Guide to Professional Development of
Out-of-School Science Activity Leaders

From the National Partnership for After School Science (NPASS)

NPASS

Questioning Strategies

The links on this page provide everything needed to present a 40-minute, adult-learning session exploring the effective use of Questioning Strategies.

Questions can open doors at every stage of the learning experience, inviting children or youth into activities and ideas by

Skilled activity leaders use questions to find out what children think and to draw attention to conflicting ideas. Well-sequenced questions can

The ability to lead high-quality discussions hinges on using effective questioning strategies. Leading a discussion is an art and, perhaps, the most important skill activity leaders need to learn to be effective in leading educational activities.

Although education researchers have identified many categories and subcategories of questions, we’ve chosen to focus on two main groups: “broad” and “focused” questions, also referred to in some education literature as “open” and “closed.” By this distinction, we in no way intend to classify these question types as either good or bad. This session focuses on the appropriate use of both types of questions. The emphasis is on analyzing the impact of both kinds of questions on children’s and youth’s thinking and behavior, and using this information to help decide how and when to best use them. In addition, we focus on the appropriate sequencing of questions through a Discussion Map, which can help guide discussions.

NOTE: This session can be effectively combined with the Roles for Activity Leaders session to create an hour-long session on questioning strategies and exploring the role of an activity leader. If you choose to combine these two sessions, we suggest starting with the Questioning Strategies session. The discussion led with participants after each skit (in Roles for Activity Leaders) can then be used as an example for illustrating the Discussion Map. The skits can also be examined with a focus on the use of broad and focused questions.