Module 2 Englishe Edit

Newly Appointed Teacher (NAT) Programme
module 2
learners and learning
Education Department – HQ Amman

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Acknowledgements
UNRWA HQA would like to thank writers in the Five Fields for their valuable input, LFO
for their continuous support and UNICEF for their generous funding, all three of which
allowed for the successful development of the NAT programme.
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the Near East.
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NAT qualifying programme - module 2

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Contents
Introduction to module 2....................................................................................................................1
Unit 1: What is active learning?.........................................................................................................3

Learning outcomes........................................................................................................................4
How I learn.........................................................................................................................................4
Learning...........................................................................................................................................5
What does active learning look like in the classroom?....................................................7
Developing good group-work practices..............................................................................10
Introducing group work into your class teaching............................................................13
Active learning and stimulation of the brain......................................................................15
Summary.........................................................................................................................................15
Combined unit 2/3: Active teaching and learning................................................................17

Learning outcomes.....................................................................................................................17
Thinking about active teaching and learning....................................................................17
Questioning.....................................................................................................................................20
Why question?...............................................................................................................................26
Types of questions........................................................................................................................26
Student responses.......................................................................................................................31
Improving the quality of responses.......................................................................................33
Summary...........................................................................................................................................39
Module 2 assessment tasks..............................................................................................................40

Content task...................................................................................................................................40
Practical task..................................................................................................................................40
contents i
ii NAT qualifying programme - module 2

Introduction to module 2
Welcome to Module 2, which will examine learning and learners more closely. One very
important fact to understand is that in any teaching situation the students have control
of their own learning. They decide whether or not they wish to participate in the lesson
and engage in the learning activities. But the role of the teacher is crucial in helping
them to decide this.
You, as the teacher, are there to develop positive working relationships with the stu-
dents and to develop their desire to learn about the world around them. This involves
getting to know them – their interests, their previous experience in different subject
areas, their preferred ways of learning, their stage of development and their capabilities
– in order to structure the learning activities to their needs. You are the facilitator of the
students’ learning and therefore need to provide activities that challenge and extend
their current understanding.
By the end of this Module, you should have developed your:

• understanding of how learners learn
• understanding of active learning and why it is so important
• skills and knowledge regarding the implementation of relevant aspects of learning
theories
• ability to use questioning to challenge and extend thinking
• ability to use pair and group work to support talk to ‘scaffold’ (build) understanding
Unit 1 introduces the different facets of effective active learning and the multitude of
ways it can be incorporated into your teaching. Creative approaches can make a big dif-
ference in educational outcomes for students. Group work, which is one of the easiest
ways to organize a class, to support active learning and encourage students to think
more, is explored in more depth here.
Unit 2/3 is a combined Unit, which links the concepts of active teaching and learning
with the crucial skill of questioning. It explores further the active nature of teaching
and learning, before discussing the impact that different types of question can have
– both on opening up students’ curiosity and on encouraging them to raise their own
questions.
introduction 1
2 NAT qualifying programme - module 2

Unit 1: What is active learning?

“Let me try!” “I can do it!” These are common cries from very young children as they are
always keen to try new things. They can become quite skilled at some tasks with sup-
port and guidance from parents. You may know of young children who can do tasks
that you would not expect a child of that age to be able to do.
A mother teaches her child how to prepare and cut vegetables using a small kitchen knife.
The boy in the photograph above asks to do this kind of task regularly and has become
more adept as he practises the tasks. He is self-motivated, but his parents support him
as they scaffold his learning. Jerome Bruner, whose work into children’s learning first
raised the idea of scaffolding, also suggests that a learner (even of a very young age) is
capable of learning anything so long as the experience and activity is organized appro-
priately and is matched to their developmental level. Young children learn fairly soon
that if you drop something it falls down, which is actually an early introduction to the
effects of gravity. To understand this concept more, a child needs other varied expe-
riences of how forces work and how they can modify and adapt other forces before
exploring the deeper science behind the phenomena.
This Unit explores how students learn and takes into account several ideas and theories
that have informed our thinking about how best to support that learning.
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Learning outcomes
By the end of this Unit, you should have developed your:
• understanding of how theories of learning inform how to teach more effectively
• knowledge and skills regarding active learning in the classroom
• ability to organize groups to facilitate active learning
• ability to encourage more talk in the classroom
How I learn
When you have to learn something new, what do you do? Do you have set processes?
Are there places where you feel you learn better? In order to gain a better understand-
ing of what is meant by ‘active teaching and learning’, it is important first to reflect on
yourself as a learner. Activity 1 will help you to do this.
Activity 1:
‘I learn best when …’
Write ‘I learn best when’ in the middle of a piece of paper. Then, after pausing to think
about what you do and what conditions help you when you have to learn something
(either for work or related to your personal life), write down any phrases and thoughts
that come into your head about when you learn best.
Comment
This Activity may have raised more questions for you about your learning. Here are
some that you might have thought about:
• Do you always try to learn things the same way?
• Do you have different strategies that you might use to learn about a new subject
or to gain a new skill?
• When do you know that you have learned what you were trying to learn?
• What do you do if learning is hard?
• Can other people help you learn? If so, how?
These questions illustrate how complex the interaction between teaching and learning
can be. If everyone always learned in the same way, someone would have written that
book many years ago!

Comparing your responses to the above Activity with other teachers participating in the
NAT programme when you meet at the workshops will highlight the factors that affect each
learner. For example, some responses you and your colleagues come up with might include:
I learn best when …

• I am interested
• I see a purpose
• I have a need to learn this
• I can learn with others
Others may include much more basic factors, such as:
I learn best when …

• I am not hungry/thirsty
• I feel well/safe/happy
• I am not distracted by other things
• the learning is interestingly presented
If this is what you and your peers feel about how you learn best, you can be sure that
your students, whatever their age, may have a similar range of views about how they
learn best. The implications of this are significant for your practice in the classroom.
Learning
What is meant by ‘learning’ and what is ‘active learning’? Are they different? To begin
exploring this, you will look at some of the key theories that have underpinned ideas
about learning over time.
Each learning theory has a conceptual framework as to how information is absorbed,

processed and retained during learning. Each theory has a different conception of what
knowledge is and therefore a particular understanding of how students acquire knowl-
edge and retain it. Gaining an understanding of the main ideas of some learning theo-
ries is important, as they can provide you with insights to different strategies that you
might employ in the classroom. Most learning theories draw on the work of Western
psychologists and (more recently) sociologists. They help extend the current thinking
about how children learn and develop. It is important that teachers keep up to date
with this current thinking and reflect on its implications.
The earliest theories about learning were centred much more around the teacher, with
the activity in the classroom focused on, and controlled by, the teacher rather than
the student. Students were instructed what to do and what and how to learn. The aim
for the student was to practise and practise what they had been told until they could
replicate it. Teacher-centred activities can, of course, still be found in every classroom,
as some activities necessitate them. However, most do not. The theory most associated
with this approach is that of behaviourism.
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Current learning theories, however, revolve around the concepts of constructivism

and social constructivism. In these theories, the responsibility for learning is trans-
ferred to the learner, and the teacher is viewed as a facilitator, a supporter and provider
of interactive experiences with others.
The next Activity explores some of these ideas briefly to introduce you to the thinking
behind and development of our understanding of how learners learn. These ideas can
be divided into three areas and their main features are described in Resource 9, which
you need to read now to do Activity 2.
Activity 2:
How do children learn?
Please read Resource 9: Introduction to learning theories, which summarizes the key
ideas in each area of the learning theories. Using a copy of the blank table provided in
Resource 10, fill in the important factors for each type of learning in the relevant sec-
tions. Next, when you think you have included all that you wish in each section, think
what the consequences are for you as a teacher. If possible, share your ideas with other
teachers participating in the NAT programme.
Comment
Understanding how people learn either as adults or children is not easy, but there are
some key ideas about our understanding of the process that should make you think
much more creatively about your responsibility as a teacher to help students learn and
reach their potential. In filling in your table, you will see the limitations of the stimu-
lus/response (behaviourist) approach that restricts student participation and deprives
them of the opportunity to learn, think for themselves and develop a deeper under-
standing of themselves as learners. You may like to look now at Resource 11, which
shows how one teacher completed the table, including her interpretation of the nature
of knowledge under each theory of how learners learn and the kind of motivation that
students experience. This Resource highlights the responsibility for you as teacher to
engage students in their own learning. The difference in the teacher’s role from the be-
haviourist to the social constructivist approach is quite demanding as it implies much
more planning and interaction within the classroom, but it also promises much more
excitement and interest for teachers and students in the classroom. If you link this to
better learning outcomes for your students, you will see how the move to more inter-
active classrooms is crucial.
Your table may look slightly different to the one shown in Resource 11 – that does not
matter. What is important is that you have gathered together ideas about how the four
aspects listed on the left, namely knowledge, learning, motivation and teaching, are
so interdependent for successful learning. The next part of this Unit will explore one or
two strategies that you can use to achieve an active classroom.

