Questions in the primary science classroom – a video-based observational study exploring students´ questions in terms of teaching quality

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Thilo Kleickmann; Professorin Dr. Susanne Miller
• Subject Area: General and Domain-Specific Teaching and Learning
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 517826327

The relevance of content-related and interest-led students´ questions for individual learning processes is indisputable and regarded to be fundamental for student-centered learning. In current educational research, students' questions represent one possible indicator for cogni-tive activation as well as constructive support - both pivotal for teaching quality. Despite the value of students’ questions from a theoretical and didactical perspective, the empirical re-search on questioning within the primary classroom is limited. Deducing research results from secondary school both the quantity and quality of questions posed by students are rather low: Students ask few questions opposed to teachers and those questions raised are mostly with regards to process and organization. Potential interrelations between central dimensions of teaching quality and student questioning have not yet been examined. The objective of the planned observational study is to examine students' questioning in the primary science classroom. Due to the range of conducive question-led conceptions and the proximity to fundamental primary principles in the science classroom, the focus will be on science lessons in third and fourth grades. By recording the quantity, type and level of questions asked in centralized organizational forms in the science classroom, the project aims to provide an empirical basis for students' questioning in the primary science classroom. In addition to the descriptive perspective, the analysis of potential interrelations between teaching quality dimensions (classroom manage-ment, constructive student support (both cognitive and emotional), and cognitive activation as well as teachers´ questions) and students' questioning is of central interest. The data gathered will be used to identify predictors for (high-quality) questioning in the primary classroom. The methodical approach is based on quantitative observations of videotaped science prima-ry school lessons (sample=140). Quantity, type and level of questions posed will be gathered, while dimensions of teaching quality will be examined through highly inferential ratings. In ad-dition to descriptive statistics evaluations, path analyses are performed to examine possible predictors on students questioning. The project aims to make a contribution to the debate on teaching quality by providing empiri-cal insights in response to normative demands of question-centered teaching. The results and findings attained constitute an indispensable empirical basis for further applied research, e.g., considering the establishment of a “culture of questioning” in the primary classroom.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants