3) The Programmed Answer
The following are examples taken verbatim from classroom dialogues and best exemplify this third non-facilitating teaching behavior.
• "What are some of the enemies of the praying mantis? Cats kill them, don't they? How about other animals? Or insects?"
• "What reasons do you have to use that formula? Was it suggested in the homework chapter? Had you ever used it before? Or seen it used in this context?"
• "What happens when we add the sums of the rows? Do we get skewed results?"
• "Look at this shrub and tell me, what observations can you make? Do you see the dead stems? Are they damaged from insect feeding?"
The programmed answer not only deprives the respondent of expressing his own thoughts by steering him toward the answers that the questioner expects, but also conveys the message that there is really little interest in what he thinks or says. While the reasons offered by those who make a practice of this pattern are usually altruistic (i.e., "Silence