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ASKING QUESTIONS
Questions are essential tools in promoting learning. Skill in the use of questions is important to good teaching and communication.
In this lesson, we will first examine the construction of questions and how to ask them. We will then suggest how to listen in order to encourage trainees' response. Finally, we will consider how the trainer can react in order to promote learning.
Open vs. Closed Questions
Questions are usually divided into two broad categories that form a continuum from open to closed and from general to specific.
Whether a question is "open" or "closed"
depends on how wide the area is from which the trainee can answer.
For example, the question:
"What type of ammunition is suitable for law enforcement
use?" is open because the trainee can draw from a wide area
of information in order to answer. But the question "Is a
licence necessary to carry a handgun in the State of NSW?"
is closed because there is a limited area from which to draw an
answer.
Should You Plan Questions?
Should you preplan your questions and write them into the lesson
plan, or should you allow the questions to be spontaneous? The
answer is--both!
It is quite easy to plan and design questions, either singly
or in a series, to start each explanation step and to uncover
items within each explanation step. In fact, we recommend that
you make a habit of writing out questions in all your lesson plans.
Use questions often. However, use spontaneous questions as well. They can arise out of the texture of the lesson and allow the trainee to inductively think out the information. This is immeasurably better than your simply giving the information to the trainees. Never pass up an opportunity to allow the trainees to work out their own answers.
