There are two types of questions.

Closed questions only have one answer, or a very limited number of answers. Answers are correct or not correct.

Open questions have many of possible answers. There is no ‘correct’ answer.

A. Mark the following questions closed or open.

1. What is your name? _____________

2. Did you enjoy the video last night? ___________

3. What would be the best cash crop to grow in your village? _____________

4. What breeds of chickens are best for laying eggs? ______________

5. What is the name of this tool? (Holding one up). ___________

6. What would you do if an outboard motor suddenly stopped running? ________

7. Do you think that large extended families are better than small nuclear ones? ___________

8. What is the best way to feed very young babies? __________

9. Why is garbage a big problem in Solomon Islands villages? _____________

10. What is the best Solomon Islands timber for making furniture? ____________

B. Make up 3 more examples of closed and 3 of open questions.

C. Which kind is most commonly used in teaching?

D. Which kind help students to think for themselves?

E. Which kind most effectively involve the students in a session?

F. Which kind has been used most often on this course?

Read summary sheet B20, Open, closed, whole class and individual questions.

Questions can have many functions, or reasons for asking them.

Look at the following list of functions, and the questions after them. Match each question with the correct function. Make up 2 other questions for each function.

Functions

1. To find out what students know.

2. To find out whether students have understood something.

3. To ask students to contribute their own experiences.

4. To ask students their opinions.

5. To test whether students have understood the whole lesson

6. To promote interest or curiosity.

Questions

1. We have learnt that chewing betel nut and lime is the main cause of mouth cancer in the Solomon Islands. So can you suggest reasons why people go on chewing betel nut with lime?

2. Who can tell me what kind of joint this is?

3. Daisy, can you tell us what happens when people get married in your community?

4. Today we have been learning about spark plugs. Augustine, can you tell us what the main job of a spark plug is?

5. Melanesia is not the only part of the world where people chew betel nut. Who can tell me other parts of the world?

6. Do you think we should continue to allow overseas logging companies to log in our villages?

7. Can you explain what happens if you don’t mix petrol with oil when you use an outboard motor?

In Solomon Islands classrooms it is often difficult to get students to answer questions or respond to the teacher.  Suggest reasons for this.

                            

Read summary sheet B21 Problems of using questions in Solomon Islands.

 

The way you respond to students’ answers is as important as the questions themselves.  Read the following answers and responses.

                                     

1. Can you suggest any problems with the teacher’s responses in numbers 1, 2 and 3?

 

2. In what ways are the responses in number 4 better? What effect do they have?

 

Question and response 1.

 

T: What is the name of this part of the engine?

S1: Piston.

 

T: No.  Eric?

S2: Spark plug.

 

T: No. Anyone?

S3: Piston ring.

 

T: That’s right.  Piston ring.

 

Question and response 2.

 

T: What type of food is cabbage?  Mary?

S1: An energy food.

 

T: Could be, but I think there is a better answer. David?

S2: Protective food.

 

T: Yes, it’s a protective food.  Can you tell us what that means?

 

Question and response 3.

 

T: What is the best type of cash crop to grow in Solomon Islands?

S1: Coconuts.

 

T: No, I don’t think so.

S2: Chillies.

 

T: Not really.  Any more?

S3: Betel nut.

 

T: Not that either.

S4: Cocoa.

 

T: Yes, I think cocoa is the best crop to grow at present.

 

Question and response 4.

 

T: What do you think is the best cash crop to grow in Solomon Islands? Ian?

S1: Coconuts.

 

T: O.K., can you tell me why?

S1: Because they are easy to grow.

 

T: Yes, they are easy to grow.  Do you agree with that, Constance?

S2: Yes, they are easy.

 

T: But do you think they are the best crop?

S2: No.  I think betel nut is better. (Everyone laughs)

 

T: All right.  Can you tell us why?

S2: Because everyone always wants betel nut, so it’s easy to sell.

 

T: Good.  But where would you sell it, Philip?

S3: In town.

 

T: So what’s the problem with that?

S3: Not everyone lives near town.

 

T: So what would you choose?

S3: I think cocoa is better.

 

T: Right. Tell us why.

S3: Because the price is high.

 

T: O.K., who agrees with that?

 

Read summary sheet B22, Responses to students.

 

1. Prepare a 10 - 15 minute session on any topic using questioning techniques. Try to use all the types of questions we have discussed. Teach this to the rest of the class.

2. Discuss your lesson with the class afterwards, thinking about the success of your questioning.

3. Watch a teacher at St. Dominic’s teaching a classroom session. Make a note of how many times he asks closed or open questions. Does he ever manage to get a further response from the same student, or get students responding to each other? (Do not tell him what you are looking for in the session!)

Many topics in all subject areas can be learnt partly through group discussion. The best discussion topics are those where students

a. already have some knowledge, preferably based on their own experience;

b. are likely to have their own opinions.

Some examples include:

Agriculture

1. The advantages and disadvantages of the traditional methods of farming in Solomon Islands.

2. Which is the best way to keep chickens: a. as ‘free range’ i.e. wandering around the garden or village or b. in ‘batteries’ inside special houses.

Life skills

3. What is the best way to dispose of household waste in a village?

4. If a village family earns money from cash crops, who should keep and control the money: the Father, the Mother or both?

5. Should we encourage people to use traditional medicines and healers rather than going to clinics and hospitals?

Carpentry / Building / Life Skills

6. What are the advantages and disadvantages of traditional leaf houses and modern ‘copper’ houses? Can we design a house which has the advantages of both?

7. Do you think the introduction of chain saws has been a good or bad thing in Solomon Islands villages?

Mechanics

8. If you had to choose a tool kit of 10 hand tools for mechanics (or woodworking) for students to take with them when they leave an RTC what 10 tools would you choose?

9. Set up an engine so it won’t start. Ask groups to discuss what steps they would take to find out what is wrong.

All subjects

10. The population of many villages is increasing fast. Discuss what problems a rapid increase in population would create for life in a village, especially in relation to your own subject area e.g. how might farming, the use of machinery, building and woodworking or any of the areas covered by Life Skills be affected?

Now do the following:

1. Suggest at least two other suitable discussion topics from your own subject area.

Read Summary sheet B23, Discussion groups.

2. Organise a discussion in your group or class at VTC.

3. Organise discussion groups at St. Dominic’s.

4. Discuss in your own groups the main problems you encountered in organising discussion groups.

Note on choosing topics

Group discussion is not useful when there is only one right answer to a topic. Discussion must be based on open rather than closed questions. It is not useful to ask students to discuss how to put a spark plug into an engine; the uses of backstitching; or what they think aggregate is. This will only lead to guessing, which is not the aim of discussion.

Choose any topic, not necessarily from your subject.

Give a 10 – 15 minute lecture on it, trying to follow the advice given below.

Comment on each other’s lectures.

Advice on lecturing

Lectures can be very useful to give information to students if they are:

• Short: 15 minutes should normally be the maximum before a change of activity.

• Interesting: Keep people awake! Use the first sentence to make them interested. Don’t say, “Today we are going to learn about …” but “Did you know that …?”

• Well planned, so you sound confident.

• Well structured: Divide the topic into sections and sub-sections and make these clear to students.

• Well delivered in a loud, clear and varied voice.

• Summarised on the blackboard as you go along.

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