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When it comes to learning, there are new things that are being discovered each day as to what can promote the best learning for students. Studies have been done proving that many different things such as the environment and the individual as a learner can have an effect on how information is processed. Research has shown that the way a learner obtains information is based on the way they think and arrange their thoughts and information. Because of this research, many new learning strategies have been created which focus on developing students cognitive and metacognitive skills; i.e how they think and how they organize their thoughts. One of the new learning strategies that have been developed as a result of this research is Self Questioning.
What Self Questioning is and How it is used as a Learning Strategy
Self Questioning is a learning strategy that focuses on concept comprehension by utilizing questions that are generated directly from the student/learner. Although most studies focus on the benefits of self questioning in the subject of reading, this strategy can be used just as effectively in all areas of learning such as science, math, and social studies. Self questioning can be used before learning a subject, during the actual learning, and after the learning is complete. These steps can also be labeled as planning, monitoring, and evaluating a task (Hartman,2001).
By student generated questions, what is meant is that during the planning, monitoring, and evaluating of a task students are covertly asking themselves questions that they have formulating by themselves. Some general questions that can be asked as an example of how self questioning is used are: “What do I already know?”, this is a
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question that would be asked before the task begins, “Do I understand what is going on thus far?”, this is effective to ensure comprehension during the task, and finally, “What new information did I learn?”, this can be...
