Provoking good discussions part 1: open vs closed-ended questions

Photo by Emily Morter on Unsplash

Facilitating class discussions is challenging.  As professors, we generally like to be in control, yet open discussions can be capricious, taking lives of their own, which makes them intimidating.  

Even worse, though, than a runaway discussion is the discussion that doesn't take off at all.  There is little that can make me feel more helpless as an instructor than asking the class a thought-provoking question to start a discussion only to be met with a wall of blank stares.  

It's little wonder, then, that many instructors avoid class discussions.  Filling class time with the sound of your own voice "covering the material" is safe.  It's easy.  It's even easy to rationalize given the constraints of limited class time, large class sizes, and the volume of material to cover.

It's not, however, great pedagogy.  Students learn when they have a chance to wrestle with the material, to make it personal, to hear different perspectives.  There's nothing magical about our PowerPoints or our voices.  If we only use class time to broadcast what we want students to know as they sit passively at their desks, then everyone's time would be better spent recording a video for students to watch in the comfort of their pajamas while shopping online.

The good news is that anyone can get better at leading class discussions.  Yes, there's an art to facilitation, but that shouldn't intimidate anyone.  You may not be able to paint a masterpiece right now, but your painting will no doubt improve more quickly if you learn what tools are at your disposal and how to use them.

This, then, is an installment of a series of blog posts I intend to write about facilitating class discussions.

First up, open vs closed-ended questions.

An essential skill in provoking good discussion is knowing the differences between open and closed-ended questions.  Both are useful, but they do fundamentally different kinds of work.  Just as you wouldn't usually use a pallet knife to apply watercolor paint to a canvas, you can't use a closed-ended question to do the work of an open-ended question in class discussions.

Closed-ended questions are those that invite short responses, perhaps even a single word such as a "yes" or "no".  

• How are you, today?
• What is Avagadro's number?
• Have you experienced implicit bias?

These questions serve important functions in group discussions.  They help establish rapport.  They provide low-hanging fruit to help build students' confidence.  They are quick checks for understanding.  They quickly survey class attitudes and opinions.  They identify people to call on.  They establish a framework for the discussion.  They rein in tangents.  They serve as transitions or pivot points.

By themselves, though, closed-ended questions don't invite discussion.  Indeed, they can be conversation killers.

• How are you, today?
• Good
• What is Avagadro's number?
• 6.02 x 10^23
• Have you experienced implicit bias?
• No

When you ask a question that can be answered without elaboration, most often people won't bother elaborating unless they have some intrinsic motivation to do so.  As anyone who has taught a class first thing in the morning or right before lunch or late on a Friday afternoon can attest, students often are short on intrinsic motivation.

This is where open-ended questions shine.  An open-ended question cannot be answered with a simple yes or no.  Open-ended questions invite reflection and elaboration.  Closed-ended questions can often serve as springboards into group discussions, but open-ended questions are the pool those discussions swim in. 

Consider these open-ended versions of our earlier questions:

• What are you grateful for today?
• How did Avagadro arrive at this value?
• Why do people have implicit biases?

Sure, cynical or mischievous students can still find ways to sabotage these questions, but it's usually easy to bypass their recalcitrance, often simply by acknowledging their humor and asking the question again.  The point is that open-ended questions give the conversation somewhere to go.

The next time, then, that you're at the front of the classroom, standing in silence before a wall of blank stares, consider whether you've just asked your students an open-ended or closed-ended question and whether that was the best choice in the moment.  It takes a bit of practice, but with time you'll find that asking the right type of question to provoke discussion and to keep it going will become second nature.