Questions are one of the most effective weapons in a teacher's arsenal. They can be designed to stimulate curiosity, provoke ideas, clarify concepts and challenge beliefs. Students develop their learning and thinking skills when exposed to the right set of questions. It is therefore vital for teachers to assess their current questioning techniques. Feedback from students can help teachers initiate action to foster a spirit of inquiry and challenge in the classroom.

Prepare a questionnaire that seeks student feedback on your questioning technique. Include queries to check if your questions promote recall of knowledge or understanding of concepts. Ask for feedback on whether you try to include all students or direct questions to particular students only. Have students express how they feel when you direct a question at them. Ask about whether they see you waiting patiently for an answer or feel you are in a hurry to move on to the next point.

Study the feedback you receive to understand how students perceive your questioning technique. Be mentally prepared for a view that's quite different from your own assessment. Analyze the feedback with objectivity and without getting emotional, and identify areas for improvement.

Check to see if students have expressed a sense of feeling pressured to answer fast. If this is the case, increase the time you give them to formulate an answer. Research shows that a wait time of three to five seconds can cause a significant increase in the quality of answers. Most teachers allow just one second between asking the question and accepting an answer. Make a habit of mentally counting five seconds before passing the question to another student or answering it yourself.

Ask open-ended questions that encourage the student to expand on the topic. Use a lot of questions along the lines of "Why do you say that?," "How do you understand that?," "What examples lead you to believe that?" and "Can you tell me more about this?"

Avoid concentrating on students you know are capable of giving the answer. Structure a few questions in a manner to elicit the right answer from students with lower ability. Address these questions to specifically such students and give them enough time to answer. Do this on a regular basis to help such students get more involved with learning.

Change the timing of your questions. With younger students or those with lower ability, restrict questions to material that they have studied. With higher ability or older students, ask questions even before they learn the material, as this will help them improve their thinking and inquiry skills.