What does active learning look like in the classroom?

The main elements of active learning are student activity and engagement in the learn-
ing process. However, just introducing activity into the classroom does not necessar-
ily improve learning. What is important is matching the type of activity to students’
needs, interest and abilities. A good match will positively influence how much of the
lesson content (whether this relates to knowledge and understanding, skills or values)
is retained by students. Activities that are designed around well-matched learning out-
comes promote thoughtful student engagement and a deeper understanding of the
subject will support better outcomes. It is a process of keeping students mentally – and
often physically – active in their learning by involving them in gathering information,
thinking critically and problem solving in ways that engage them.
Your main role as a teacher is to help your students achieve their full potential by en-
couraging them to take responsibility for what and how they learn. Using different ways
of working in the classroom to support your students becoming more active learners,
should be embedded in your teaching.
Active learning means that students are mentally (and often physically) active and en-
gaged in the learning process.
Read the next Case Study, which describes how Reem decided to explore the ability of
her Grade 8 students to sort objects into groups using different characteristics. Reem is
trying to build up her confidence and expertise in using more interactive strategies in
class, both to motivate her students and to encourage them to share ideas more and so
construct their understanding and learn from each other.
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Case study 1:
Using interactive strategies: sorting leaves
Reem, a science teacher in Lebanon, decid-

ed to try using a small-group activity with
her Grade 8 class at the start of a new topic.
Here, she describes how she felt it helped her
students to participate in the lesson and think
more deeply about what they were doing and
their own learning.
“At the start of term, our new topic in science was

plants. As a way to capture students’ interest
more, I decided to set up a sorting exercise to see what they already knew about leaves.
On my way to school and in the grounds of the school, I collected as many different
leaves as I could and divided them into six mixed collections.
I placed each collection on one of the six tables in my classroom. When the students
came in, I asked them to sit in groups around the tables and spend the first few min-
utes examining their leaves and then discussing how many ways they could sort the
leaves into different groups. I explained that one person in each group should list the
different ways they had sorted them. To get them started, I suggested an obvious one
– shape. As they talked about the leaves, I went around and listened. I did not interact
much, as I just wanted to hear how they listened to each other and shared ideas. The
only time I did interact was to give support when one or two groups found it hard
to think about what different criteria they could use. I did this without giving them
suggestions, but rather by asking them questions, such as: “Have you thought about
what the underside of the leaf is like?” and “Are there other features that you could use
to sort your leaves?”
Having given them about 10 minutes to do the task, I stopped them and asked each
group in turn to tell me one way they had sorted their leaves, and I recorded these on
the board. I went around the groups until there were no more answers and we ended
up with a list of 12 criteria. Then we discussed how some of these criteria, such as ‘a
pleasing shape’, did not necessarily help in identifying a specific species, but combin-
ing criteria together that described the structure specifically did help. But the main
question was which criteria were more important in identifying which plant each
leaf came from. Some of the students knew many of the leaves, but others could only
recognize one or two. So next we looked at the edges of the leaves and together pro-
duced a list of words to describe the different types of edges. This task encouraged
the students to observe the structure more closely and begin to see the variety that is
found in just a small group of leaves.
I then gave them a simple key that named the plants and provided pictures/drawings
of the flowers and fruit, as well as the leaf edges. Using the key, it was easy for almost
all students to name the plants the leaves came from.

This took some time for a few groups, as there was much discussion about two very
similar leaves. However, with more careful observation, it was possible to see that
their vein patterns were different and so they came from different plants. This led into
discussing which criterion one has to choose first to identify a plant – or any other
living thing – before you can be certain what it is.”
Students learn from each other as they work together and share ideas.
Comment
It would have been very easy for Reem to have provided the students with a list of
criteria such as ‘shape’, ‘veins’, ‘edges’ and explain the definitions from a textbook, be-
fore showing them how scientists usually classify plants (and leaves, too). Instead, she
knew it would be more constructive to prompt her students to explore their existing
understanding of the topic first, allowing them to make their own connections and
learn from each other. The group work enabled Reem’s students to share knowledge
and experience, and together through discussion of their different ideas extend their
understanding about leaves and plants. The group work, the plenary (the whole-class
discussion at the end of the lesson) and the teacher observing and interacting with the
groups closely, provided several distinctive different ways of working in one session
that helped to keep the students focused. The students developed their skills of listen-
ing to each other and sharing and exchanging ideas. All of these helped them to think
more deeply and actively about what they were doing and learning.
unit 1 9
Developing good group-work practices

Working in groups can be a very supportive process for those who are more reluctant
or nervous to participate in the classroom. It is less embarrassing to be ‘wrong’ in a small
group than it is in front of the whole class. Students have the opportunity to share half-
formed ideas and to listen to others who have had different experiences, and together
they can add to each other’s understanding. They can raise their own questions without
facing the possible humiliation of exposing a lack of knowledge and understanding
in a wider context. However, students need guidance and support to become effec-
tive participants in group activities. This section of the Unit explores some of the issues
around setting up and managing group work in any class in order to maximize learning
outcomes for all.
The next Case Study shows how one teacher used group work specifically to encourage
students to work together and support each other.
Case study 2:
Encouraging students to work together
Fuad is a teacher of a Grade 7 class of boys in

the West Bank. He had found that his students
were not very friendly or supportive of each
other. Since Fuad had taken over this class for
science at the beginning of the school year, he
had tried to learn all the boys’ names and to
address them by their names to make them feel
valued.
He had felt that many did not like coming to

school – and to science classes especially.
Fuad made a point of watching the students closely as they entered and left the class-
room and noticed that one or two students seemed to pick on some of the others. It
was obvious that those who were picked on were not happy and would hang back to
be last in, so that they were not poked or criticized by the others. Fuad knew that the
class had been very formally taught the previous year and noticed that many of the
students seemed afraid to speak out in class. He had read UNRWA’s policy document
on inclusive education and had been struck by one of the principles (see number 4 in
Resource 12: The principles of the UNRWA inclusive education policy), which states
that: “Inclusive education is about meeting the needs of all children with a special em-
phasis on children vulnerable to exclusion and marginalization. Inclusive education
requires identifying and addressing discriminatory attitudes and practices in order
to reduce barriers to learning and participation.” Fuad felt that while the school was
addressing the principles of inclusive education with the staff and parents, it was im-
perative that his students were also challenged to think more openly about the needs
of others and not to be so critical.

