An Evaluation of Teachers' Questions in Terms of Socratic Inquiry Technique

Abstract

This study examines the verbal questions classroom teachers ask in life sciences, Turkish language, science and technology, mathematics and social studies lessons in terms of universal intellectual standards of Socratic inquiry. The study was designed as a descriptive survey model based on a content analysis of a qualitative research model. The participating teachers Were observed for 482 hours during lessons, and, the questions they asked during the lessons were recorded to unstructured observation forms. A total of 4731 out of 6389 questions recorded, throughout the observations were found relevant to the content of the lessons taught. As a result, most of the verbal questions (97.17%). classroom teachers ask during lessons do not meet the universal intellectual standards of Socratic inquiry, and teachers ask very few questions (2.83%) that further prompt student responses according to Universal intellectual standards of Socratic inquiry.