Title: Questioning profiles in secondary science classrooms

Authors: Patricia Almeida, Francisle Neri de Souza

Addresses: Research Centre for Didactics and Technology in Teacher Education (CIDTFF), Department of Education, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitario de Santiago, Aveiro, 3810-193, Portugal. ' Research Centre for Didactics and Technology in Teacher Education (CIDTFF), Department of Education, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitario de Santiago, Aveiro, 3810-193, Portugal

Abstract: In this paper, we are concerned with the role of both teachers and students| questioning in classroom interaction. Bearing in mind that the current guidelines point out to student-centred teaching, our aim is to analyse and characterise the questioning patterns of contemporary secondary science classes and compare them to the questioning profiles found some decades ago, when teacher-centred strategies were prevalent. Data was collected by audio recording one class for each teacher (two chemistry and physics teachers participated in this study) and by interviewing each one. The overall results suggest that both teachers and students questioning profiles are similar to the ones reported in the literature along the last decades and, ultimately, not promoting the desirable students| active learning.

Keywords: active learning; classroom questioning; questions; Portugal; private schools; questioning profiles; questioning patterns; questioning styles; science education; secondary teaching; teachers; physics; chemistry; secondary science classrooms; classroom interaction; student-centred teaching; teacher-centred strategies; change; challenges.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLC.2010.035833

International Journal of Learning and Change, 2010 Vol.4 No.3, pp.237 - 251

Published online: 05 Oct 2010 *

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