There are two kinds of questions: closed and open. Closed questions check whether students have learned or remembered specific information. They require a factual answer and leave little or no room for dissent. The answer is either correct or incorrect. Closed questions are important for students, but it is also important that your questioning activities do not stay entirely within the closed question areas. Open-ended questions, on the other hand, require more complex responses and can stimulate lively class discussion because they give students opportunities to express ideas, draw inferences, and contribute their own opinions.
Use closed questions to check the retention of previously learned information and to focus thinking on a particular point or commonly held set of ideas.
Pose questions for which there are a limited number of acceptable responses or right answers.
What is the chemical formula for water?
What happened when you switched from low to higher power magnification?
What are plant cell walls made of?