THE TEACHING ECONOMIST - William A. McEachern 
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Issue 2, Spring 1991
William A. McEachern, Editor
Asking and Answering Questions
Lectures, particularly in large classes, provide few opportunities for student participation and student feedback. One obvious way to break up the lecture and to get two-way communication is with questions, both your questions to students and the students' questions of you. It is tempting but probably wrong to assume that students are learning while you are teaching. To ensure that students are really with you, pause from time to time during your presentation and ask probing questions. Frequent questions not only keep students alert, but they provide you valuable feedback on your delivery. You may think the presentation is quite clear, but if nobody in class can explain what you just said, perhaps you should rethink your approach. Just because you are speaking does not mean students are learning. Most students avoid the process of thinking unless pressed to do so.
Ask questions that let you know what the students are learning. Questions that are especially uninformative are: "Does everyone understand?" "Is that clear?" "Do you have any question?" The typical response is silence, which you incorrectly take to mean understanding. A question requiring a detailed response shows you very directly whether your message is getting across. Ask a specific question that flows from your presentation. For example, you might ask "Why does the aggregate demand curve slope downward?" Or, "Why can't firms in perfect competition earn economic profit in the long run?" Try not to rely exclusively on those same few students who usually volunteer to answer your questions. You could select names randomly as they turn up on a deck of index cards.
When you ask the class questions, you must be patient. Don't be too eager to answer your own questions. Silence is very unsettling to students, but it gets their attention and it reminds them that they have not been paying attention. If you ask a particular student a question, give that student a chance to respond, but move along to others if a response does not appear forthcoming. Don't focus on a single student for too long. The silence that follows a question posed to the entire class is different from the silence that follows the question addressed to a particular student. The first sort of silence can be healthy; the second can seem mean-spirited.
Questions from students are another good way to elicit feedback and to break up the lecture. As you know, students are often reluctant to ask questions, especially in large classes, and the comments they do make are sometimes vague and squishy. A student might say, "You lost me," or "I don't know what's going on." That sort of response is better than none, but not much better. Reviewing all you have said often wastes other students' time. Encourage students to develop the mental discipline to ask a more specific question. At what point did they get lost? What is their current understanding of some of the particular topic under discussion? Let students know that you welcome all questions, but you especially appreciate the question that specifically identifies their problem. Regardless of how poorly phrased the question, fashion it into something that will aid your presentation -- make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. And don't be too quick to show how smart you are; first see if another student can answer the question.
We usually try to make our lectures as clear and complete as possible, but a thorough lecture may crowd out student questions. If you agree that student questions add variety to your presentation, then consider leaving a few stones unturned in your lectures as a way of prompting questions. For example, in my class of 300 students, sometimes for a change of pace I present just the bones of the topic, relying on student questions to flesh out the body. Thus, rather than tell them all they need to know first time through, I keep the initial presentation relatively brief, then backfill with student questions. I am not recommending you do this all the time, nor am I suggesting that you leave out central points or points that cannot otherwise be found in the textbook. But, rather than offering a five-course meal, serve the students "lean cuisine" on occasion.