Examples: What happens when you tell a lie? What do you do when you go to bed? What did Abel have that Cain did not? What is the new name that is promised to him that overcometh? What do we become when we are baptized?

(2) The question should be so put as to stimulate real thought. The pupil should be compelled to go to his ideas for the answer.

(a) Avoid questions that suggest the answer in any such way that it comes as the result of the merely mechanical working of the laws of association.

Yes-and-no questions are usually to be avoided for this reason, though they are sometimes perfectly legitimate. The test is-do they make the pupil think?

"Nineteen such questions out of twenty carry their own answers in them; for it is almost impossible to propose one without revealing, by the tone and inflection of the voice, the kind of answer you expect. For example: Is it right to honor our parents? Did Abraham show much faith when he offered up his son? Do you think the author of the Psalms was a good man? Were the Pharisees really lovers of truth? Questions like these elicit no thought whatever; there are but two possible answers to each of them, and of these I am sure to show, by my manner of putting the question, which one I expect. Such questions should therefore, as a general rule, be avoided, as they seldom serve any useful purpose, either in teaching or examining. For every question, it must be remembered, ought to require an effort to answer it; it may be an effort of memory, or an effort of imagination, or an effort of judgment, or an effort of perception; it may be a considerable effort or it may be a slight one; but it must be an effort; and a question which chal`lenges no mental exertion whatever, and does not make the learner think, is worth nothing."*

"Pumping" questions appeal to mere mechanical memory or to guessing. Example: James and John were-? Brothers. And they were sons of -? Thunder. No, they were called that; but they were really the sons of Z-? Zacchæus. No, Zeb-? Zebedee.

When two or more words go together to form one idea, they should not be broken apart, putting one in the question to suggest the other in the answer. Examples: What did Samuel offer when he went to Jesse's home? Sacrifice. What did Jesus cast out? Demons. What

* Fitch: "The Art of Questioning," pp. 68, 69.

!

did Jesus break with His disciples Bread. What did He give first? Thanks.

The question should not be asked in the same words that were used for the original presentation of the truth asked for; nor should the teacher ever be content to get back an answer in the same words that he used to impart it. Such an exercise proves that the pupil caught the words of the teaching, but it does not show that he got the idea. Put the question in terms that cannot subconsciously suggest the words needed to meet it; insist that the pupil answer in language of his own. One application of this principle must be made explicit. Do not use the words of Scripture in your questions. Sir Joshua Fitch gives so good an illustration that we must quote it at length:

"A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Some teachers would proceed to question thus: Who is this parable about? A certain man. Where did he go from? Jerusalem. Where to? Jericho. What sort of people did he fall among? Thieves. What did they do with his raiment? Stripped him of it. What did they do with the man himself? Wounded him. In what state did they leave him? Half dead. Observe here that the teacher has covered the whole area of the narrative, and proposed a question on every fact; so far he has done well. But it is to be noticed that every question was proposed as nearly as possible in the words of the book, and required for its answer one (generally but one) of those words. Now it is very easy for a boy or girl, while the echoes of the Bible narrative just read still linger in the ear, to answer every such question by rote merely, with scarcely any effort of memory, and no effort of thought whatever. ... Let us go over the same subject again, first introducing it by one or two preliminary questions; for example: Who used these words? To whom were they spoken? Why were they uttered? Repeat the question which the lawyer asked. What is the parable about? A man who went on a journey. What do you call a man who goes on a journey? A traveler. In what country was the man traveling? Judea. Let us trace his route on the map. In what direction was he traveling? Eastward. Through what kind of country? (Here the teacher's own information should supply a fact or two about its physical features.) What should you suppose

from the lesson was the state of the country at that time? Thinly peopled; road unfrequented, etc. How do you know this? Because he fell among thieves. Give another expression for 'fell among.' Happened to meet with. Another word for 'thieves.' Robbers. How did the robbers treat this traveler? They stripped him of his raiment. What does the word 'raiment' mean? Clothes. Besides robbing him of his clothes, what else did they do? Wounded him. Explain that word. Injured him; hurt him very much, etc. How do you know from the text that he was much hurt? They left him half dead. They almost killed him. Now observe here that the aim has been twofold. First, not to suggest the answer by the form of the question. Hence another sort of language has been adopted, and the children have therefore been made to interpret the Biblical language into that of ordinary life. Secondly, not to be satisfied with single words as answers, especially with the particular word which is contained in the narrative itself, but always to translate it into one more familiar."*

(b) Be careful not to encourage guessing. Questions that suggest their own answers are one extreme; questions so vague that the answer must be guessed at are the other. Either is destructive of real thought. Look carefully to the form of the question. Make it perfectly definite and unequivocal. It should permit of but one correct answer. Yet if that answer be not forthcoming, it is idle to keep putting the question in the hope that repetition may coax it out. And it is worse than idle to reject an answer that is honest and partly right, just because it does not chance to be the one of which you are thinking. Teachers exist who have been known to say, "Yes, you are right; but it is not the answer that I have in mind." "Yes, that is true; but it is not what I meant." Pupils are not mind readers. Make your question express what you mean; do not compel them to guess at it. The class so treated will soon get into the habit, when a question is asked, of wondering what the teacher wants them to say, instead of trying to answer what he really does ask. And when that state has been reached, the teacher had better quit questioning and examine himself.

