Questions as Evidence of Understanding

The strategy, as published

Exactly as it appears on the card

Part of Student-Generated Questions in 04 Questioning & Discussion, where it sits alongside its neighbouring strategies, the infographic and the thinking for the whole area.

Why you might use it

The problem it may help with

A student's question reveals the depth of their understanding, often more precisely than their answer to yours. Why does X cause Y? comes from somewhere different than what is X?, and the difference is diagnostic. Questions are windows.

The routine on the card is deliberately small: one written question from each student before they leave.

What it might look like

One version of it, in a classroom

At the end of a lesson on photosynthesis, every pupil writes one question. They range from what is chlorophyll again to why do plants need glucose if they are making oxygen. Read together, the pile locates the class: who is still at naming, who is connecting, and which misconception has survived the lesson.

What to notice

Reading what happens

• The level of the questions, what against why, and how it shifts across a topic.
• Pupils whose questions sit far above or below what their written work suggested.
• Which questions repeat across the class; a question many pupils ask is a teaching point, not a coincidence.

Things to think about

Before and while you use it

• The questions are only evidence if they change something. Reading them into the next lesson's plan is the other half of the routine.
• Question stems raise the quality of what pupils can ask; the two cards work together.

Related strategies

Where this connects

• ✍️ Teach Question Stems King found students trained to generate questions using stems produce richer discussion than those answering only teacher questions. Generating questions demands deeper processing. 04 Questioning & Discussion · Student-Generated Questions
• 📄 Questions That Drive Enquiry King found connecting questions to prior knowledge produces the most powerful learning. Ask students to write what they know and want to know. Their questions become the entry point. 04 Questioning & Discussion · Student-Generated Questions
• 🌧️ The Muddiest Point At lesson close, each student anonymously writes the one thing they are least clear about. The teacher addresses the most common muddy points publicly at the start of the next lesson. Two minutes; high value. 02 Formative Assessment · Students as Owners of Their Learning
• 💡 Student Generated Questions Ask students to write questions that could appear in an assessment on this topic. Collate the best and use them for review. Generating questions demands higher order thinking than simply answering them. 02 Formative Assessment · Students as Learning Resources

Technology second

Where technology fits

An approved exit ticket or response tool will gather a question from every pupil in the closing minutes, including those who would never ask one aloud, and it keeps the set in one place to read while planning what comes next. The tool manages the collecting; the reading, and deciding what to do about it, stays with you.

The wider thinking

Where the evidence sits

King's research explains why generating a question is so revealing; Wiliam's explains what to do with the evidence once you have it. The card’s attribution stands as published: King; Wiliam.

The fuller picture, sources included, is in further reading and evidence for Questioning & Discussion.