Higher-Order Questions in Class: Asking So Students Think

What this is about

Most questions in a lesson are recall questions: "What is…?", "In which year…?", "What do we call…?". They have their place, because without facts there's nothing to think about. But if a lesson is made only of them, students learn to remember, not to reason.

Higher-order questions are the ones whose answer can't simply be pulled from memory or the textbook. Students have to compare, explain a cause, apply an idea to a new case, evaluate or create. In Bloom's Taxonomy these are the levels of analysing, evaluating and creating.

Ready question stems

Explain a cause:

• "Why does this happen?"
• "What would happen if this weren't there?"
• "How is … connected to …?"

Compare:

• "How are … and … alike, and how are they different?"
• "Which of these two methods is better for this problem, and why?"

Apply:

• "Where have you come across this in real life?"
• "How would you solve this if we changed the condition?"

Evaluate:

• "Do you agree with the author? Prove it."
• "What would you have decided in the character's place?"

Spot the error:

• "Here's a solution. Where's the mistake, and how do we fix it?"
• "Someone says that … Are they right?"

The question is only half the job

A hard question doesn't work if the answer follows right behind it. Three things help:

Wait time. After a higher-order question, students need time to think. If you call on the first raised hand after one second, the same quick students answer every time and everyone else stops thinking. Count to three in your head, and longer for a hard question.

Everyone first, then one. "Think for 30 seconds and write down one sentence", and only then say a name. That way the whole class thinks.

Follow-up questions. A first answer to a hard question is rarely complete. "Why?", "Can you give an example?", "Who agrees, and why?", "Who thinks differently?" These turn an answer into reasoning.

Turning a closed question into an open one

You don't have to invent new questions. Often it's enough to turn an old one around:

• "When was slavery abolished in the British Empire?" → "Why was it abolished then and not twenty years earlier?"
• "What is photosynthesis?" → "What will happen to a plant left in a dark cupboard for a week? Why?"
• "Translate I have been waiting" → "How is I have been waiting different from I waited? When would you say each one?"

Plan two or three key questions

Coming up with higher-order questions on the spot is hard. Before the lesson, write down two or three key questions, the ones the lesson exists for. Decide when you'll ask them, and think about the answers and mistakes you expect.

Games can do it too

Quiz questions usually test memory, but they don't have to. A quiz can include "what happens if…", "where's the mistake" and "which example fits" questions. Speaking cards and Spin the wheel work well with open discussion questions. Ready-made games by subject are in the game library.

Checking yourself

Record a lesson and count: how many "why" and "explain" questions did you ask? How many times did you follow up after an answer? There's more on self-review in How to review your own lesson without the stress.