A Tool for Rethinking Questioning

A Tool for Rethinking Questioning

Sue Pawula

Summary

NCTM wants teachers to create classrooms where mathematical discourse elicits students’ thinking and reasoning to form viable arguments and judge the reasoning of their peers.  A tool to assist in this is the Cognitive Rigor Matrix exhibited and explained in this article.  The CRM should help math teachers analyze and reflect on the type of questions they pose to students.  The CRM is designed to promote and develop higher-order thinking and inquiry in students through use of purposeful questioning and mathematical task design.

This matrix is composed of a two-dimensional structure that incorporated the cognitive dimension of the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy on one axis and Webb’s Depth of Knowledge (DOK) on the other axis.  The Bloom’s levels are rated in difficulty from the basic to the higher level as: remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, and create.  The DOK’s levels are rated in difficulty from the basic to the higher level as: recall and reproduction, basic skills and concepts, strategic thinking and reasoning, and extended thinking.  The authors suggest that the process of question placement within the matrix is a practice that mathematics teachers should deliberate and think deeply about, in so far as their intent and implementation of the questioning practices.  They further suggest that to be effective, it is advisable that teachers work with a colleague, math team, or instructional coach in order to facilitate the process before proceeding individually.  Further suggestions were: 1) peer observations or video recoding lesson with questioning activities, 2) writing out questions, before teaching, that target a variety of cells in the matrix and having that matrix on hand during the lesson, 3) role-playing with colleagues different scenarios involving this type of questioning, and 4) providing feedback to student responses and solutions that apply to the process and not the product or person.  This two-dimensional matrix incorporates a range of depth to help view and focus question design to improve and engage students to think rigorously mathematically.

Reflection

This was a very thought provoking article about how to elevate questioning in the classroom.  The matrix is an awesome tool that will help teachers become more adept in creating higher-order questioning in their classrooms.  The levels on it allow the teacher to increase and elevate students thinking levels as they see the need and the competence in their students.  The CRM not only targets student growth but also facilitates teacher growth since teachers will increase their thinking and knowledge of their students as they proceed through the question creation process.  This is a very important article and needs to be shared not only in the math community but also across the educational spectrum.  The suggestions by the authors for teacher interaction would make excellent professional development interactions in our schools.  I can’t wait to use it and share it with my colleagues.

Simpson, A., Mokalled, S., Elllenburg, L. A., & Che, S. M. (2014/2015).  A tool for rethinking questioning. Mathematics Teaching in the middle school, 20(5), 294-301.