Assessment for Learning

Effective Questioning for Assessment for Learning

Effective Questioning for Assessment for Learning

• Planned Questions

• Concept questions

• Lens Questions

• Student Questions

Planning QuestionsA key part of the lesson planning process is thinking

about the questions we ask in order to:• Ascertain where the students are in their

understanding• Tease out misconceptions that the students may

have• Avoid activities becoming just ‘busy work’• Get students to think through different lenses –

e.g How would a Forensic scientist approach this? An Environmental Health Officer?

Planning QuestionsSometimes the best assessment for learning that you can

carry out with your students is to give them quick and useful feedback when they are carrying out an activity

By asking these planned questions, you will be ensuring that:

a) the students are really thinking about what they are doing and why they are doing it

b) the students are thinking about the quality of the evidence and/or data they are going to forming

c) the students are thinking about the cause and effect factors

Assessment for Learning

When you are taking lichen measurements, your teacher may be taking photographs and will be asking you:

• What are you doing and specifically, WHY you are doing it.

• Are the measurements you are taking going to support a conclusion. If so, How?

• How would a Environmental Health Officer approach this task differently from you?

• What might affect the lichen growth in this area? Why might it do this?

Concept Questions

Questions to tease out misconceptions

Concept QuestionsKing Kong is the number one

giant monster

You are having a laugh. Godzilla would take him

anyday.

Strictly Come Dancing is the best celebrity dance

show

Come off it, the ice skating one on ITV

is much better man!

Est-ce qu’ il y a un autobus pour

la piscine aujourd’hui?

L’autobus pour la plage part à quelle

heure?

Hey guys, I wanna ask how we get to

the swimming pool by bus

Who’s right?

All metals conduct electricity

All non -metals do not

conduct

Only metals conduct electricit

y

Clever Classmates

But are they right?

In a series circuit, when one

bulb goes out, what happens next? Why?

Whassup!!Does the

voltage of a battery tells

you how big a push the

electrons get?

Ooops!

I have put the batteries in nose to nose. Will the

circuit work?

Concept Photo What I think Teacher Feedback

Lens Questions

What would Cartman say?

RedHat – emotions

What would Ned Flanders say?

YellowHat – benefits

What would Marvin the Paranoid Android say?

BlackHat – Problems

I have a cunning plan…

What would Baldrick say?

GreenHat – Ideas

How would I approach this?

What would Grissom ask?

How would I approach this task?

What would volcanologist ask?

Are mobile phones safe? How would I find out?

What would Radiation expert ask?

How would a codebreaker approach this problem?

What would a codebreaker ask?

How would a Historian approach this problem?

What questions would a Historian ask?

Getting students to come up with A4L Questions

Using question grids

What? When? Where?

Which? Who? Why? How?

Event Situation Choice Person Reason Means

Is Present

Did Past

Can Possibility

Would Probability

Will Prediction

Might Imagination

What?

So What?

What If?

What Next?

What?

So What?

What If?

What Next?

What?

So What?

What If?

What Next?

1.  The first plastic material to be invented was Bakelite in 1907.

What?

So What?

What If?

What Next?

1.  The first plastic material to be invented was Bakelite in 1907.

Much less ivory was needed for things such as billiard balls and knife handles, so elephants were saved from extinction.

What?

So What?

What If?

What Next?

1.  The first plastic material to be invented was Bakelite in 1907.

Much less ivory was needed for things such as billiard balls and knife handles, so elephants were saved from extinction.

What if plastics had not been

invented? 

What?

So What?

What If?

What Next?

1.  The first plastic material to be invented was Bakelite in 1907.

Much less ivory was needed for things such as billiard balls and knife handles, so elephants were saved from extinction.

What if plastics had not been invented?  There would be much greater demand for natural materials that are easy to shape.

What?

So What?

What If?

What Next?

1.  The first plastic material to be invented was Bakelite in 1907.

Much less ivory was needed for things such as billiard balls and knife handles, so elephants were saved from extinction.

What if plastics had not been invented?  There would be much greater demand for natural materials that are easy to shape.

Wood is easy to shape and so we would be cutting down even more trees than we do at present.

What?

So What?

What If?

What Next?

1.  The first plastic material to be invented was Bakelite in 1907.

Much less ivory was needed for things such as billiard balls and knife handles, so elephants were saved from extinction.

What if plastics had not been invented?  There would be much greater demand for natural materials that are easy to shape.

Wood is easy to shape and so we would be cutting down even more trees than we do at present.

2.  Plastics were the first truly synthetic material - there is no substance in nature with their chemical structure.

Because they do not exist in nature, there are no micro-organisms that can break them down, so they don't biodegrade.

What if nothing is done?  We will have increasing problems with waste plastic such as plastic bags.

We need to develop a biodegradable plastic.

What?

So What?

What If?

What Next?

Pick a simple ‘what’ question you might ask this week – see if this strategy might elicit some deeper thinking