Question the question
Being in a technical school I use the question the question technique on a daily basis. I feel that it is important to have the student come up with the right answer by guiding them with leading questions. Kind of a follow the leader excersise.
When the student askes a question in the lab I answer by asking a simple question that has direct relavance to what was asked; and lead them to the right answer.
One tip is that if they get stuck help them out to keep it moving along. A student feels pride when they realize they knew the answer, they just needed help bringing it to the surface.
Im the same way. Alot of my students ask me questions and i tell them or point them to the reference material provided by the company. They kinda get frustraed but then they find the answer and you see the light bulb come on.
Hi Jason- Yes- it's easier for us to just give our students the answers, but we teach them so much more by showing them how to find the answers themselves. Best wishes - Susan
Hmmmmmm......I use to have an instructor who would answer all questions with "look it up". I found this response to be frustrating, especially when she said this when I asked for pronounciation of a word that I had to do research on. I certainly wondered if she knew herself and felt she was taking the easy way out. Although I feel that sometimes this type of response is beneficial, I definately feel that as instructors, we are obligated to our students to provide them with answers that they may not have the time or capability of "looking up".
I totally understand what your saying but at the same time if you know for a fact that they havent even looked up and tring to use you for all the information. I try to teach my students that i wont be able to follow them into there feilds and they cant always be asking there bosses for the correct answers. Yes they get mad at me but it teaches then the importance of looking up info. If they bring me the book and they still cant find the info ill be willing to help them but i wont do the foot work for them.
Hi Jason - thanks for your post to the forum. Yes, we do need to encourage our students to take responsibilty for their own learning. As you point out we will not be holding their hands while they are working. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I have felt that level of frustration also. I think it is important to differentiate between the straigh anser questions and ones that can be fliped back to the student to maximize their ability to learn how to learn. Often the simple questions are the ones that students just want an answer too (like how to pronouce something!) and the more concept driven questions are where there is room to lead them along to their own answers.
Hi Christine- Thanks for your post to the forum. It certainly takes longer to lead students to arrive at answers themselves, but it is a much better learning exercise to do so. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I would have to agree with this response. I know that I hate when I can't answer a question off the top of my head. This is the way I look at it. If the question has been asked once then chances are its going to be asked again, I would not want to be caught off guard a second time around. Besides, if the student does the work that doesn't help me much either as an instructor. So maybe the answer is that it should be a joint effort to find the answer out.
