Discussion is a superb addition to any classroom.

It gives students an opportunity to develop and interrogate ideas, arguments and theories.

It allows pupils to learn from and with one another. It provides a space in which knowledge and understanding can be cultivated. And it allows misconceptions to be aired and learnt from.

It gives the teacher lots of opportunity to elicit information from their students, with this then being used to inform teaching. It fosters a sense of cooperation and shared endeavour. And it helps create a sense of community in which learning is central.

All while also developing students’ critical faculties.

Questions play a vital role in discussion. They frame, order and direct what is talked about.

And they are used by both students and the teacher once the discussion has got going.

Let us look at these two aspects in turn.

If questions are used to frame, order and direct discussion it is worth spending a little time playing around with a variety of formulations when you are planning.

This need not take long – a few minutes ought to suffice – but it will be of great benefit in the long-run. This is because the discussion which eventually ensues is likely to be better and, if it is not, you will have some alternative options available that you can try instead.

Here are some pointers on coming up with good discussion questions:

1. Think big. It is easier to start from the big picture and home in on specifics than vice versa.
2. Find something which is, or could be, at issue. This can then act as a focus point for your discussion – something that contributions can revolve around.
3. Pitch your questions carefully. Ensure pupils have sufficient knowledge and understanding to talk about them for a sustained period of time.
4. Refine your questions. Make them clear (or be ready to explain them). The exception is if you actively want a question to be ambiguous – but that will then be by choice rather than by accident.
5. Imbue your questions with purpose. Ask yourself what you want students to get out of the discussion. Develop your questions accordingly.

You and your students are likely to use a number of questions during the course of the discussion.

Here are some techniques that will prove useful for the teacher:

1. Prepare questions in advance you think will be of use.
2. Have a range of question stems or exemplar questions to hand that can be tailored to the present topic. See some of the other questioning blogs for ready-made sample questions.
3. Adopt different roles and use these to inform the types of question you ask. These can include the Socratic roles of gadfly, stingray, midwife and ignoramus or other roles such as interrogator, judge, clarifier or devil’s advocate.
4. Encourage students to ask questions of one another. For example, when a pupil has made an extended statement, ask the class what questions they might now ask that student.
5. Use a randomised system to choose who is to answer a question. This could involve pulling names out of a hat, assigning numbers to all students and then drawing one out at random, or writing your students’ names on lollipop sticks from which you then select ones at random. The advantage of using such a system is that it avoids bias in the selection of who is to answer. Therefore, it is more likely that the teacher will get a true picture of the whole class’s thinking and learning.