When is an Open Question a Good Question? Answer: When it Provides for Cohesion

From a pedagogical perspective, the accepted way in which to elicit children’s thoughts and ideas in a science classroom is by asking the pupils open questions. As the result of a survey and a series of case studies in twenty North West primary schools, this research found that open questioning was not always successful. This was especially true where these young children were not practised in answering open questions because of their age or background. This paper examines the role of cohesion in questioning using ‘flowcharts’ to illustrate its significance. Cohesion may well decide whether a child understands a question and consequently can answer in some way or fails to respond at all.