Effective questioning skills are essential for any educator to master. Effective questions help determine prior knowledge students have about a subject. They also help teachers develop higher-level thinking skills in their students. Through creative use of questions, teachers can emphasize points and stimulate interest in a topic. Developing effective questioning techniques requires planning and practice.

Preparation and Environment.
In order to be effective in your questioning skills, you first must inform students of the objectives, expectations and format of the questions. This will allow students to be prepared to answer your questions. Create a nonthreatening environment where students are free to answer questions. Establish a good rapport with students. Take all answers in a supportive way; however, make sure that you follow up incorrect answers with follow-up questions so the student learns from their incorrect answer. Ask preplanned questions that focus directly on the objectives of the lesson. Also ask questions that delve deeper into the subject and help develop students' higher-level thinking skills. Provide students with an appropriate wait time before taking answers from either a volunteer or a student you choose. Wait time allows students to think and formulate their answers. Avoid trick questions. Phrase all questions carefully to avoid confusion.

Types of Questions
It is important that when questioning your students you use a variety of types of questions. Open-ended questions are used to draw out more information from them. The question is phrased in such a manner that students are free to give their opinion and make connections. Closed-ended questions are used to get a direct answer. Many close-ended questions are used to establish prior knowledge and asked as leading questions. Probing questions are used as "emerging" questions: they are used to dig deeper into the topic. As a teacher, you can use extension questions that require your students to elaborate on a previous answer. Prompting is encouraged when a student does not answer the question or to lead students through a thinking process. You can also ask students to justify their answers with evidence and prior knowledge. Questions you ask students should represent all levels of Bloom's Taxonomy to ensure full understanding, application and synthesis of knowledge.