Questioning skills for conceptual change in science instruction

Science teachers ask questions to assess students' cognitive abilities and to promote student motivation in learning. Cognitive questions are usually divided into low-order and high-order types. According to the conceptual change model of learning, teachers can also use questions to facilitate the construction of knowledge by students. These ‘conceptual-change’ questions may be used to: probe students' conceptions; challenge students to resolve inconsistent views; guide students to establish relationships between existing knowledge and a new concept; and help students apply a newly acquired concept to different situations. The present study explores the impact of an initial teacher education programme with a strong focus on a conceptual change model of science instruction. Based on classroom observations, the types of questions asked by a group of teachers enrolled in this programme are reviewed, with special attention to the questions that aim at inducing conceptual change in students. Examples of low-order, high-order and conceptual-change questions are quoted to illustrate the variety of questions asked by the subjects.