THE ART OF

QUESTIONING IN
MATH

Goals
To identify challenges in word problems.
To increase understanding of
questioning strategies to facilitate
student understanding in word
problems.
To examine questions that encourage
critical thinking.
To create questions that increase
student understanding specifically in
their current math unit.

Thinking About
Questions
Read the sample questions and
classify each question as one
that encourages dialogue or
leads to a dead end in dialogue.
Draw a box around the word(s)
that provide a clue to your
decision for classifying each
question.

A Closer Look at
Word Problems
Daniel bought 1 pound of jelly beans and 2
pounds of chocolates for $2.00. A week
later, he bought 4 pounds of caramels and 1
pound of jelly beans, paying $3.00. The next
week, he bought 3 pounds of licorice, 1
pound of jelly beans, and 1 pound of
caramels for $1.50. How much would he
have to pay on his next trip to the candy
store if he bought 1 pound of each of the 4
kinds of candy?

What are the

roadblocks to
solving word
problems for
students?

Roadblocks to Discussion
Do you have any questions?
Does someone know if . . .
Can anyone here give me an
example of . . .
OK, who wants to tell me about . . .

Questioning Strategies
Open/Closed-ended
Funnel
Probing

Making Math
Comprehensible
Ask questions to gather important
information for each sentence.
Write down mathematical concepts.
Transfer mathematical concepts into
mathematical representations and
procedures.

Framework for Analyzing Word Problems

Guiding Questions, Language Demand, and Tasks for Teachers
A. Clauses and Relevant Information
Clause

B.

C.

Relevant
Information
Provided
Information Provided and Mathematical Concepts

Information
Mathematical
Provided
Concepts
Information Provided, Mathematical Concepts, and Mathematical Representations
and Procedures
Clause 1:

Infor 2:Mathe
Clause
matio matical
n
Conce
Provi
pts
ded

Claus

Mathematical
Representations
and Procedures

Summary
The types of questions used are
important to facilitating dialogue in
a classroom.
Use questioning strategies to make
word problems comprehensible.
Students should write down
information that they gather from
each sentence prior to writing a
mathematical representation.