This book focuses on questioning techniques and strategies teachers may employ to make the difference between active and passive learning in the classroom. There are nine chapters: (1) Why Questions? (Ambrose A. Clegg, Jr.); (2) Review of Research on Questioning Techniques (Meredith D. Gall and Tom Rhody); (3) The Multidisciplinary World of…

Questioning in the college classroom remains an undeveloped, unrefined skill even though there is abundant evidence that classroom questioning can be improved. Research on classroom questioning techniques at the pre-college level shows that teachers ask questions that are predominantly literal in nature. Questions that require "higher…

A project to improve higher level thinking skills of elementary students in Hillsborough County, Florida is reported as a feature article (66p). An introductory overview chapter reviews the literature on teaching thinking skills. Chapter 1 provides background information on the community and the two schools selected for the practicum. The second…

A study of mother-child interaction focused on the contingent responses children make to various mother strategies to elicit language and the mothers' frequency of using that tactic. The subjects were six normal and four retarded children, matched for general language skills, and their mothers. Mother-child interactions videotaped at home were…

The following essays are presented in this monograph: (1) "Report on the 1983-84 Ford Faculty Seminar: Fostering Intellectual Growth, A Developmental Perspective" (Nancy Hoffman); (2) "Teachers Observing Teachers" (Francis R. Hart); (3) "Teaching Improvement and Teacher Evaluation" (Howard Cohen); (4) "Course Rhythms, Learning Structures, Teaching…

This paper examines the historian's method of handling evidence and explores some approaches to the improvement of college students' reasoning skills through the analysis of historical documents. The starting point in the development of the reasoning skills should be an exploration of the historian's task and the nature of the evidence, preferably…

One in a series of core instructional materials for apprentices to use during the first or second years of apprentice-related subjects training, this booklet deals with interpersonal skills and communication. The first section consists of an outline of the content and scope of the core materials as well as a self-assessment pretest. Covered in the…

Helping students develop proficiency in the use of interpretive comprehension skills such as are required for reading mathematics and science materials becomes both a means for continuation of technological progress and a dimension of the kind of literacy needed for living and working successfully. The development of these skills must be sought in…

Using five metamemory question types and the Counting Span Test (CST), this research investigated the effects of metamemory task demands, and the relationship of the amount of information one can hold in working memory to metamemory question performance. One hundred twenty kindergarten, first, third, and fifth grade children served as subjects.…

Research on the effects of questioning in the classroom has explored the placement, timing, type, and social impact of questions. Principles of good questioning include the following: (1) well-stated questions should be concise, clear, and complete; (2) questions should be topical in nature, requiring a complex answer; (3) yes or no questions…

These five papers reflect a single project--discourse analysis in the curriculum. The first paper, "The Small Group Course as a Setting for Naturalistic Research" (Charles Petrie and Charles Laufersweiler), describes the teaching process of integrating both a graduate and an undergraduate class from which the other four papers describe resulting…

Although microteaching has proved to be a valuable training tool for preservice education majors, some microteaching programs have been curtailed primarily because of the time and expense of maintaining the facilities. An abbreviated four-lesson program for microteaching can be conducted effectively with minimum time and moderate costs. The first…

Two studies were conducted to clarify some problems in aptitude treatment interaction research, by concentrating on the macroprocesses in reading required by different instructional methods and the macroprocesses available to students. In the first experiment, three reading groups were used, the first receiving adjunct questions, the second also…

Types of questions that serve to stimulate and develop social studies discussions are introduced and illustrated. Teachers are given suggestions on how to use questioning to help students develop social studies knowledge and skills. Three important phases of discussion include: the initiation phase, which indicates the purpose of the discussion;…

Some suggestions on how teachers can become better facilitators of learning in the classroom by sensitizing their listening skills and increasing their use of divergent questioning techniques. (CS)