He decided he would like to change the way the students were taught to help them
learn to work together more and to value each other as individuals who have their
own views and opinions and, of course, the right to an education. To do this, Fuad
decided to use more collaborative approaches to learning in his classroom.
He started with simple pair-work activities, where the students had to do small tasks
with another student, usually with the person they were sitting next to. He noted that
this slowly started to have an impact on the class and to the overall atmosphere in
the classroom, but that there were still some students who were not as confident as
others and could be intimidated by a more dominant partner. So, Fuad decide to in-
troduce group work, so that he could encourage the group to help each other and to
listen and accept ideas from each group member, agreeing on action or findings.
Fuad’s aim was to try to encourage the students to become more friendly and inclusive.
He had read about how to introduce group work (see Resource 13: Group work) and de-
cided to form groups by putting a friendship pair with another pair or three with whom
they were not particularly friendly. He was careful to place the boys he had sometimes
seen picked on by others in groups where he felt they would be supported. In order to
help all the students work more inclusively and develop their active listening skills, he
began by playing a few games. For example, they played ‘Telephone whispers’ where
the first member of one group whispered a message to the next, who whispered it to the
next and so on. The difference between the start and end were not often the same and
the change was often funny! Fuad realized this game worked best with a few groups
playing together; he also noticed that some members of the class who didn’t often in-
teract with their classmates seemed to be laughing and joining in much more. Another
game he played was ‘Group storytelling’, where one member of the group started telling
a story, another took over at a moment’s notice and they tried to keep a coherent story
going until Fuad asked the next person in each group to finish the story.
After playing the games, which the class really enjoyed, Fuad produced a chart about
group etiquette. He told the students he was really happy with the way they had lis-
tened to and included each other when playing and that these ideas were the basis
for their group rules – listening, showing respect for each other, including respecting
alternative views, and working together to make decisions. He said that in the next
lesson they would work in their groups to solve a simple problem.
In the next lesson, Fuad put the class into their groups and reminded them of the
group rules. Then he gave each group a paper aeroplane and set them the task of im-
proving the design. The criteria for success was that they had to increase the distance
the plane travelled when flown by a chosen member of their group. The plane had
to fly five out of six turns further than it had flown before. Each group was free to try
out any ideas to work out how to improve the design and to measure how successful
their new design was. Fuad also reminded the students that they needed to remember
the rules about working in groups and to listen to each other’s ideas before deciding
which ones to try out. He also asked them to make a chart to show their results with
one person to feed back their results to the whole class.
unit 1 11
As the students began work, there was a definite buzz of activity and everyone was
involved and eager to suggest ideas. As he went around the groups, Fuad listened to
their discussions and only interacted where he felt they were stuck or where they were
not listening to each other carefully enough. He also suggested or raised questions
to help them to focus on what they were trying to achieve in the task. He was partic-
ularly pleased to see that the boys he had previously been concerned about seemed
involved in the group task and more confident as a result.
At the end of the session, when the students had shown their designs and measured
any increase in distance flown, Fuad spent time telling the whole class how pleased
he was with the way they had worked together. He said that they had showed much
more respect for each other and told them how they had helped each other learn and
that by working together they had and could achieve more. He linked his comments
to the principles in UNRWA’s Inclusive Education Policy based on the right of all to
education.
Games are a great way to encourage withdrawn students to engage in group-work.

Comment
Fuad knew the task of helping his students work together more amicably and construc-
tively would not be easy, but he was convinced of the benefits for his students, both in
terms of their own learning and their social and emotional development. He prepared
his lessons well and made sure that he understood the issues surrounding the intro-
duction of group work. The games he played helped the students to start listening to
and working with each other in a fun and inclusive environment. (There are many sim-
ilar games that could be used that can be found on the internet.) He thought carefully
about how to give clear support and guidance to his students. After the lessons, Fuad
reflected on how the students responded to working this way. He was impressed by
how motivated they were, how the group task had stimulated their thinking and how
much more respectful they had been to each other. He also asked the students to com-
ment on the changes in their listening skills and together they also edited and refined
their poster about good ways to work together.
Introducing group work into your class teaching

There are many reasons for using group work, but it is important to ensure that group
work is the best way to teach whatever you are planning. The next Activity asks you
to think about the benefits – as well as some of the organizational and manage-
ment aspects – of group work.
Activity 3:
The pros and cons of group work
If possible, spend a few minutes talking to any colleagues in your school who you know
use group work in their lessons – these might be teachers participating in the NAT pro-
gramme like yourself or more experienced staff. Ask them about why they use it. How
easy is it to set up? What advice would they give you to help you start using group
work?
If you are unable to talk any other members of staff, then spend some time thinking
about your own experience of group work and other group interactions you may have
done with students or participated in yourself. Try to answer the questions above. Write
your ideas in your course notebook about why group work has such potential in the
classroom.
unit 1 13
Comment
Some of the obvious benefits of group work are the sharing of ideas, helping each oth-
er and exploring ideas in a safe environment. Group work can be used for quick ac-
tivities to stimulate interest, for example at the start of a lesson, or it can be part of
a more extended period of learning, where students are trying out and testing their
ideas before reaching a conclusion that they can share with the whole class. Group
activities also contribute much to students’ perceptions of themselves as learners
and to their developing social skills.
Now read Resource 13: Group work, which will help you with the next Activity.
Activity 4:
Planning some group work
Read Resource 13 carefully and then look at what you are planning to teach in the next
week. Think how group work could enhance one of the intended lessons. Having read
the Resource and using any ideas you gained from talking to colleagues, think through
the process of introducing group work.
Prepare a plan for how you will introduce your students to group work. Make sure you
have clear objectives, be sure what type of groups you will use (for example, ability
groups or friendship groups) and gather any materials and resources you need. Make
sure that you are sure of the sequence of the lesson and what group skills students will
need to use from the start so you can help them to develop these.
In class, give the students clear instructions and expectations regarding their behaviour
and engagement in the task. As they start the task, move around the classroom listen-
ing to the groups and only intervene when you feel they need help. Your support is
crucial, but do not try to take over. Instead, guide the students to listen and respond
sensitively to each other. Make notes of any significant aspects of the lesson that you
felt pleased with, and anything that was unexpected – whether positive or negative.
After the lesson, spend some time reflecting on what went well in the lesson and why
you think this was so. How involved were the students in the task you set them? How
could you tell they were ‘on task’? Were they more active in seeking answers and solu-
tions to the task than in a normal lesson? What did they think of working this way?
Next, reflect on what did not go quite as expected and why you think this was so. Fi-
nally, think about and note down what you could do to improve your next session of
group work.

Comment
When trying anything new, in any context, there is always a level of anxiety and uncer-
tainty about whether it will work and whether it will have the impact you wish. As with
any new way of organizing your lessons, it is important to work at the approach to give
it a fair chance to succeed. Key aspects for successful group work include being clear
about the learning objective(s), setting up the task to facilitate the learning and having
appropriate group structures. All these stimulate students and grab their attention so
that they are encouraged to think more deeply.
Active learning and stimulation of the brain

A key aspect of active learning is the stimulation of the brain. Active learning does not
mean that students need to be physically active all the time, but it does mean that the
brain has to be stimulated in different ways. The brain makes links across different ar-
eas and these connections help learning to occur. Current neuroscience thinking about
how students learn highlights this. Some key principles that neuroscientists list as be-
ing part of the learning process are as follows:
• Learning involves changes happening in the brain.
• Learning is better with moderate stress, whereas mild or extreme stress are
detrimental to learning.
• Learning is better with adequate sleep, nutrition and exercise.
• Learning is better when the process is active and takes advantage of process-
es that stimulate multiple neural connections in the brain and promote memory.
For learning to be really effective, then multiple regions in the brain need to be en-
gaged in the process. The key regions are related to functions such as the senses, mem-
ory, voluntary control and higher levels of cognitive thought and functioning. Good
teaching starts with focusing on learners, not teachers, and takes into account what is
known about learning. As a teacher, you need to be creative and stimulating in what
you do in the classroom to impact strongly on students’ learning. Providing a variety of
ways to engage the students actively is crucial, and all the techniques and strategies
used throughout this programme focus on this.
Summary
Our understanding of how people learn has grown over the last 100 years. Therefore,
we can better understand the need for teachers to use creative and interesting strate-
gies in the classroom to help all students reach their full potential. This Unit has looked
at the use of group work as a means to help students extend their thinking skills, share
ideas together to construct new knowledge and develop new skills.
unit 1 15

