Video · Teachers Media
Answering Questions
How pupils answer questions in class — and how they don't — is one of the most diagnostic windows a teacher has into thinking. Getting this right isn't just about "hands up or no hands up"; it's about the whole classroom system for making thinking visible.
About this video
The default classroom questioning pattern, still common in UK schools, is: teacher asks a question, hand shoots up, teacher takes the answer, moves on. This pattern has been repeatedly shown to fail on multiple counts. Only the confident few contribute; the teacher hears the answers of the pupils who already knew; the pupils who don't know remain invisible; and the class as a whole learns that thinking is optional.
The alternatives the research supports are well-known but often unpractised: cold-calling (naming a pupil to answer, whether or not their hand is up); wait time (holding silence for 5-8 seconds after a question); all-pupil-response techniques (mini-whiteboards, ABCD cards, exit tickets) so every pupil answers every question; and structured talk in pairs before whole-class response, so pupils who wouldn't answer cold have rehearsed a thought first.
The deeper shift is cultural. Questioning is not a quiz — it's a diagnostic instrument. The point is to get evidence of what pupils think, so you can decide what to do next. That reframing changes how teachers respond to wrong answers (as information, not failure), how they design their questions (to reveal thinking, not test recall), and how they distribute participation (across everyone, not just the willing).
Questioning moves that reliably improve on hands-up
- Cold-calling. Named questions to specific pupils. Established as a norm (not as a "gotcha"), it dramatically raises attention and participation.
- Wait time. 5-8 seconds of silence after asking a question. The quality of answers rises sharply.
- Talk first, then answer. Pupils discuss in pairs for a minute, then you cold-call. Everyone has something to say.
- All-pupil-response. Mini-whiteboards or ABCD cards so every pupil shows an answer at once. You see who's got it and who hasn't.
- Probe wrong answers. "Tell me why you thought that" is more useful than "no, next?". You learn what's in the pupil's head.
Discussion prompts
- When you ask a question in class, whose voices do you actually hear — the whole class or the confident few?
- What's your relationship with silence after a question? Is 5 seconds comfortable, or do you rush to fill it?
- How do you respond to a wrong answer in a way that keeps the pupil safe to try again?
Try this in your classroom
- For a week, count silently to five after every question before taking an answer. Notice who now contributes who didn't before.
- Try cold-calling as a class norm for one week — establish it warmly, not as punishment. Watch what happens to attention.
- Bring mini-whiteboards or ABCD cards into one lesson so every pupil answers every hinge question. Note what you now know that you didn't.