K1 Rainy
Teaching Technique: Questioning
Question is asked when we want to know new information or to see the level of understanding or to compare the level of understanding of the children (MacNaughton & Williams, 2004).
What is questioning?
Outcome
When a teacher asks the children questions it is too see how much they have understood from a topic or to know more of their opinions of a certain topic. Ultimately, questioning gives the children an opportunity to think and to use language in functional manners by giving them time to tell the teacher what they see, describe things that they experienced in their daily life and letting them make predictions (Ramsey and Fowler, 2004)
Tying with our philosophy
According to Vygotsky’s take on children, he stated that the cognitive development of a child stems from the social interaction that the child has. Thus it is essential that we let our children interact and learn from one another. In Sunshine Preschool, we value the quality interactions between a teacher and the children or even among the children themselves. With the technique of questioning, the teacher will get the child to interact with their peers and to also understand them better. As time passes by, the child will feel comfortable to express their thoughts in class and hence helping them to be a competent member in the society. As we believe in building positive relationships between the staffs and the children, the technique questioning will be really effective (MacNaughton & Williams, 2004).
Scenario: Science Lesson
Objectives of the lesson
Children will be able to:
- state what they know about the topic of distance
- make their own prediction
Implementation of technique: How did we use the technique to achieve the objectives?
The KWL chart was used where the teacher asked close and open-ended questions for the benefit of the children. During the lesson, one of the child did not want to make a prediction but the teacher just asked him to make one based on what he felt.
Analysis
Observations
How did this help the children learn?
Children saying out what they know about the topic of distance.
Teacher asked questions in order to get the KWL chart filled up. Children managed to answer with minimal prompts from the teacher.
Children took turns to roll down the toy bus down the ramp and marked it. Afterwards, she made the ramp a little higher and get the children to predict if the toy bus will go further or closer.
Children were given an open-ended question when was asked to make the prediction. Children were given time to make a prediction and the teacher gave a little prompt to one of the child when he could not make a prediction. Instead of the teacher giving a direct answer, the teacher prompted instead. This will let the child learn that it is okay to say out their thoughts even if they are not sure if the answer is right or wrong. This will make the child feel secure in the class.
The children were gathered after the activity to finish up the KWL chart.
The teacher asked and recapped with the children on what they just saw. The children managed to answer without many prompts. Thus from here, the teacher managed to see how much the children have understood from the science experiment they did.
Using the questioning technique in other situatuons
The children were asked open-ended question during the conscience alley segment in their drama lesson. The question during this segment will usually touch on their decision making skill. For example, the children were asked whether to tell the truth or not and to give a reason for it. Thus, this will help the children to think wisely before making their decision. It also gets the children to interact and rationalise with the teacher on their answers.
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During the reading session with the children, the teacher may use the questioning techniques. The teacher may ask close-ended and open-ended question. For example, “ what do you think is going to happen next” or “what have you learn from this story?”