Combined unit 2/3: Active teaching and learning
There is even more emphasis on the importance of ‘active’ learning today, due in part
maybe to the increasing evidence from psychologists and neuroscientists that people
learn more effectively when they have to participate in the learning process actively.
For teachers, using more active ways of working and teaching in the classroom can pos-
itively change the way students participate, and both students and teachers can find
the work more stimulating and energizing. Together, you will both learn more about
yourselves as learners and as individuals.
With this in mind, this combined Unit is about some active strategies that will assist
you in becoming more effective in the classroom. As you become more experienced
and gain a wider range of strategies, you will be able to adapt what you do throughout
the lesson in response to the students’ needs and reactions. How you interact with the
students and the practical activities you plan and prepare to meet their needs will help
them to know more about themselves as learners; this can help them progress.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this combined Unit, you should have developed your:
• understanding of the need for and purpose of active teaching and learning activities
and strategies
• understanding of various types of questions and how to use them when questioning
students
• ability to use students’ questions to inform your planning
• ability to use students’ questions to encourage their deeper thinking
Thinking about active teaching and learning

Following are two scenarios about teaching and learning – read and think about these
two possible scenarios and how they relate to your own professional development as
a teacher.
Scenario 1:
You go to a lecture theatre and someone lectures you on the use of pair work in
the classroom. You take notes as they talk.
combined unit 2/3 17

Scenario 2:
In a workshop, you have a short introduction into the use of pair work with some
visual aids to help. Then, working with another teacher, you discuss your ideas about
how you could use pair work in a class next week. Together you plan an outline for
the lesson and draft this on a flipchart to share with others in your session. Each pair
of teachers then shares their plans with everyone else. The whole group discusses
the different merits of the different plans and of the role of the pair work throughout.
The facilitator manages the feedback, so the teachers reflect on both their ideas for
class pair work and their own experience of working in pairs. They are given the task
of teaching a lesson next week using pair work and to return with feedback on their
experiences.
You can see that Scenario 2 is a much richer, more active teaching and learning ap-
proach than Scenario 1. As was said in the previous Unit, recent neuroscience and brain
research suggests that different parts of our brain work together to help learning occur.
But to engage these different parts of the brain fully, they need to be stimulated through
active teaching and participation. As students try to make sense of what they are doing,
they make ‘connections’ that help the development of understanding. As a teacher, you
need to activate students’ brains and encourage deeper thinking. Rote learning, chant-
ing, reading around the class every lesson and repetition do little to stimulate interest
and imagination, or engage students in wanting to learn. Active teaching, however,
involves planning lessons that provide a range of different activities reflecting the stu-
dents’ needs, interests and abilities.
Pair work is a simple active teaching strategy, as it does not involve having to move
students or having to gather too many resources. But it does allow students to talk and
listen to each other, and together share ideas and construct their understanding.

Pair work is a good example of active and interactive learning.
As well as focusing on active learning, this combined unit also links with questioning,
as this is an essential skill for all teachers to use to engage their students actively. It will
also show how strategies such as group and pair work can be incorporated into the
lesson to further strengthen student participation and thinking.
All of us have had the experience of puzzling over a task for a while, trying to make
sense of it and then seeking the advice of others and mulling over their suggestions.
Then suddenly the pieces fall into place and we can see clearly what is meant – we
understand, we have learned something! In the language of learning theory, we have
‘constructed’ understanding and gained knowledge through interaction with others.
Therefore, using pair work to encourage talking about an activity, investigation or prob-
lem is an important strategy of active teaching and learning. By talking with others,
we stimulate our own and others’ ideas, and we can all support and challenge these
ideas, which helps us to delve more deeply into what is being learned. Having an active
dialogue with someone helps us make connections and construct knowledge. Asking
questions (whether the teacher or the student is asking) is a positive way of interacting.
This Unit will explore the kinds of questions that you, as a teacher, can use and for what
purpose, as well as look at students raising their own questions and how these can sup-
port the students’ thinking and your own planning.

Questioning
In one sense, questioning is something teachers do all the time. On average, according
to Hastings (2003), teachers spend one third of their time questioning students, but of
the questions posed, 60 per cent are about recalled facts and 20 per cent are procedur-
al, with most having a specific answer. But most of these questions are what are called
closed questions, requiring only a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response. In this Unit, and to support
students’ construction of knowledge, we are referring to more use of open questions.
Open questions ask students what they think and why, or ask them to explain what
they did to carry out a learning task.
The teacher in the Case Study below uses only one question to start his lesson and
another to move it into the second phase. As you read, think about the impact his ques-
tions have on the students and their involvement in the task set.
Case study 3:
Using questioning in starting a new topic
Walid, a teacher of a Grade 7 class in Syria,

was starting a new topic and wanted to find
out what his class already knew before they
started. Finding out what they already knew
about the topic would help him determine
how to move forward. He describes what he
did and explains why:
“The next topic in Grade 7 science was ‘Move-

ment’, and knowing that all students would
have had direct experience of things moving, I
wanted first to explore their current ideas
(and even their misconceptions) to be able to plan how to help them towards the ac-
cepted scientific understanding about movement. I decided to explore their current
ideas first and then plan ways to extend and challenge their thinking through experi-
ence and investigations.
For the first lesson, I worked with the whole class of 39 students. On the whiteboard,
I wrote the question: ‘How many ways can you make things move?’ and then asked
the students to talk with the person sitting next to them about the different ways they
saw things move on their way to school. After a few minutes, I went around the class
asking pairs for their ideas and I wrote these on the whiteboard. If they had an idea
that was already on the board, I then asked them to put their hands down until they
had another different way to make things move. I carried on writing until there were
no more ideas.

How many ways can you

make things move?
Figure 1: The brainstorm that Walid’s class produced
Thanking them for their ideas, I asked them to look at their answers and talk in their
pairs about all the ways listed and discuss ways in which people can help movement
to occur. This activity told me a lot about the vocabulary that the class knew and were
able to use correctly around the topic of movement. For example, some students used
the word ‘force’ easily and others didn’t. They appeared to understand the variety of
ways objects could be made to move and what that meant for them in terms of hav-
ing to provide a force to make anything move.
My next step was to ask the pairs to work with the pair next to them to make groups of
four. I then gave them an investigation that also started with a simple question: ‘How
many ways can you make a rolled-up piece of paper move and stop it, and explain
what you are doing to move it or stop it from moving?’ They had 10 minutes to work
out what to do and think what it meant. We then shared these ideas around the class,
with students demonstrating different ways they made the paper move. One person
acted as the reporter for each group.

Finally, I asked them in their groups to draft a short explanation about how they
thought things moved and why. I had prepared small pieces of paper for them to write
their names and their responses on. I left them to write on their own, but wandered
around the class to clarify any problems about the task. I was pleased at how busy
they were and in fact how engaged they had been since the beginning of the lesson.
At the end of the lesson, I collected the sheets and took them home to read and decide
how to plan next steps.”
Open-ended questions give students the freedom to explore their own ideas.
Comment
The question that Walid posed at the beginning of the lesson enabled the students to
explore their current ideas about movement. As the question was fairly open-ended,
they were able – and encouraged – to explore their ideas. No one said any idea was
‘wrong’. They did not have to guess the answer in the teacher’s head, but were able to
share ideas and listen to each other and then discuss and modify their thinking as a
result.
Many words that we use in everyday language have very different, more precise, mean-
ings in science. For example, a force is seen as something very tangible. Many students

