapidly Changing World: Foundation for Critical Thinking, Santa Rosa, CA. </I></FONT>

<p align=right><a href="help.php?file=writing.html">More info about writing</a></p>
<p align=right><a href="help.php?file=reading.html">More info about reading</a></p>