Probably not. They are not secrets because I bet that you already know and use them daily. Can you think of a day that you haven’t asked at least one question? See, I just did it again! We use questioning every day to make sense of the world. The secret is how to apply questioning in the classroom. The definition of a question is “an expression of inquiry that invites or calls for a reply”. As a facilitator, questioning is your greatest tool to create involvement and find out what your participants know. Questioning is a skill that with some practice and strategy can be used to create discovery and learning in the classroom. Questions lead participants along the path to discovering information while acting as a catalyst to creating an ongoing dialogue in the classroom. This is no ordinary dialogue because this dialogue is being designed by the facilitator, in the moment, to cover the learning points of the module. “In the moment” means responding in real time on the spot to the unique stimulus provided. This is where you begin to create a true connection with the participants.

"Facilitation is the art and science of maximizing the moment of learning ... jumping inside their heads to uncover and explore how they make meaning from what they're learning." Bobbi De Porter, Quantum Teaching

Most think of open and closed questions when discussing questioning skills, but let’s take it a step further. I’m talking about questions that move us carefully through a learning dialogue. Break these questions into two types, lead questions and follow-up questions. In addition to your basic presentation skills, questioning, along with listening are critical to the success of any facilitator. Listening is vital to an instructor’s ability to craft appropriate lead and follow-up questions. Although the facilitator may have an idea of what the response might be, they must still listen to the participant to ensure their understanding of what was said. This step cannot be skipped. If the facilitator’s follow-up question is off point or not connected to the response, the facilitator will look like they are not connected and not engaged.

Lead Questions may be provided by the ...