This thesis is concerned with posing questions as common and important activity of teachers, by which knowledge and any potential of misunderstanding of the subject matter is checked. It strengthens the explanation of new subject matter, examines and encourages transfer of learning of already acquired knowledge to new subject matter during Science and Technology classes. The studies found that teachers pose several hundred questions every day, but the types of questions are primarily on the lower levels of Bloom’s taxonomy, while those on the higher levels are somewhat neglected. Since in Slovenia there hasn’t been any detailed studies concerning what questions teachers pose, what strategy they use and on what level they pose the most questions at Science and Technology classes in 4th and 5th grade of primary school, we have decided to make a further investigation into the said area and make an analysis of state.
In this thesis, we attempted to identify the predominant types of questions used by the 4th and 5th grade primary school teachers during Science and Technology classes, and classify them according to a revised Bloom’s taxonomy, using quantitative and qualitative research methodology and methodological triangulation. We specifically identified the frequency of usage for each level of questions and researched the teacher’s approaches to lesson planning – preparing the questions, their role and purpose, their attitude towards questioning, their awareness and their strategy for posing questions. We gathered the data by structured observation of 9 teachers, two classroom lessons for each, by analysing lesson plans, through a structured interview and through a survey.
The results of research showed that during Science and Technology classes 4th and 5th grade teachers mostly pose questions of lower taxonomy levels. Concerning the lesson planning to Science and Technology classes we have discovered that teachers do plan the questions in advance, however at a lower level. Teachers do not prepare questions in advance other than writing them down in the lesson plan, instead they usually think of them during lesson. Primary strategy of posing questions by the teachers is developed well enough, however we have found an inconsistency between the assessment of teachers and the actual situation in the classroom, viz. teachers asses that they mostly use questions of open type but the data gathered by observations show otherwise. Teachers usually pose questions to the whole class and rarely to individuals or smaller groups. Teachers agree that questions at Science and Technology classes play a different role than at the other subjects and think it possible to (further) acquire the strategy of posing questions.
|