believe that there are no forces acting upon a stationary object and do not realize that
they have to use a stronger push or force to counteract the forces holding the station-
ary object at rest. Throughout the task above, Walid was actively seeking the students’
current ideas around forces and movement. This was to help him plan some more fo-
cused activities that would challenge the students’ thinking about movement.
Finally, Walid had asked the students to discuss and record their ideas about why they
thought things moved. He was interested in what they thought now, having undertaken
different activities in the lesson. This will help Walid build up a picture of what his students
know and understand. He may also have discerned areas where their understanding was
confused or underdeveloped. Using such information, he can now plan ahead to chal-
lenge and extend the students’ understanding towards the accepted norm.
The activities that Walid used can be used in any classroom and across any subject, but
they should always be matched to the students’ capabilities, interest and to the intend-
ed learning outcomes. The next Activity asks you to carry out a similar exercise in your
class, using an open question to start the flow of ideas.
Activity 5:
Using a question to stimulate students to investigate their ideas
Look at the lessons you are going to teach next week and identify a topic that would
enable you to start with a question that asks students to think about different ideas.
Some possible question beginnings are:
• How many ways can you sort/test/arrange these materials/words/numbers?
• What do you think would happen if … ?
• Why do you think … ?
• What kinds of investigations can you do about these extracts/materials/white
powders/number patterns/historical artefacts?
The sample question beginnings above will help you to construct your own question
for your lesson.
At the start of the lesson, write the question on a large sheet of paper or on the board,
and give students time to talk in pairs or groups before collecting their ideas together
on the sheet or board for all to see.
You can use this information to continue the lesson or to plan another lesson in the future.
If you do the former, you will need to plan beforehand, as Walid did, the possible comments
and thoughts that your students might suggest and how these can be responded to.
After the lesson, reflect on what went well and what did not go as well as you had
hoped in your course notebook. Were the students able to discuss their ideas clearly
and confidently? Did the students’ responses surprise you? If so, how? How will you use
all this information to plan the next steps in their learning?

Comment
It is hoped that you, like Walid in the Case Study, were pleased and perhaps surprised by
the range of suggestions you had from your students. All students will have had a range
of experiences outside school that have fed into their attempts to understand how the
world works. It is important to find out what students have experienced in relation to
the topics you teach, and asking an open-ended question can help them to share their
ideas. As your students are younger than their teachers, their experiences are therefore
likely fewer, so it is part of your role to introduce them to new ideas and to extend their
experiences. One way is to encourage the students’ curiosity by setting up interesting
problems or issues for them to explore.
The next Activity asks you to reflect on what active teaching and learning means to you
at this stage.
Activity 6:
Active teaching and learning
Thinking about your own experiences of being taught, of starting teaching and what
you have read and learned about so far in this programme, spend some time reflect-
ing on what active teaching and learning means for you. Write your thoughts in your
course notebook.
Next, list any active teaching and learning actvities or strategies that you experienced
as a student. What were they and how did they impact on you as a learner? Make notes
of what you thought were the strengths and weaknesses of these strategies. If you did
not experience such active learning or cannot remember, describe what your learning
was like when at school and how it helped you learn. Were there aspects that did not
help you learn? If so, what were they? Note these down.
Finally, list any active teaching actvities that you have used in class since you started
teaching. How effective do you think these were? How did the students respond to
them? What evidence do you have of the students’ engagement and involvement ?
How could you develop this further?

Comment
‘Active’ learning does not imply that a person has to be physically active, but rather it is
more about engaging the brain to resolve or interpret ideas to extend understanding.
Active learning means giving each student as many opportunities as possible to partic-
ipate fully in the learning process and to take responsibility for their own learning. Of
course, this makes demands on you as the teacher. After all, you have a whole class to
deal with, not just an individual student, and so you need to develop and use a range
of teaching strategies to achieve this. There are research studies that show the classes
of teachers who use a variety of teaching approaches outperform those of teachers
who only use whole-class teaching. Furthermore, even in large classes, students will be
more attentive – and their potential for learning will increase – when they are exposed
to a wide variety of teaching methods and learning experiences.
Relating new ideas to what a learner already knows is how the learner can actively con-
struct new understanding. As stated in the previous Unit, this is an approach known
as constructivism. However, learning is not just a matter of assimilating new ideas into
existing ideas, as the learning changes how the student makes sense of their world.
Also, if information is presented that we are unable to link with our existing ideas, it is
often quickly forgotten. This is why what Walid did in the previous Case Study was so
important. He was gathering knowledge of students’ current understanding and using
these insights to challenge their thinking and plan next steps in their learning.
Active pedagogies crucially also provide a good foundation for learning later in life.
Most jobs in the future will require people to be flexible, capable of learning ‘on the job’
and able to apply new knowledge quickly and effectively.
Active learning also, perhaps surprisingly, supports human rights. Students need to be
given the very best opportunities to achieve in school, as their life chances depend on
this. As an UNRWA teacher, you are familiar with the concept of students’ rights and you
will be committed to providing quality teaching that enables each and every student
to achieve their full potential. You will want your students to embody the vision of the
UNRWA Education Reform, that is to be confident, innovative, questioning, thoughtful,
tolerant, open-minded people, upholding human values and religious tolerance, proud
of their Palestinian identity and contributing positively to the development of their so-
ciety and the global community.
This might seem an ambitious vision, but the seeds of personal development are plant-
ed in the home and in the school, and active learning can play a very definite role in
achieving the desired outcomes for the students.

Why question?
The importance of teacher questioning is in helping students to articulate and extend
their thinking. So, questioning is one of the most crucial skills that you, as a teacher,
need to develop. It is a valuable tool that can help students learn and encourages deep-
er thinking and creativity. Developing and using effective questioning strategies should
be a key target for all teachers.
Knowledge of questioning is important for both teachers and students.
Types of questions
Questions you can ask can be divided into two broad categories:
• lower-level questions, which usually involve the recall of facts and knowledge
previously taught
• higher-level questions, which ask students to use information previously
learned to form an answer or to support an answer in a logical manner
Although there may be many reasons for asking questions, the response you receive
back will depend very much on the type of question you ask. As has been said earlier,
questions can either be open or closed, but also there are many other types of ques-
tions within these two broader categories.

Teachers ask questions to:

• guide students towards understanding or an answer
• push students’ thinking further
• remediate an error
• stretch students
• check for understanding
All of these may be closed or open questions, but it is open questions that give students
the best opportunity to think beyond the limits of the textbook and stimulate curiosity.
Closed questions simply require a yes/no answer (e.g. “Is this your book?”), require a
choice to be made from a number of options (e.g. “Do you prefer mathematics or lan-
guages?”) or are used to extract a piece of information (e.g. “What is your name?”).
By contrast, open questions allow for much longer and diverse responses (e.g. “What
do you think will happen next?”) and therefore potentially produce more creative ideas
and information (e.g. “What kind of ending could you write to this story?”)
There are lots of different types of open question, and some are more open than others.
For example: “What do you think will happen if we mix these powders? Why do you think
that?” are fairly open questions allowing students to give their answers based on their
experience rather than guessing the answer in the teacher’s head. Researchers agree that
open questions are likely to create a stronger learning situation than closed questions, as
they allow students to explore their ideas more and listen to alternative views.
The next step is for you to reflect on your questioning skills and use, so try Activity 7,
which asks you to audit what types of questions you have used already.
Activity 7:
The questions I use
Think of a lesson you have taught recently and try to list all the questions that you
asked. Do not change them at all. Now look at your list, however short it is, and think
how much these questions would have engaged the students in their own learning.
More specifically, think:
• How many of your questions were higher-level or open questions? How many
were closed questions?
• Can you remember how the students responded to the different categories of
questions?
• Did you give students time to think before asking for a reply?
Write your responses and any other thoughts in your course notebook. Then read through
your notes again to assess your own questioning skills. Decide where your strengths may
lie and think what skills you could, and would like to, improve and extend.

