Most of the clinical teaching methods suggested require fairly sophisticated questioning techniques. Good questions actively engage the students brain, increase attention and are an important method for helping students recall, and reorganize information. To ease students into this technique, you might start by saying " The first question I would ask myself is ...", thereby, intentionally role modeling your thinking process.

The following table will help you select question stems according to the level of objective you wish to achieve. The further down the list, the more complex the level of thinking required. To watch a video about questioning techniques in medicine, see The Practical Prof.

To read an example of using questions, see Discovery Based Learning.

Level of Objective	Question Stem
Organizing Arranging Information	What conclusions have you reached about...? In your own words...? How else might you...? Show how...? How would you compare ... to ...? Why did .... cause...?
Applying Demonstrating prior knowledge within a new situation	What evidence is there that ...? In what ways might ...? Give some instances of ...? What would result if ...? Compare...? Contrast...? Where else might you use...?
Analysing Examining parts and relationships	What are the functions of...? What is the motive of ...? How would you classify..? What justifies...? What inference are you making about..? What assumptions are you making? How is this different from...?
Integrating Connecting and combining information	How many ways can you think of to...? What would the result be if...? What treatment plan would you suggest? What would you do if...? What if...?
Evaluating Assessing quality or reasonableness	Should ____ be permitted to...? Evaluate whether you would do ... or ...? Was it right or wrong for ...? Explain? What is the most important ...? Why? Which of the following...? How effective was...? Which of the following...?
Generating Producing new information, meaning, ideas	If you had been ..., what would you have done differently? How many ways can you think of to...? What would happen if...? How would you improve...? What changes would you make ...? How does .... see this problem?
Metacognition Thinking about how you are thinking Reflection Critiquing the evidence Examine the steps used to reach a conclusion Examine the Paradox	What might you have done differently? How do we know that the evidence we used has validity? Is there an assumption being made that gets in the way of understanding X? If there are two opposing approaches to this issue, how can we find a middle ground?

Question Do Nots

Questions at this level are about helping learners to improve clinical reasoning skills, not about assessing who is the best resident.

• Don't ask people to read your mind.
• Don't ask a junior student to answer after a senior resident has been incorrect.
• Don't ask impossible questions in front of the patient because you want to show learners how little they know.
• Don't use questions to humiliate anyone including patients and house staff; students will avoid answering questions or develop bullying techniques themselves.
• Don't use questions to reward your favourite student; it destroys teamwork and encourages destructive competition.
• Don't ask questions to show how intelligent you are.

Resources
Teaching on the run tips 7: effective use of questions
6 Types of Socratic Questions

Thinker's keys

The thinker's keys are a range of question starters developed by Tony Ryan in 1990. They are designed to engage and motivate students in divergent thinking activities and provide a framework for teachers when developing units of work. The thinkers keys include:

• the reverse – name 10 things you cannot eat
• the what if? – what if the sun stopped shining?
• the alphabet – compile a list of words on a topic from A to Z
• the BAR – make an item bigger, add something to it, replace something on it
• the combination – list the attributes of two dissimilar objects. Combine all the attributes to make a single object
• the disadvantages – choose an item and list all of its disadvantages
• the different uses – find 10 uses for empty plastic yoghurt containers
• the prediction – predict what children will be like in 10 years
• the picture – draw a simple diagram and students work out how to link it to the topic
• the ridiculous – make a ridiculous comment that would be impossible to implement and then attempt to substantiate it.

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