Module III methods/Strategies of Teaching History

3.0 
 Questioning Technique and Simulation. 
3.1 
The Questioning Technique 
Questioning is the art of asking for information. Put in another way, it can be referred to as a 
way and manner one clarifies certain issue at stake. Questioning technique is very important 
in a teaching situation. The importance of this technique cannot be over-emphasized. Indeed, 
the success of teaching history depends to a great extent upon our skill in questioning. Good 
questions direct students thinking and learning. 
History teachers should use the questioning technique together with other methods of 
teaching discussed earlier. Questions to be asked must interest the students; they must not be 
ambiguous, they should be logical; they should not be too easy or difficult and they should 
be treated from simple to complex. 
3.2 
Purpose of Questioning
Every teacher asks questions at one stage or another in the course of his lesson. Have you 
ever taken time to ask? Why do teachers and students ask questions during any lesson? 
Questions serve different purposes in teaching and we must be aware of these purposes so as 
to identify when to ask questions and what type of questions to ask. The under listed are 
some of the purposes of questioning. 

Finding out the level of our learners on the topic to be taught. This type of
question is asked often at the beginning of the lesson to identify how much of 
the topic of the lesson the learners can conceptualized before going into the 
main teaching. This in other words refers to the entry behaviour of the 
learners. 

Reminding the pupils what they have learned previously: this type of question
is also asked at the beginning of the lesson to identify how much the learners 
can remember from the previous lesson. This will surely awaken the students’ 
interest and command attention. 

Developing a line of thought. These types of questions are always arranged in
an array and are of real value in helping the learners to arrange, connect and 
relate facts, to form a flow of thought. 

Making learners to use their knowledge. Having taught a lesson, a teacher
may want to know whether or not the learners can make use of the new 
knowledge acquired and so may pose questions accordingly. 

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