Comment
There is a range of different types of open questions that you, as a teacher, can use to
help students think more carefully about what they are trying to learn. Even if you think
you are relatively good at asking questions, there will still be many things you can do
to enhance your skills. It is not just about framing good open questions, but also about
how and when you pose a question. Speak too soon and you may confuse the students
while they are still processing earlier information. The tone of voice you use can also in-
fluence their willingness to respond. Whether you are asking open or closed questions,
students need to be convinced that you really want to hear their ideas.
As a teacher, you need to achieve a balance between closed and open questions. Some
studies of classrooms show that teachers find it easier to ask closed questions, but
learning is not just about being able to recall correct answers or procedures; it has to be
about thinking, explaining and most of all engaging. Before you try asking open-ended
questions in class, read the following Case Study.
Case study 4:
Using open questions to explore global warming and climate change
Omar, having been recently appointed to

teach geography to Grade 9 at a school in
Jordan, wanted to tackle the topic of global
warming and climate change from a geo-
graphical perspective. He knew that the class
has discussed the topic and carried out some
investigative work on global warming and cli-
mate change in their biology lessons. Omar
wanted to link his approach to this work and
so talked with the science teacher about the
way he was planning to introduce and devel-
op the topic.
Omar wanted to build on the students’ online search about ways of saving different
species, especially in the oceans. As he wanted the students to think about what fac-
tors affect global warming and climate change, he began by providing some facts
and figures about the different ice ages and warmer periods that the earth has passed
through over time. He also presented information on the rise in carbon dioxide levels
in the atmosphere and acidification in the oceans over the last 200 years. Omar then
divided the class into groups and posed two questions for them to discuss:
1. How far can global warming be attributed to people or to the natural cycles
of warming and cooling that the earth has passed through over time?
2. What do you think can be or should be done to combat global warming and
climate change, if anything?

He provided the groups with the facts and figures he had started the lesson with to
help the students discuss the issues. As he wandered around the class listening to their
discussions, Omar was pleased by their obvious interest and knowledge about some
aspects. He was also pleased to see how good they were at listening to each other
and the range of arguments and ideas they raised. Their conclusions were varied, with
many students saying that they felt that global warming was a combination of both
geographical processes of the earth’s cycle of cooling and warming over short and
longer periods since time began and the impact of what people were doing to the
planet.
Towards the end of the lesson, when the groups had fed back their ideas and Omar
had listed these on a flipchart, he asked the class to think about what actions should
be taken by different stakeholders, from each and every one of us, to countries, to the
United Nations. He said that this would be the subject of their discussion next lesson.
He gave them the rest of the lesson to talk in their groups about the kind of actions
that could be taken, by whom and when.
Finally, Omar set them homework to write their three priorities in terms of global
warming and climate change, and their own thoughts about what could be done.
He suggested that the students talked with their families to see if they had other ideas
and report back next lesson.
Comment
Global warming and climate change are very important issues that impact all our lives.
Omar was aware of the complexities of the topic, but also realized that these issues
would become even more significant for his students and for future generations. Omar
wanted his students to be able to make informed decisions about what could be done,
from the way they lived their own lives and through their role as national and global
citizens in the future. By asking open questions and providing some reliable statistics
about the problems of global warming and climate change, Omar gave his students
the tools to discuss and explore their own understanding. A series of closed questions
about the facts of global warming and climate change would not have affected his stu-
dents as significantly as the discussion did. He gave his students time to talk and did not
rush them, but provided support in the form of supplementary questions that helped
move their thinking on.

Open questions can be used as tools to help students explore their own understanding.
As you try the next Activity, think about how to structure the questions that you use.
Sometimes within your lesson you will need to use more closed questions, especial-
ly when organizing your class into groups or setting up the tasks the students are to
do. The open questions are key to engaging students and to helping them think more
deeply about the topic. Activity 8 asks you to plan and teach a lesson, using open ques-
tions to focus the students’ thinking.
Activity 8:
Using open-ended questions
Having read the above Case Study and read through the guidance above about ways of
asking questions and allowing time to respond, plan a lesson where your aim is to use
more open-ended questions. Pick a topic you are teaching in the next week or so and
identify the learning outcomes. What kind of activity will the students do? What kinds
of questions will you ask? List these in your plan and maybe write them out on a sepa-
rate piece of paper so you can leave them on the desk as a reminder for you.
For example:
• What would happen if … ?
• Why do you think that?
• How could you … (for example: … resolve the problem? … design an effective route?)
• How many ways could you … ? What are the merits and disadvantages of these ideas?
• Can you explain the process?

Check the resources you need and gather these beforehand.
Think carefully how you structure the lesson and be clear when you will use your ques-
tions that challenge students to share and think more deeply about what they are in-
vestigating. Remember to remind them about working in groups and actively listening
to each other.
How will you gather feedback from the discussion(s) in an efficient but meaningful
way? Could it be by using an open-ended question here as well?
Teach the lesson and then, as soon possible afterwards, write a review of what went
well and what did not go quite as well as hoped. How was your questioning? Did you
ask any open-ended type questions and did these engage the students? If not, why
not? What could you do to improve your skills next time? Did you use more closed
questions at any time? If so, why do you think this was?
Comment
Asking open-ended questions is not as easy as it sounds and so practice at framing
open-ended questions is a good idea. You could write out the questions beforehand
and even put them on the board for the students to see. You should notice how the
students are more involved in the lesson when you ask open questions, and also how
less-confident students are more likely to contribute.
The more you try using questioning as a technique, the more confident you will be-
come, and the more open-ended questions you use, the more your students will be-
gin to construct their own knowledge. Setting yourself a target to use an open-ended
question at least once in every lesson over the weeks ahead will help hone your skills.
Student responses
An important aspect of asking questions is not only what you ask, but also how you ask
and how you encourage students to respond. With both higher- and lower-level ques-
tions, there are two important issues to consider. These are:
• encouraging students to respond
• improving the quality of their responses
Research suggests that many teachers allow less than a second before they require a
response or introduce another question, giving students no opportunity to think about
what they might answer. Some teachers even answer the question they asked them-
selves.

By waiting after posing a question, even for a few seconds, there is an increase in:
• the length of student responses
• the number of students offering responses
• the frequency of student questions
• the number of responses from less-capable students
• positive interactions between students
The richer response that you will almost certainly achieve from just waiting a few sec-
onds before searching for answers shows how skilled an art questioning is. The next
Activity asks you to practise your technique(s) as you focus even more on asking
thought-provoking questions.
Activity 9:
Enhancing my questioning skills
Plan a lesson for next week, listing the questions you want to ask, the order in which
you will ask them, and also how you want to ask your questions. Remember, the way
you structure your questions, the tone of voice you use and the amount of time you
allow for an answer can all influence student responses. The other focus for you in this
lesson is to give students time to answer and to use their answers to share ideas with
other students.
After you have taught the lesson, write down your thoughts about how the students
responded. Reflect on how well you thought you were able to allow more time for them
to answer.
Comment
The way you ask questions can be as important as the question itself in terms of its
impact on a student. Being an active and exciting teacher needs you to be active and
excited yourself, and this will be reflected in your voice, face and language. But also
important is how you respond to the students’ answers. Being negative and saying ‘no’,
or criticizing the answer, will prevent many students from wanting to respond. They
will not want to be criticized or made fun of in front of the class. Accepting all answers
without condoning silly responses can be done sensitively and clearly by saying such
things as, “That’s an interesting answer, but may be not relevant at this stage.” Or: “We
can come back to that later, but thank you for the idea.”
By writing all responses on the board, you could ask the students themselves to think
which are most relevant at this stage and then say that the others can be picked up later.
Students who are unsure and timid about answering will be more willing to try if you are
sensitive and do not dismiss their efforts. Such skills will come from practice and to start
with you may need to think about how to do this in your planning, but there are also
some skills and techniques that you can use to improve your questioning, which are dis-
cussed below. Read through these carefully before trying the activity that follows.

