This requires teachers to engage students in activities that have personal meaning and draw upon their prior knowledge and experiences.

These activities should encourage students to ask open-ended and
probing questions and to be responsible for undertaking group and individual investigations.

Such projects should be designed to ensure that students go beyond
the information, to search out, analyse and challenge their own and
others'  thinking.

J.T. Dillon's research (1988) found, in part, that most questions in students' minds are never uttered and that as students become older they ask fewer questions. These findings are of concern, especially as questioning is essential in the development of critical thinking. 

Writers on critical thinking argue that students who have no questions are not learning, while having pointed and specific questions, on the other hand, is a sign of learning. Richard Paul (1990) states, "Doubt and questioning, by deepening understanding, strengthen belief by putting it on a more solid ground".

In the classroom, teachers ask questions to: • stimulate learning • initiate instruction • ascertain what children know • evaluate learning • clarify ideas • carry on conversations In the classroom, students ask questions to: • obtain information • solve problems • clarify information with peers and teacher • satisfy curiosity Questions serve many purposes, have different forms and elicit responses of varying complexity. return to top of page