Elaborative Interrogation
Elaborative interrogation is a strategy whereby students are briefly exposed to a topic, and then generate deeper questions about that topic - often, "how" or "why" questions - prior to reading (or otherwise engaging with a topic). Thus, while learning the topic, students are also expected to find answers to their questions.
Some methods of guided inquiry, when students are the ones generating the questions to guide their learning (not teachers, as is done in Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning/POGIL), may be considered a use of this strategy.
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Why does it work?
Elaboration is impactful for learning, because it helps the learner make connections among concepts, creating a knowledge network. Elaborative interrogation is a process which ensures elaboration occurs as learners are exposed to new content, by having them seek answers to their self-generated deeper questions and making conceptual connections as the new material is learned.
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How can I use it in teaching?
- Prior to a lecture segment, chapter or article reading, or video, give a brief introduction
to the topic and then ask students to spend 3-5 minutes generating how and why questions
about the topic. Encourage them to tie their questions to previous concepts in the
class or, perhaps, their own experiences. Examples, "How do we know X is true? Are
there times when it is not?"
- For better question curation, consider having students work in small groups to generate
questions, then select the top 3 they believe will help them learn the new material
most deeply.
- Ensure students seek answers to their generated questions: Allow time after the new material delivery to note, discuss, and evaluate responses to their questions. This method will not be effective if their answers to their questions are incorrect! Again, small group discussion can help ensure better integrity.
- Prior to a lecture segment, chapter or article reading, or video, give a brief introduction
to the topic and then ask students to spend 3-5 minutes generating how and why questions
about the topic. Encourage them to tie their questions to previous concepts in the
class or, perhaps, their own experiences. Examples, "How do we know X is true? Are
there times when it is not?"
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What does the research show?
Elaborative interrogation helps learners acquire facts, including more confusing facts, over the strategy of reading alone. This method is particularly advised for fact-learning (Pressley, Symons, McDaniel, Snyder, & Turnure, 1988).
The quality of questions and answers impacts richer learning, and using relevant prior knowledge as responses are generated is important for better memory of new information (Kahl & Woloshyn, 1994)
Background knowledge (a "rich knowledge base"), and use of it during the interrogation/answering process, impacts the efficacy of elaborative interrogation (Willoughby & Wood, 1994).