Carol Sanford

The Role of Questioning

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The Role of Questioning in a Learning Process: A Typology of Inquiry Methods and Results


Mahfauz, the Egyptian Nobel Laureate said, "you can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions." And Albert Einstein said, "the important thing is not to stop questioning." Questioning is a critical part of learning. But in recent years, questioning in a learning forum has been turned, in some settings, into a process that may distract from learning rather than foster learning. It has become a tool frequently associated with "something done by one group to another group" as a way to test their acceptability for progression along a pre-defined path that is to be the benchmark against which everyone is judged.

This form of questioning comes from a particular learning theory or philosophy which grew out of educators' need to grade students relative to one another and to set standards that allowed rating and ranking. It has been challenged by many educators, such as Holt, Montessori, Waldorf to name a few. This paper is to articulate a typology of inquiry along with the methods and impact of each on learning and to provide a basis for evaluating the use of each in a given situation. 15 pgs 

 

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