We dare never forget that we ask questions, not just for sake of getting correct answers, but for sake of leading the pupil to think, to know and understand the truth. A wrong answer is often more useful

* Fitch: "The Art of Questioning," pp. 63-65.

than a right one.

If it reveals the pupil's real thought about the matter in hand, and so shows us his misconception of the truth, it is of far more value than a perfectly correct guess or veneer of memory. It enables us to diagnose the case. It gives us insight into the pupil's need, and we can set to work to meet it.

(c) Give the pupil a chance to think for himself. Let him answer questions in his own way.

"One should refrain from tripping the pupil with disconcerting questions. A race over obstacles may be diverting, but it does not conduce to steady advance. It is even better to permit the pupil to blunder through to the end of his recitation than to interrupt him perpetually with questions calculated to obstruct the current of his thought. Sometimes teachers are so impatient to obtain immediate results that they find it impossible to wait."*

Such over-questioning defeats its own end. It takes away the pupil's self-activity. It weakens his power of thought and expression. It makes him dependent upon the continual stimulus of questions.

(3) Questions should deal with essentials. For sake of perspective, do not ask for unimportant details. To ask a question emphasizes the thing asked for. It becomes the center of thought for the moment. It gets impressed upon the pupil's mind and acquires dignity and importance in his eyes. It is one of the chief functions of the question, therefore, to direct attention to the salient facts of the lesson and to guide the thought of the pupil to its essential truths.

The question itself, moreover, should have apperceptive and associative value. The question and its answer should be worth putting together. It is possible to ask about an important fact in a very unimportant way. For example: What did Jesus do next? What truth do we find in the next verse? What story did Jesus tell in to-day's lesson? What miracle was performed in last Sunday's lesson? What important truth does the editor bring out in the practical suggestions at the bottom of the page? Such questions as these are formal and meaningless. The facts they point toward may be of vital importance; but what they actually ask about those facts is not worth mentioning, much less remembering.

The fitting together of question and answer is a golden opportunity to make an association. Interest is alert, attention centered upon its problem, the mind active. It is the time to put together the things we * De Garmo: "Interest and Education," p. 203.

would have stay together in the pupil's mind. But no teacher is foolish enough to want his pupils to hold the idea of "to-day's lesson" in memory together with the story of the Good Samaritan, or to preserve the thought that it was on the bottom of the page that a certain truth was brought out. He is wasting energy, therefore, and missing opportunities, to put such questions at all.

Question and answer should be parts of a single whole of meaning. They should be worth putting together and keeping together. The question should supply the one term, the answer the other, of an association that has permanent value. What did Jesus do when He saw that His disciples would not wash one another's feet? What story did He tell when a lawyer asked Him whom to consider a neighbor? What miracle did He perform at a wedding in Cana of Galilee? What great truth does the story of the Sower bring out?-are forms that have associative value.

(4) Questions should be put in logical order. This is only to say that each should fall into its place in the development of the lesson. All that has been said concerning the necessity of a lesson plan applies as well to the questions a teacher asks, as to the truths he means to bring out or the illustrative material he uses. Each question should grow out of what went before it, and lead up to what comes after. The whole should issue in a coherent presentation of the truth. It is harder to keep to the point, of course, when questions are asked and the discussion of the hour is live and generally cooperative, than it would be if the teacher were to do all the work and simply deliver a carefully prepared lecture. But it can be done.

(5) Questions should be so put as to keep the whole class interested and at work. Aside from their content, this depends upon a few simple rules of method:

(a) Do not rely upon concert answers. not to keep the whole class at work.

It is one of the surest ways

You must bring the questions

home individually. Call upon particular pupils to answer.

(b) Ask the question first, then call upon the one who is to answer. Each member of the class should feel that the question is addressed to him, since he may be called upon to answer it.

(c) Call upon particular pupils several times in the course of a single recitation. Do not let a pupil feel that after he has answered his question, made his report or discussed his topic, his work is over for the day.

(d) Do not repeat a question if the pupil failed to understand it because of inattention. Go to another for the answer. Even if the