Team Learning

Active Learning In Virtual Environment Reciprocal Questioning

Snowball Technique

Activity:#in-class/short-term,#group-work,#needs-preparation

In reciprocal questioning technique students take the role of the teacher. Students are given some materials to read and afterwards, they should come up with a list of questions. The teacher then answers students’ questions. This task benefits students’ comprehension of a subject. Firstly, students have to deeply analyze the reading selection in order to produce “teacher” questions. Secondly, as the teacher answers the questions, it reinforces the learning process^[1]. It should be noted that this strategy does not fit all subject areas. For example, Math is a subject that requires exact answers rather than interpretation. Therefore, this technique should be used in reviewing reading and writing assignments.^[2]

• divide class into small groups and give them a section to read
• explain the task to them: students should read the sections and write down questions for the teacher
• set an exact time to complete the task
• let groups collect all the questions and present a list of final questions
• the spokesperson of the groups asks questions to the teacher
• the teacher answers the questions
• ask students to recognize the strategies they used in writing the questions^[3]

Note that this activity can be assigned as an individual task as well.

• improves questioning, reasoning and reading comprehension skills
• encourages thinking skills
• learning in stress-free environment
• students learn to use meta-cognition^[4]

To use this activity as a group assignment, students can be divided intoZoom breakout rooms orGoogle Meet breakout rooms. Then, students can use a shared Google document to list their questions. In the main session, students present their questions to the teacher.

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