Crafting+Good+Questions

==Directions: Review this information about crafting questions online and select two ideas that you can use to improve your questioning techniques online. Post your ideas on this page. Please include your name in your post.== Image: ia.wikipedia.org

Crafting precise questions is incredibly important to help students exhibit their knowledge effectively. For example, the question provided in the samples from the Penn State web page," Consider the recent natural disasters. Discuss the changes we may expect if many tornadoes strike Kansas and Oklahoma in the near future." may be too vague for use in certain classrooms. We discussed the need to be extremely specific (especially for our sixth graders) to avoid confusion and elicit detail from students. A way to rephrase the above question might be:

Discuss two specific changes to the natural environment that might occur if many tornadoes strike Kansas and Oklahoma in the next three years. Provide at least two details about each change that explains what the long term effects of this change might be.

Providing students an example of a well crafted answer is incredibly helpful to guide students in their attempts to answer the question.

Distinctions between types of questions, based on Bloom's Taxonomy are presented which is very helpful. For example, crafting questions to elicit analytical knowledge are different from those designed to elicit factual knowledge.

Considerations when crafting questions include time factors, management, difference between online and face to face interactions, knowledge of technology, student teams and contact among class members.