For some people, asking questions comes easily. It could be thanks to their inquisitive nature, emotional intelligence, or the ability to read others’ minds, but they do know how to ask apt questions, at the right time. Unfortunately, not all of us are blessed with this skill. To be fair, most of us don’t ask enough questions, nor do we pose our doubts in an optimal way.
Not asking questions is a missed opportunity in interacting with our surroundings. Let’s just say that good questions are beneficial in more ways than we can imagine. Especially in the field of education, it is quality questions that drive discussions and sharing of information.
Here are the top five reasons why questions are instrumental in an instructional setting.
To make learning a rewarding experience
Questions breed more questions. They push us to think, wonder, and once the answers are received, questions help us appreciate the knowledge received. In a 2018 study conducted by the Journal of Food Science, a set of students were encouraged to create their own questions based on Bloom’s Taxonomy. These students not only enjoyed the learning experience but also scored 7% more marks compared to the rest of the class.
For the educators, questions reveal the interest of the learners and provide a fair idea of whether the classroom discussions are progressing in the right direction. In that sense, questions serve as a tool for educators to guide conversations, and for the students, it is a means to learn, prepare, and improve their subject understanding.
To gauge the learning curve
For any learning experience to become complete, assessments are crucial. And how do educators assess? But asking questions! Questions are an important instrument, in that sense, for teachers to assess and evaluate their students. Evaluation measures the learning outcomes and helps the educators identify knowledge gaps. Additionally, educators leverage questions not just to measure the strength of their students, but to also gauge the overall learning experience to see if the teaching mechanism needs any modification.
To develop learners’ assertiveness
All educators wish for their students to successfully take on challenges. Answering questions correctly develop the necessary self-confidence for students. Mock tests, flashcards, group discussions, and more, play a big role in gaining comprehensive knowledge and preparing students thoroughly for any competitive academic challenges. When an educator poses questions and learners attempt to answer them, the latter get in control of the conversation. This goes a long way in building learners’ confidence and assuring them that they are on the right learning path.
To drive participatory learning
Questions have the power to make learning interactive. However, the involvement and participation of the students rest on the quality of the questions. A well-designed question encourages students to think proactively and liven up the learning experience. Thankfully, no longer do educators rely on a simple question-answer format to seek responses from the learners. Quizzes, games, interactive assessments, are some of the ways educators are now connecting with the learners. Educators are also looking at some interesting platforms which allow combining different tools to present questions uniquely. For example, QuilliQuiz – Quillionz’s flashcard can be shared with learners using Raptivity, an interaction-building tool. This is a great way to create self-assessments, which can be fun too!
To encourage active learning strategies
Questions can empower, engage, and stimulate a classroom. As the well-known advocate of active learning James Ballencia says, “With the goal of teaching mindful learners who actively pursue knowledge, teachers become more actively engaged in how they teach the curriculum and how they develop each student’s learning potential. They mix and match a variety of tactics to ensure that students not only learn more, better, and faster – they also learn smarter.”
With the help of good questions, educators can put students at the center of the learning process as they take the initiative to learn. This decreases the habit of rote learning and instead fosters a holistic learning culture.
Questions are the Answer to Build Learning Environment
Proper questioning techniques are important in the teaching and learning process. They make it easier for educators to get feedback from the learners and accordingly improve the teaching process. This is important for enhancing learner motivation and promoting positive, critical, and creative thinking in the class.
The way questions are framed also stimulates learner thinking. Questioning is one of the most effective ways to get students involved in the delivery of the lesson. This is exactly where Quillionz has a role to play. Quillionz helps educators leverage the unique power of question creation. With intelligent AI algorithms that understand the content that is fed in, Quillionz lets educators create a host of questions in a matter of seconds. No wonder it has made a name for itself as the world’s first AI-powered platform for creating questions, quizzes, and notes.
Click here to learn more about how Quillionz can help you explore the true potential of quality questions.
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