questioning skills to improve critical thinking

Hypothetical Questions:

Hypothetical questions kindle your brain to look for possibilities and fresh ideas. Hypothetical thinking enables an individual to anticipate, predict, and describe the pros and cons.

Examples:

1. What will happen if I remove this?
2. What will you do if this happens?

Hypotheses are good for exploring prospects. It also helps you in preparing a contingency approach.

Reversal Questions:

Reversal thinking makes an individual 'twist the problem in reverse or sideways' to understand it. It brings out alternate possibilities to deal with problems.

Examples:

1. In what ways we are complicating this problem?
2. Why should we not include it?
3. What happens when we don’t resolve it?

Symbolic Questions:

This type is about using multiple formats to understand a solution.

Example:

We can use a chemical equation structure to explain what is happening inside a tree.

Analogy Questions:

It’s the most common type of questioning. We compare and correlate here.

Example:

1. What is the physics behind birds flying?
2. What is the connection between a chemical-reaction and cooking?

Point of View Questions:

Here, you put yourself in a different shoe and ask questions and answer them. This questioning skill is important in improving critical and higher-order thinking.

Example:

1. How will my boss think?
2. How will an experienced person handle this?

Completion Questions:

It is like “fill in the blanks”. The questions will end abruptly. We have to use our imagination to close it appropriately.

Example:

1. What happens after this stage?
2. How did it disappear?

Analysis Questions:

It is like a spider spinning a web. You ask a web of questions instead of raising basic questions. You go deeper levels and look for patterns and ideas.

Example:

1. What are the effects? Where it is extending?
2. What happens there if I do this here?