Questions often come in a series during a lesson.

Examples of this include when the teacher is questioning learners one-on-one, when they are leading a discussion or when they set some written work.

Developing a series of questions in advance has a distinct advantage.

It gives the teacher time and space to consider how best to move learners’ learning forward from a particular starting point.

Here are three examples to demonstrate.

Planning a series of questions for use in a one-on-one setting

Let us imagine that you have a particularly able learner in one of your classes.

This learner completes work quickly and correctly and always gets onto the extension tasks.

You decide that, while other learners are finishing the main task, you would like to question them one-on-one to challenge and stretch their thinking.

You have noticed that, although the learner is very able, they do not necessarily go beyond the information given and think ‘outside of the box’.

Your questioning will focus on encouraging them to do this.

The topic is the Industrial Revolution.

Learners have been set the task of analysing three sources – one from a child labourer, one from a factory owner and one from a member of parliament.

You might plan the following series of questions to use with the learner who is particularly able:

• How could we argue that the three sources are biased?
• What do we mean by the word ‘bias?’
• Is it possible for any source to be free of bias? Why?
• With these three sources here, would it be possible to eliminate bias?
• Have you been biased when writing about the sources? How do you know?
• Would it be a problem if you were biased? Why?
• Why might a historian be criticised for being biased?
• If a historian wrote without any bias, would it not just be a succession of facts?

You will note that the concept of bias has been fixed on and that the teacher is encouraging the learner to interrogate this (and, in the process, their own understanding).

The questions follow a clear line of development. They move from a starting point connected to the three sources, to a much more abstract and speculative position.

This results in the level of challenge gradually rising through the course of the questioning.

Planning a series of questions for use in a discussion

Let us imagine you are starting a new topic with your class.

You decide to show them a short film containing information about various elements of the topic.

This will be a stimulus for discussion. You plan to start learners off in pairs and to then build up to a whole-class discussion.

The topic is human rights and the questioning might be as follows:

Questions to discuss in pairs:

• Why might the film have been made?
• What did you think about the film?
• Which bits of the film did you think were most interesting and why?

Questions to discuss as a whole class:

• What do we already know about human rights?
• What might the film clip have to do with human rights?
• If you were making a film about human rights, what might you include in it?
• What questions do you have about human rights?
• How might we try and answer these questions during the unit of work?

You will note that the questions for the pairs are designed to draw out learner responses whereas the questions for the whole class are intended to build up a picture of learners’ knowledge concerning human rights.

By planning two such series in advance, you can consider how the first connects to the second – the paired discussion is thus made into a platform for the group discussion, with the two together forming a starting point for the unit of work as a whole.

Planning a series of questions for use in written work

Let us imagine that you are setting learners an assessment.

This is to be based on their previous six weeks of study, during which they have learnt about pacifism and religion.

The assessment might consist of a series of questions such as the following:

1. What does pacifism mean?
2. Can you give two examples of pacifism?
3. Why might people decide to be pacifists?
4. What religious beliefs might lead people to become pacifists?
5. Can you give two examples of how pacifism has led to changes in the world?
6. Why might religious believers disagree about whether you should be a pacifist or not?
7. Why might someone argue that pacifism brings you closer to God?
8. Do you agree with the arguments from the previous question? Why?
9. Why might some religious believers argue that pacifism is a bad thing?
10. ‘Everyone who is religious should be a pacifist.’ Do you agree or disagree? Why might someone think differently to you?

You will note that the difficulty level of the questions increases.

The later ones are more demanding and require learners to manipulate concepts, make accurate use of their knowledge and develop reasoned arguments – with which they may or may not agree.

In addition, the later questions are more discursive, giving learners the opportunity to develop their thinking in depth and to demonstrate their understanding of the topic.

The key point made by the example is that a series of written questions can be underpinned by a larger purpose. This cannot be achieved with a single question.

Considering in advance what that purpose is makes the planning of such a series simpler.

It also leads to greater coherency – which is of benefit to teachers and learners alike.