Improving the quality of responses

Helping students to think more deeply and improve the quality of their answers is a
crucial part of your role. To help students achieve more, you need to be able to:
• prompt
• probe to seek clarification
• build on answers by refocusing
• sequence questions in a way that extends thinking
• listen very carefully to students’ answers in order to ask the right question
Prompting is about adding hints that help students develop and improve their answers.
Begin by choosing what is right in the answer and offering information, further ques-
tions and other clues. (For example: “So what would happen if you added a weight to
the end of your paper aeroplane?”)
Probing is about trying to find out more, helping students clarify what they are trying
to say to improve a disorganized answer or one that is partly right. (For example: “So
what more can you tell me about how this fits together?”)
Refocusing is about building on correct answers to link students’ knowledge to knowl-

edge they have previously learned. This broadens their understanding. (For example:
“That is good. But how does it link with what we were looking at last week in our local
environment topic?”)
Sequencing questions means asking questions in a certain order to extend thinking.

Here, your intention is to lead students to summarize, compare, explain or analyse. This
means you must have questions ready that stretch students, but not so far that they
lose the meaning of the questions. (For example: “Explain how you overcame your ear-
lier problem. What difference did that make? What do you think you need to tackle
next?”)
Listening enables you not just to look for the answer you are expecting, but to alert you
to unusual or innovative answers that you may not have expected. Such answers could
highlight misconceptions that need correcting, or they may show a new approach that
you had not considered. Your response to these could be very important in maintaining
motivation. (For example: “I hadn’t thought of that. Tell me more why you think that
way.”)

Activity 10:
Using other techniques to improve questioning skills
Plan to do this Activity with the same class that you did Activity 9 with; in this way, you
can build on what you did in that session to enhance your questioning skills. As you
plan the next lesson on whatever subject and topic you were working on, think about
an activity that will provide a good context for you to use more open-ended questions
and where you can try out your skills at prompting, probing, refocusing and sequenc-
ing questions, and listening more closely to what is said. This may seem similar to the
previous Activity, but this time you are being asked to refine your questioning skills to
meet your students’ learning needs more effectively.
To do this, you need to write your key questions and to order their sequence, but also to
think about the kinds of things your students may say and think how you can use the list
of tactics, such as probing, to encourage them to think more deeply about their answers.
In your plan, mark where you think these skills may be most pertinent. Listing the kind
of probes, prompting and other skills you can use will help you. The important thing is to
have a go and then later to reflect openly and honestly about how well you did.
Having prepared your lesson, teach the class. As you work, be aware of the questions
you ask – open or closed questions – and also reflect on how you encouraged the stu-
dents to think more deeply by using the five tactics listed earlier.
After the lesson, write your feelings and evaluation on how effective your questioning
was in your course notebook. How well (or not) were you able to employ the different
skills to extend the students’ ability to answer questions more coherently? What do you
need to do to improve these skills?
Comment
The last three activities have been designed as a series of steps deliberately to help you
lay your skills of questioning on top of each other to form a comprehensive collection
of strategies that you can employ at different points in any lesson. The more you help
your students to think for themselves in response to questions you ask, the more you
will keep them curious about the world around them and eager to find out more.
Another outcome of this use of appropriate questioning is that as students’ awareness

and interest in the world around them grows, the more they will generate their own
questions about aspects that interest them. If students are confident in answering
questions, they are also more likely to ask their own questions. The last part of this
combined Unit introduces the idea of encouraging students to ask their own questions
as a way of deepening their thinking. Like you, they also need to explore the kinds of
questions they can ask and construct.
The final Activity in this Unit is for you to investigate how good your students are at asking
questions. First read the Case Study, which describes how one teacher used a collection
of objects made from different materials to help her students raise their own questions.

Case study 5:
Encouraging students to raise their own questions
Linda is a teacher at a school in Gaza who

was very happy to develop her skills of
questioning in class. She was particularly
interested in using open-ended questions,
both for herself and her students. She had
been to a training session where they had
participated in a task in groups that asked
them to sort different materials and she
adapted this for her own class, as they were
about to investigate the properties of differ-
ent materials in their science class.
Linda also wanted to link this work with language development, by encouraging
her students to write about why they thought certain objects were made from
certain materials, and to develop their vocabulary as they described the proper-
ties of the materials.
Before the lesson, she gathered together a collection of objects, including plastic
toys, metal objects such as magnets and keys, wooden items, a soft toy, a fabric
pencil case, books, pens, pencils, etc.
Linda first divided her class into groups and then asked the groups to discuss how
many different ways they could sort the materials she had distributed. She gave
them time to handle and talk about the objects. One person in each group was
to list their ideas and then these were shared with the whole class. The discussion
of how they sorted the objects was interesting. Ideas like sorting for colour were
more obvious, but what the objects were made of was not so easy, as there were
some materials that the students could not identify. This led to a discussion about
how they could find out what the materials were, and also why this information
might be useful. For example, several groups said that they needed to know that
the toys were safe to give to small children. Linda asked whether they thought
the material was chosen for each object because of its properties and, if so, which
of those properties were important. The students raised many suggestions here
and they also used a range of descriptive words to illustrate the important prop-
erties. For example, the metal for the keys was hard and rigid and so they would
not break easily in the lock, and the fabric for the soft toys was soft, colourful and
washable (it said so on the label).
To help the students consolidate their learning about properties, Linda then
asked the students to write a description of one of the objects. She asked them
to describe what it was made of and why they thought the properties of the ma-
terial(s) used were appropriate. She also directed the students to the words that
had been listed from

their sorting exercise (e.g. rigid, flexible, bendy, clear, hard, soft, rigid, colourful, firm,
smooth, rough, stretchy). Linda thought this would help her students make their writ-
ing more informative. The students drew their objects and then wrote their description
underneath. Linda displayed the work on the wall for everyone to look at what had
been written. She asked the students to think what they had learned in the lesson and
what other questions they could raise about the objects.
Linda had used her science investigation as a way to expand her students’ vocabulary,
as well as to find out what they knew and could deduce about materials and their prop-
erties. Linda told the students that next time they would carry out investigations to
explore different materials and ask questions about their properties, for example: “Are
they absorbent?” and “Do they float?” The students were very excited by the prospect
of the next lesson.
Comment
Linda’s approach was much more motivating than just reading from the textbook
about the properties of different materials. The important outcome of this approach is
the stimulation of students’ ideas and thinking. It has been said earlier how important
this is to bring about deeper learning. The next Activity asks you to try to achieve this
with one of your classes.
Let students raise their own questions to spark their imaginations.

Activity 11:
Students raising questions
Find four or five objects that are relevant to the topic you are teaching and that could
be put around the classroom, such as pictures, maps or artefacts. Ask the students to
work in pairs or small groups. If there is enough room in the classroom, you can ask the
groups to leave their seats and come and look at the objects placed around the room.
If there is not much space, you might need to do the activity in sequence with only four
or five pairs/groups looking at any one object at a time. When the students return to
their seats, ask them to talk together and discuss what questions they would like to ask
about the objects. Ask them to raise some questions for each object. Write some of the
students’ questions on the board and work with them to refine the questions if needed.
In a whole-class discussion, ask the students to answer the questions that can be an-
swered straight away, and then discuss with them how they could answer the other
questions. Explain to them the difference between open and closed questions, and ask
them to think of the value of both. List their ideas, and then tell them they will try to
answer some of these questions in the next lesson. Ask them to bring in any books or
other resources that may help them investigate their questions and find answers.
After the lesson, use your course notebook to write down how it went. Reflect on how
you think the students were involved, the kinds of questions they raised, and the learn-
ing the activity produced. Were they mainly generating open or closed questions? How
you could do this activity again and make it more effective, perhaps by prompting the
students to focus on more open questions?
In your notebook, plan how you will answer some of the more open questions with
your class in the next lesson.
Comment
Encouraging students to take control of their own learning by asking their own ques-
tions can help to promote deeper learning. Students will take ownership of their own
learning, feel more responsibility for finding the answers, and see how their questions
will likely generate further questions. The questions that students ask will also highlight
to you where they are not sure and where their interests lie.
An activity where students raise questions can be used at any point and for a number
of reasons. For example, it can introduce a new topic and stimulate the initial discus-
sion around it or can assess students’ knowledge midway through a topic. It can also
be used to conclude a topic, at which point students use their questions to set up ex-
tended learning beyond what they have studied in class. Teaching students how to
formulate their own questions about a topic will increase their participation, but is also
a life skill that goes beyond the classroom. Questioning encourages them not to take
any information or opinions offered to them at face value, but to further question infor-
mation and ideas. This is an important lesson for their future lives as well.

