Asking the Right Questions: Insights from a Mathematics Teacher Support Programme
Main Article Content
Abstract
This study investigated mathematics teachers’ questioning techniques when teaching problem solving. This is due to evidence that suggested teachers employed many close-ended questions leading students to merely answer what teachers wanted to hear. Hence, 35 primary and secondary mathematics teachers were enrolled as participants in a professional development session on techniques of questioning developed by the Institute of Teacher Education of Malaysia. This session facilitated the participants on how to employ effective questioning techniques when teaching problem solving that focused on four main areas, namely: checking understanding, encouraging conjecturing, making connections and encouraging reflection. The participants were then randomly divided into groups to plan a lesson and deliver it to their peers. Data were collected through observation of lesson delivery to determine if there exist any changes in the way the participants posed questions when teaching problem solving in mathematics. The findings indicated that the participants posed questions in all four areas, with most emphasis on checking understanding and encouraging reflection. The participants also employed a considerable amount of both open-ended and close-ended questions in their delivery.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
References
Bahagian Pendidikan Guru. (2013). Komuniti pembelajaran profesional (PLC). Putrajaya: Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia.
Chin, E.-T., & Liu, C.-Y. (2009). Developing eighth graders’ conjecturing and convincing power on generalisation of number patterns. In Proceedings of the 33rd Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (Vol. 2, pp. 313–320). Thessaloniki, Greece: International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education.
Department for Education and Skills. (2013). Assessment for learning and the national literacy and numeracy framework. Cardiff: Department for Education and Skills, Welsh Government.
Hafizah, H., Badariah, B., Aini, H., & Salina, A. S. (2012). How to construct open ended questions. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 60, 456–462. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.09.406
Harrold, P. (2013). Any questions? Designing an observation instrument to record teacher questioning. In 3rd International Conference on Foreign Language Learning and Teaching (FLLT) (pp. 122–133). Bangkok, Thailand: Language Institute, Thammasat University.
Hunter, J. (2014). Developing a ‘conjecturing atmosphere’ in the classroom through task design and enactment. In Proceedings of the 37th annual conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (pp. 279–286). Sydney: MERGA.
Institut Pendidikan Guru Malaysia. (2018). Support programme for DLP mathematics teachers. Cyberjaya: Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia.
Johnny, J., Mahani, M., Mohd Salleh, A., Noor Azean, A., & Abdul Halim, A. (2017). Extent of teacher questioning to promote reasoning during problem solving in high achieving mathematics classrooms. Advanced Science Letters, 23, 7438– 7441. https://doi.org/10.1166/asl.2017.9493
Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia. (2012). Malaysia education blueprint 2013–2025. Putrajaya: Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia.
Mason, J. (2002). Minding your Qs and Rs: Effective questioning and responding in the mathematics classroom. In L. Haggerty (Ed.), Aspects of Teaching Secondary Mathematics: perspectives on practice (pp. 248–258). London: Routledge Falmer.
Mason, J., Burton, L., & Stacey, K. (2010). Thinking mathematically. England: Pearson Education Ltd.
Mohamad Nizam, A., Mohd Salleh, A., Abdul Halim, A., Noor Azean, A., & Mahani, M. (2014). Kemahiran penaakulan bagi matapelajaran matematik tambahan dalam kalangan pelajar Tingkatan Empat. In International Education Postgraduate Seminar 2014 Proceedings Volume 2 (pp. 46–61). Johor Bahru: Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.
Shanmugam, J. & Ahmad Johari, S. (2014). Kefahaman dan pengetahuan guru dalam pentaksiran Kemahiran Berfikir Aras Tinggi (KBAT). In International Education Postgraduate Seminar 2014 Proceedings Volume 2 (pp. 759–769). Johor Bahru: Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.
Wong, K. Y. (2015). Use of student mathematics questioning to promote active learning and metacognition. In Selected Regular Lectures from the 12th International Congress on Mathematics Education (pp. 877–895). London: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17187-6_49