2 Categories of Questions:
1- Closed questions are those that simply require an answer or a response to be given from memory, such as a description of a situation or object or the reproduction of a skill.
2- Open questions are those that require students to think more deeply and to give a response that involves more than recalling a fact or reproducing a skill.
Which one are your more skilled at asking?
Our goals of education are for our students to think, to learn, to analyze, to criticize, and to be able to solve unfamiliar problems.
Read Cathy Seeley's, Past President of NCTM, Message 17 about Constructive Struggling and reflect on how you allow your students to wrestle with a complex problem.
2 Models for Creating Good Questions
A. Working Backwards- a three step process
1. Identify the topic.
Ex. Averages
2. Think of a closed question and write down the answer.
Ex.The children in the Smith family are aged 3, 8, 9, 10, and 15. What is their average
age? (answer is 9)
3. Make up a question that includes (or addresses) the answer.
Ex. There are 5 children in a family. Their average age is 9. How old might the
children be?
B. Adapting a standard question- a three set process
1. Identify the topic.
Ex. Measuring length using non-standard units
2. Think of a standard question.
Ex. What is the length of your table measured in hand-spans.
3. Adapt it to make a good question.
Ex. Can you find an object that is three hand-spans long?
Try these topics and answer/standard question:
Rounding- 11.7
Space- What is a square?
Money- 35 cents
Subtraction- 731-256=
1- Closed questions are those that simply require an answer or a response to be given from memory, such as a description of a situation or object or the reproduction of a skill.
2- Open questions are those that require students to think more deeply and to give a response that involves more than recalling a fact or reproducing a skill.
Which one are your more skilled at asking?
Our goals of education are for our students to think, to learn, to analyze, to criticize, and to be able to solve unfamiliar problems.
Read Cathy Seeley's, Past President of NCTM, Message 17 about Constructive Struggling and reflect on how you allow your students to wrestle with a complex problem.
2 Models for Creating Good Questions
A. Working Backwards- a three step process
1. Identify the topic.
Ex. Averages
2. Think of a closed question and write down the answer.
Ex.The children in the Smith family are aged 3, 8, 9, 10, and 15. What is their average
age? (answer is 9)
3. Make up a question that includes (or addresses) the answer.
Ex. There are 5 children in a family. Their average age is 9. How old might the
children be?
B. Adapting a standard question- a three set process
1. Identify the topic.
Ex. Measuring length using non-standard units
2. Think of a standard question.
Ex. What is the length of your table measured in hand-spans.
3. Adapt it to make a good question.
Ex. Can you find an object that is three hand-spans long?
Try these topics and answer/standard question:
Rounding- 11.7
Space- What is a square?
Money- 35 cents
Subtraction- 731-256=
Webb's Depth of Knowledge (DOK) provides a vocabulary and a frame of reference when thinking about our students and how they engage with the content. DOK offers a common language to understand "rigor," or cognitive demand, in assessments, as well as curricular units, lessons, and tasks. Webb developed four DOK levels that grow in cognitive complexity and provide educators a lens on creating more cognitively engaging and challenging tasks. Click here for a Four Content Area DOK resource.
Cognitive Rigor Matrix for Math and Science
Cognitive Rigor Matrix for Math and Science