The effect of training in question generation on the development of better questions posed by seventh grade science students

Abstract

Student generation of good questions provides many benefits for students, including active engagement in learning and development of their curiosity, as well as benefitting the teacher by providing him or her with insight as to the level of comprehension of the student, or enabling the class to dive deeper into content. But how can students develop good questioning skills? This study sought to explore how to develop good questioning skills in my middle school students by implementing the Question Formulation Technique (QFT), and examining how this training affected their ability to comprehend readings and answer open-ended questions. Two groups of students were included in the study, with one group participating in the QFT process throughout one unit of study, and the other group proceeding with traditional teacher-developed questions. Through comparisons between pre- and post-assessments, interviews, observations, surveys, and written assignments, instruction on question generation was found to improve the quality of students' questions, as well as improve their confidence in asking questions.