| Classroom Observation: Question 46: Who asked the first
question? If it is known, what was the first question? |
Conclusion: 73% (19) of 26 observations demonstrated a teacher or student
asking an initial question. Of these 19 observations, 84% (16) involved the teacher asking
the first question while 16% (3) involved the student asking the first question. Of these
3 initial questions asked by a student, 100% were concerned with function.
Summary of findings:
These results are based on observations in 26 classrooms. 7 of the 26
observations did not include questions: While 2 observations did not demonstrate any
questions, 5 observations involved something other than a complete lesson.
Of the 19 schools in which I observed a lesson:
- 84% demonstrated that the first question was asked by the teacher (16)
- 16% demonstrated that the first question was asked by a student (3)
Of the 16 initial questions that were asked by the teacher:
- 25% 4 questions were concerned with memory
- 25% 4 questions were concerned with identification
- 12.5% 2 questions were concerned with materials
- 12.5% 2 questions were concerned with function
- 12.5% 2 questions were open questions
- 25% 1 question was concerned with finding out about the past
- 6.25% 1 question asked the students to perform
Of the 3 initial questions asked by a student, 100% were concerned with function.
|
Questions asked by teachers:
Questions to do with memory: 4
1. "When we did about the Egyptians, we looked at a lot of stuff from the museum.
We used a special word for those things. What was that word?"
2. "The other (loan was)?"
3. "What did we have out?"
4. "What is in the box that we looked at two weeks ago?"
Questions to do with identification: 4
1. "What's this? It's from the Blackfoot tribe."
2. "Study the vehicle closely. What is it?"
3. "Where is it a picture of?"
4. "What colours can you see in the picture?"
Questions to do with materials: 2
1. "What do you have to make metal glasses comfortable?"
2. "What is copper?"
Questions to do with function: 2
1. "What might each object do?"
2. "What (force) is pulling it down?"
Questions that are more open in nature: 2
1. "What do you want to find out?"
2. "Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a soldier during World War
1 and 2?
Questions referring to finding out about the past: 1
1. "If you want to find out about the past in India what would you
do?"
Questions concerning the students' ability to perform: 1
1. "Can you sort out the buttons from the badges?"
· Questions asked by students: 3
Question to do with function:
1. "Why did they (Tudor houses) have chimneys?"
2. "Is this where they cooked it?" - a student pointed out burn marks on a
shard
3. "1988" - a student wanted to know the purpose of this number
| Classroom Observation: Question 46: Individual Schools |
Key: A "user" is a school that already uses the loan service. A
"non-user" is a school that does not currently use the loan service.
1. School A: User: Primary
Who asked the first question? If it is known, what was the first question?
There was very little language used during play with the knitted farm. Co-operation
happened spontaneously rather than through negotiation. Learning occurred through
experimentation rather than discussion.
2. School B: User: Primary
Who asked the first question? If it is known, what was the first question?
The teacher: "When we did about the Egyptians, we looked at a lot of stuff from
the museum. We used a special word for those things. What was that word?"; Student:
"Artefacts."
3. School C: User: Primary
Who asked the first question? If it is known, what was the first question?
The teacher: "What do you have to make metal glasses comfortable?"
4. School D: User: Primary
Who asked the first question? If it is known, what was the first question?
The teacher: "If you want to find out about the past in India what would you
do?"
5. School E: User: Primary
Who asked the first question? If it is known, what was the first question?
The teacher: The other (loan was)?
6. School F: User: Primary
Who asked the first question? If it is known, what was the first question?
The teacher: "What might each object do?"
7. School G: User: Primary
Who asked the first question? If it is known, what was the first question?
The teacher gave the boys a list of questions to guide them in their investigation of
WWII buttons and badges. The first question was: Can you sort out the buttons from the
badges. How many buttons and badges are there? How can you tell the difference between
them? Explain.
8. School H: User: Primary
Who asked the first question? If it is known, what was the first question?
The teacher: What can this tell us about the past?
9. School I: User: Primary
Who asked the first question? If it is known, what was the first question?
I did not see a lesson.
10. School J: User: Primary
Who asked the first question? If it is known, what was the first question?
The teacher: What did we have out?
11. School K: User: Primary
Who asked the first question? If it is known, what was the first question?
The teacher: What is copper?
12. School L: Non-user: Primary
Who asked the first question? If it is known, what was the first question?
The teacher: The first written question was "What is it?"; the first spoken
question that I heard was "What (force) is pulling it down?"
13. School M: Non-user: Primary
Who asked the first question? If it is known, what was the first question?
The teacher. He wrote out a different list of questions and activities for each loan:
· Study the vehicle closely. What is it?
· Look carefully at the collection. Draw and describe each item and what it was used for.
What is it made of?
· Look closely at the clothing. Draw and describe it. Who did the clothing belong to?
· Look in the trunk and describe each article. Who did the trunk belong to?
14. School N: Non-user: Primary
Who asked the first question? If it is known, what was the first question?
The teacher: "What do you want to find out?"
15. School O: Non-user: Primary
Who asked the first question? If it is known, what was the first question?
I was not shown a lesson.
16. School P: Non-user: Primary
Who asked the first question? If it is known, what was the first question?
I was not shown a lesson.
17. School Q: User: Secondary
Who asked the first question? If it is known, what was the first question?
The teacher: "Where is it a picture of?"
18. School R: User: Secondary
Who asked the first question? If it is known, what was the first question?
I did not see a lesson and this aspect is not recorded in the evaluation.
19. School S: User: Secondary
Who asked the first question? If it is known, what was the first question?
The only questions that I witnessed were those in the sheets that had been given to
the students. The first question the teacher wrote was: What colours can you see in the
picture?
20. School T: User: Secondary
Who asked the first question? If it is known, what was the first question?
I did not see a handling session but I did see that there was always a question on the
fliers sent to the tutor groups. Example: "What's a mortarium, rotary quern or
amphora? Don't know? Come and see a display of Roman pottery and find the answers!"
or "Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a soldier during World War 1
and 2? Come and browse through a collection of WWI and WWII artefacts and try on a WWII
gas mask!"
21. School U: User: Secondary
Who asked the first question? If it is known, what was the first question?
The section of the lesson that I saw was very quiet. The students were concentrating
on looking at the beaded patterns on the Native American artefacts as a starting point for
their studies. I did not hear any questions from the teacher or the students.
22. School V: Non-user: Secondary
Who asked the first question? If it is known, what was the first question?
A secondary student to the primary students: Why did they (Tudor house) have chimneys?
23. School W: Non-user: Secondary
Who asked the first question? If it is known, what was the first question?
The teacher's aid: "What's this? It's from the Blackfoot tribe."
24. School X: Non-user: Secondary
Who asked the first question? If it is known, what was the first question?
A student: "Is this where they cooked it?" (The student points to the
blackened part of a shard)
25. School Y: Non-user: Secondary
Who asked the first question? If it is known, what was the first question?
The teacher gave an example of a question - not a question presented to the students:
"What part of a shape was it?"
The first genuine question I heard was a student reading the museum writing on the
medieval tile: "1988?"
26. School Z: Non-user: Primary
Who asked the first question? If it is known, what was the first question?
The teacher: "What is in the box that we looked at two weeks ago?" |
