Enhancing Teachers’ Questioning Skills to Improve Children’s Learning and Thinking in Pacific Island Early Childhood Centres

As we move from a teacher-led mode of teaching and learning to more child-initiated approaches, questions rather than answers are imperative in shaping the socio-cognitive development of learners as they explore and make meaning in collaborative contexts. This paper outlines an action research stud...

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Main Author: Lila Mauigoa-Tekene
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Tuwhera Open Access Publisher 2006-04-01
Series:New Zealand Journal of Teachers' Work
Online Access:https://ojs.aut.ac.nz/teachers-work/article/view/487
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author Lila Mauigoa-Tekene
author_facet Lila Mauigoa-Tekene
author_sort Lila Mauigoa-Tekene
collection DOAJ
description As we move from a teacher-led mode of teaching and learning to more child-initiated approaches, questions rather than answers are imperative in shaping the socio-cognitive development of learners as they explore and make meaning in collaborative contexts. This paper outlines an action research study with 20 PacificIsland teachers held in 6 different Pacific Island early childhood centres. The participants of the study were trained on a modified model of ‘Questioning and Understanding Improves Learning and Thinking’ (QUILT) that focused on different teacher behaviours and skills in the process of questioning. Important changes in beliefs and practices were found after the intervention particularly in relation to the fostering of divergent thinking through the type of questions teachers asked and how they undertook the questioning episodes. This paper concludes that it is important to focus on promoting novice teachers’ knowledge and skills in questioning so that they can support children’s higher levels of thinking. This is especially relevant for teachers in Pacific Island early childhood centres.
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spelling doaj-art-e5249e163cd24fa0b4753a5b0377631e2025-08-20T02:32:31ZengTuwhera Open Access PublisherNew Zealand Journal of Teachers' Work1176-66622006-04-013110.24135/teacherswork.v3i1.487Enhancing Teachers’ Questioning Skills to Improve Children’s Learning and Thinking in Pacific Island Early Childhood CentresLila Mauigoa-Tekene0Manukau Institute of Technology As we move from a teacher-led mode of teaching and learning to more child-initiated approaches, questions rather than answers are imperative in shaping the socio-cognitive development of learners as they explore and make meaning in collaborative contexts. This paper outlines an action research study with 20 PacificIsland teachers held in 6 different Pacific Island early childhood centres. The participants of the study were trained on a modified model of ‘Questioning and Understanding Improves Learning and Thinking’ (QUILT) that focused on different teacher behaviours and skills in the process of questioning. Important changes in beliefs and practices were found after the intervention particularly in relation to the fostering of divergent thinking through the type of questions teachers asked and how they undertook the questioning episodes. This paper concludes that it is important to focus on promoting novice teachers’ knowledge and skills in questioning so that they can support children’s higher levels of thinking. This is especially relevant for teachers in Pacific Island early childhood centres. https://ojs.aut.ac.nz/teachers-work/article/view/487
spellingShingle Lila Mauigoa-Tekene
Enhancing Teachers’ Questioning Skills to Improve Children’s Learning and Thinking in Pacific Island Early Childhood Centres
New Zealand Journal of Teachers' Work
title Enhancing Teachers’ Questioning Skills to Improve Children’s Learning and Thinking in Pacific Island Early Childhood Centres
title_full Enhancing Teachers’ Questioning Skills to Improve Children’s Learning and Thinking in Pacific Island Early Childhood Centres
title_fullStr Enhancing Teachers’ Questioning Skills to Improve Children’s Learning and Thinking in Pacific Island Early Childhood Centres
title_full_unstemmed Enhancing Teachers’ Questioning Skills to Improve Children’s Learning and Thinking in Pacific Island Early Childhood Centres
title_short Enhancing Teachers’ Questioning Skills to Improve Children’s Learning and Thinking in Pacific Island Early Childhood Centres
title_sort enhancing teachers questioning skills to improve children s learning and thinking in pacific island early childhood centres
url https://ojs.aut.ac.nz/teachers-work/article/view/487
work_keys_str_mv AT lilamauigoatekene enhancingteachersquestioningskillstoimprovechildrenslearningandthinkinginpacificislandearlychildhoodcentres