The purpose of asking follow-on questions is to force students to engage the material at a deeper level to solidify comprehension. You can refer to these question stems adapted from Bloom’s Taxonomy for examples.
Ask open-ended, probing questions to expand discussion
- “Why do you think that?”
- “[Name], let me just push you a little bit on your point – what are you basing your opinion on?”
- “Can you give me some specific examples?”
- “What are you disagreeing with exactly?”
- “Tell me more.”
Use boomerang questions - throw the question back to the student
- “[Name], what do you think? I won’t be here in 2 years to give you the answer.”
Push back on wrong answers
- “Does everyone agree?”
- “That’s not what I was looking for.”
- “Let’s talk through the rationale that got you to that answer.” (Then walk through incorrect logic that many students may have thought.)
Throw soft balls - ask easier questions to students more resistant to participate
- Ask students to summarize last class.
- Ask students to read what is on a slide.
- Rephrase the question to make it easier if the student can’t answer.
Repeat questions asked; this checks for understanding, synthesizes rambling students, and ensures rest of class heard what was said
- “Let me make sure I understand your question.”
Create a question roadmap
- Anticipate potential answers students could have and have a prepared response for each.
Mix in some closed questions - to focus the discussion and keep it moving forward
- “Do you think A or B?”
Other methods to keep the class discussion moving forward
- Ask the students to have a “Twitter discussion” (140 characters or less)
- Acknowledge raised hands and say “I see you and I’ll come back to your question.”
- “That's a great segue way into my next point.”
- “Let's use that point as a way to shift us to the next topic.”
- “That’s interesting but let’s focus on X.”
- “I’m going to bring this to a closure now.”