With the level of student engagement that such activities provide, there will be more
opportunity for you to work with those individual students who need extra support.
Through talking about their questions, students expose their lack of understanding or
experience and may be intimidated by this, but through working in small groups and
sharing ideas they are able to see that they are not the only ones. They also discover that
they know different things from each other and it is sharing these ideas that enables them
to link the new information into their own understanding. Students admitting that they
do not know something can be a very important experience for them and it shows their
willingness to join in the learning experience. Being able to say that you do not know or
understand what someone is talking about or what they are trying to do, is nothing to
be ashamed of – all of us find ourselves in this position at different points throughout life.
At this stage in your development as a sensitive and responsive teacher, it is important

that you realize that you will not always achieve perfection each day. There are days in
any job where people do not function as well as they would like. But do not despair:
everyone has these days, but what is important is how you respond to such situations.
Be aware of where you are in your journey and the areas for development in your skills.
Questioning as a key teaching skill is an area that needs constant reflection on its effec-
tiveness and your competence. There are some very common mistakes that many – if
not most – teachers make at some time and these are listed below for you to consider.
The summary highlights the areas you have been working at positively throughout this
Unit, so that you are less likely to make the mistakes in the list.
It is often said that ‘questions are only as good as the answers they get’. Common errors
in questioning, which discourage students from offering answers or participating, are:
• asking too many questions at once
• asking a question and answering it yourself
• asking a difficult question too early
• always asking the same type of question
• asking a question in a threatening way
• not using probing questions
• not giving students enough time to think
• ignoring answers
• not correcting wrong answers
• failing to see the implications of answers
• failing to build on answers
If you do any of these, think about how you might adapt your approach and find ways
of doing the opposite. Watch and see the improvement in student performance.
As a teacher, you need to help those who are anxious and withdrawn due to a lack of
understanding. How you respond to their ideas, suggestions and questions requires
you to be sensitive and to handle the information they have proffered carefully so that

the student is not embarrassed or ridiculed as a result of what they have said. Your task
is to note what they do not know and use it to plan the next steps to help them build
up the accepted understanding about the topic or concept.
Positive communication creates an environment where students feel comfortable sharing

their ideas.
Summary
Active teaching and learning means much more than just being physically active in the
classroom. It involves using techniques and strategies that engage students in the lesson
and as a consequence stimulate their thinking. The ability to use questioning, especially to
use more open-ended questions, is a crucial skill for all teachers to develop. For learning to
take place, students need their ideas to be challenged and extended, and the effective use
of questions can have a great impact on students’ participation and deeper thinking. Using
questioning also provides you, the teacher, with insights into the students’ current under-
standing and areas of confusion. Preparing and practising how to form and ask questions
will help you build confidence in developing this important skill.
The strategy of encouraging students to raise their own questions also has a number
of benefits. It can provide you with insights into their own interests and concerns. Stu-
dent-raised questions can be the stimulant for activities, as students try to investigate their
own questions and answer them. Here, the role of the teacher is that of facilitator, providing
resources and support as the students work. Working in this much more active way leads
to students having a more positive attitude to learning and building up understanding; it
also strengthens their confidence and self-esteem in their own abilities and possibilities
for their future.

Module 2 assessment tasks
Content task
In Module 2, you have spent time exploring how learners learn and how different kinds
of approaches, types of questions and questioning can help learners think and learn
more deeply. As a teacher, your role is to stimulate the students, so that they want to
engage in activities because they are so interesting. This task asks you to reflect on how
your use of questioning has impacted on your students’ learning.
First, identify a lesson where you used more open-ended questions to explore your
students’ understanding of a topic. Using the lesson plan as a guide, read through what
you did. As you read, identify what you think were the key factors that contributed to
the success at each stage of the lesson. Make notes on these stages, as you will need
these to write a short analysis, using the guidance below, of 1000–2000 words.
The written task is:

Using your chosen lesson as a guide, write a short reflection on your experience of
teaching that lesson. Consider, and reference as you write, what you have learned from
the Units in Module 2 about how learners learn. Consider also the positive impact that
your use of questioning has had both on your competence in the classroom and on
the students’ learning. Give examples where you can of students who showed good
responses and reflect on why this was.
Practical task
Several activities in the module have been concerned with you working at enhancing
your questioning skills. For this practical task you are asked to submit a full lesson plan
for a lesson you planned and taught at the time. Next you are required to write a full
evaluation of how the lesson went and in particular how it helped you develop your
questioning skills. You can refer to other activities that you have done during this mod-
ule that have also helped you extend your questioning skills. The five questions below
should help guide you through the process:
1. What was your learning objective for yourself in relation to your own questioning
skills?
2. What did you build into the lesson plan to help you (e.g. card with questions listed
on it, or other techniques you built in to support yourself )?
3. What other resources, if any, did you need to prepare for you and your students,
and why?
4. How did you feel during the lesson about what you did? Did the students under-
stand what you were asking them to do, and how do you know this?
5. What did not work as you expected, and can you suggest why this was? What
would you do differently next time?

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Newly Appointed Teacher (NAT) Programme

Education Department – HQ Amman

NAT qualifying programme - module 2

Introduction to module 2....................................................................................................................1

Unit 1: What is active learning?.........................................................................................................3

Combined unit 2/3: Active teaching and learning................................................................17

Module 2 assessment tasks..............................................................................................................40

ii NAT qualifying programme - module 2

By the end of this Module, you should have developed your:

2 NAT qualifying programme - module 2

Unit 1: What is active learning?

4 NAT qualifying programme - module 2

I learn best when …

Others may include much more basic factors, such as:

I learn best when …

Each learning theory has a conceptual framework as to how information is absorbed,

Current learning theories, however, revolve around the concepts of constructivism

6 NAT qualifying programme - module 2

What does active learning look like in the classroom?

Reem, a science teacher in Lebanon, decid-

“At the start of term, our new topic in science was

8 NAT qualifying programme - module 2

Developing good group-work practices

Fuad is a teacher of a Grade 7 class of boys in

He had felt that many did not like coming to

10 NAT qualifying programme - module 2

Games are a great way to encourage withdrawn students to engage in group-work.

12 NAT qualifying programme - module 2

Introducing group work into your class teaching

14 NAT qualifying programme - module 2

Active learning and stimulation of the brain

16 NAT qualifying programme - module 2

Combined unit 2/3: Active teaching and learning

Thinking about active teaching and learning

combined unit 2/3 17

18 NAT qualifying programme - module 2

Pair work is a good example of active and interactive learning.

combined unit 2/3 19

Walid, a teacher of a Grade 7 class in Syria,

“The next topic in Grade 7 science was ‘Move-

20 NAT qualifying programme - module 2

How many ways can you

Figure 1: The brainstorm that Walid’s class produced

combined unit 2/3 21

22 NAT qualifying programme - module 2

combined unit 2/3 23

24 NAT qualifying programme - module 2

combined unit 2/3 25

Knowledge of questioning is important for both teachers and students.

26 NAT qualifying programme - module 2

Teachers ask questions to:

combined unit 2/3 27

Omar, having been recently appointed to

28 NAT qualifying programme - module 2

combined unit 2/3 29

30 NAT qualifying programme - module 2

Check the resources you need and gather these beforehand.

combined unit 2/3 31

32 NAT qualifying programme - module 2

Improving the quality of responses

Refocusing is about building on correct answers to link students’ knowledge to knowl-

Sequencing questions means asking questions in a certain order to extend thinking.

combined unit 2/3 33

Another outcome of this use of appropriate questioning is that as students’ awareness