Author: Janet

Develop Mathematical Thinking
with Effective Questions
To help students build confidence and rely on their own understanding ask . . .
Why is this true?
How did you reach that conclusion?
Does that make sense?
Can you make a model or draw a picture to show that?
To help students learn to reason mathematically, ask . . .
Is that true for all cases? Explain.
Can you think of when that is not true?
How would you prove that?
What assumptions are you making?
To check student progress ask . . .
Can you explain what you have done so far? What else is there to do?
Why did you decide to use this method (operation, etc)?
Can you think of another way it would work??
Is there a more efficient strategy?
What did you notice when… ?
Do you think it would work with other numbers?
Have you thought of all the possibilities? How can you be sure?
To help students collectively make sense of mathematics,
ask . . .
What do you think about what ______ said?
Do you agree? Why or why not?
Does anyone have the same answer but a different way to explain it?
Can you convince the rest of use that your answer makes sense?
To encourage conjecturing, ask . . .
What would happen if … ? What if not?
Do you see a pattern? Can you explain the pattern?
What a re some possibilities here?
Can you predict the next one? What about the last one?

Develop Mathematical Thinking
with Effective Questions
To promote problem solving, ask . . .
What do you need to find out?
What information do you have?
What strategies are you going to use?
Will you do it mentally? With pencil and paper? With a number line?
Will a calculator help?
What tools will you need?
What do you think the answer or result will be?
To help when students get stuck, ask . . .
How would you describe the problem in your own words?
What do you know that is not stated in the problem?
What facts to you have?
How did you tackle similar problems?
Could you try it with simpler numbers? Fewer numbers?
What about putting things in order?
Would it help to create a diagram? Make a table? Draw a picture?
Can you guess and check?
Have you compared your work with anyone else? What did other members in the class try?
To make connections among ideas and applications,
ask . . .
How does this relate to…?
What ideas that we have learned before were useful in solving this problem?
Can you give me an example of … ?
To encourage reflection, ask . . .
How did you get your answer?
Does your answer seem reasonable? Why or why not?
Can you describe your method to us? Can you explain why it works?
What if you had started with… rather than…?
What if you could only use …?
What have you learned or found out today?
Did you use or learn any new words today? What do they mean?
What are the key points or big ideas in this lesson?