How can we ask questions that make students think rather than just remember?
Math is a particularly tricky subject for asking higher-level questions. Here are a couple of techniques I've used to prompt students to think, not merely calculate.
High-level questions on their own simply aren't enough. We must create sequences of questions!
Use these puzzling images to build a classroom culture that is comfortable with curiosity, ambiguity, and taking intellectual risks.
What would the pie chart look like for these three situations: the teacher asks the students, a student asks the teacher, or a student asks another student a question? I can tell you my pie chart would have been very lopsided.
Fixing an under-developed (but interesting) task that was originally part of a choice menu.
How to improve questions at the "evaluate" level of Bloom's Taxonomy.
I update an old question about conflict and character change in the story Hatchet.
How I'd improve a low-level question about a story's genre.
How much time do students get to think? How much time do students need to think? How can we bring those into alignment?
So students can identify a simile, metaphor, and hyperbole. What next?
How I'd upgrade a dull "which one is better" question.
How I'd update a low-level, overly engaging math question.
How I'd break down and rebuild a task about judging a volcano.
This task is all about the product, but completely ignores how students will think.