How to Use Questioning Strategies for Science Reading
- olivershearman
- Feb 14
- 11 min read
Introduction: The Power of Questioning in Science Reading
Questioning strategies are at the heart of good readers’ success. In every reading session, especially in science, asking the right kinds of questions fosters deeper exploration, develops critical thinking, and leads to a better understanding of complex topics. Whether you’re working with young readers who are just beginning to decode the main idea of a picture book or advanced students diving into informational articles on robotics, guiding them to formulate thoughtful questions helps them gain ownership of their own comprehension.
However, many students - and teachers! - find themselves asking the same general questions repeatedly: What is this about? Who is the author? When did it happen? While these are not inherently bad, these thin questions often only address surface-level details. In this post, we’ll dive into different types of questions, such as thick questions, open-ended questions, and closed questions, that can move students to a deeper level of understanding. We’ll also show how creating and using science reading anchor charts or fillable graphic organizers—which can open in a new window in a digital format—can be a great way to structure this process in your science classroom or across content areas. Throughout, we’ll weave in lesson ideas, reading comprehension strategies, and practical tips for asking better questions that promote active engagement and higher-order thinking.
1. Why Questioning Matters for Science Reading
1.1 Beyond the Passive Experience
Reading without questioning can become a passive experience: students see words on a page but don’t truly connect with the meaning of the text. For proficient readers, questions arise naturally—one reason they continue to learn and re-learn content at deeper levels. We want to nurture that same skill in all learners, regardless of their reading proficiency.
When students engage in a self-questioning strategy, they transform from passive recipients into active investigators, using their own knowledge and prior knowledge as building blocks. For instance, in a science text about photosynthesis, a student might ask, “What happens if a plant has no access to sunlight for several days?” This question might then spark new questions like “How do different types of plants adapt to low light conditions?” or “Is chlorophyll production influenced by variables like temperature or humidity?” By iterating one question after another—a series of questions—students break the text into puzzle pieces that they can reassemble for deeper comprehension.
1.2 Critical Thinking, Comprehension Skills, and Growth Mindset
Engaging in questioning enhances both comprehension skills and critical thinking abilities. It also taps into a growth mindset: the belief that intelligence and ability can grow through effort, strategy, and feedback. When students practice asking good questions, they learn that it’s not about having the correct answer right away. Instead, the learning process includes exploring complex questions that lead to real insight—a key aspect of higher-order thinking.
Moreover, encouraging curiosity and creativity in questioning builds a sense of ownership. Students who ask their own question about a phenomenon or text tend to remember the content and show more active engagement. This leads to improved students’ reading comprehension not only in science, but across content areas.
2. Different Types of Questions: Thick, Thin, Open, and Closed
When it comes to building a strong questioning culture in science reading, it’s helpful to categorize questions. Let’s look at four broad types:
Thin Questions: These usually have quick, easy answers—factual, yes/no, or short responses. For example, “When did the scientist conduct the experiment?” Thin questions can be helpful as a starting point, especially for young readers or when introducing a picture book in a science context. They check basic understanding.
Thick Questions: These require more elaboration or reasoning. They often begin with Why or How and might touch on higher-level questions that prompt critical thinking. For instance, “Why was this experiment method chosen over another?” or “How do the findings of this study impact our understanding of climate change?” Such questions encourage a deeper understanding of the text.
Open-Ended Questions: These encourage own answers and different perspectives. They can lead to lively discussions because there’s rarely a single, fixed response. “What could happen if we change one variable in this experiment?” or “What new inventions might be inspired by these results?” open a window for students to apply own experiences and prior knowledge creatively.
Closed Questions: Often used for quick comprehension checks. They have a definite answer. For instance, “Did the experiment confirm the hypothesis, yes or no?” These can be integrated to test recall but should be balanced with thicker, more complex questions that demand higher-order thinking.
3. Using Anchor Charts and Graphic Organizers to Support Questioning
3.1 Anchor Charts: Turning Abstract Into Visible
An anchor chart is a visual representation—usually displayed on large chart paper or digitally—that guides learners through a concept or reading strategy. In the context of questioning strategies for science reading, it can outline:
Different types of questions (thin vs. thick, open vs. closed)
Examples of question words (“Who,” “What,” “When,” “Where,” “Why,” “How”)
Sentence stems for better questions (“I wonder if...,” “What would happen if...,” “Why is it that...?”)
Reminders about the main idea and ways to connect own experiences or background knowledge
Posting an anchor chart in a prominent place ensures active engagement—students can refer to it when discussing or reading. If your students have tablets or laptops, you might create a digital anchor chart, allowing them to click on additional resources or references that open in a new window during a reading session.
You can find a great set of science focused anchor charts here. Some completed exemplars from this set are included below to help show these could be used in your classroom.
3.2 Graphic Organizers: Fillable Templates for Structured Thinking
Graphic organizers designed explicitly for questioning are a great way to help students create, categorize, and refine questions. Some ideas:
Question Webs: Imagine a central bubble labeled: Our Class Questions on Ecosystems. From there, branches highlight subtopics—predators, plants, climate—and students fill in their inquiries.
Question-Answer Relationship (QAR) Charts: A tool from the University of Kansas and other educational circles, QAR categorizes question types (Right There, Think and Search, Author and Me, On My Own) to help students know where to locate answers.
Reading Session Sticky Note Templates: Encourage students to jot down a question on a sticky note each time they encounter a confusing part or an interesting concept. They can place these notes on a collaborative document or a class board, then group them by theme or type afterward.
These visual imagery aids double as a good practice for students who struggle with the intangible nature of open question strategies. They see their queries on paper or screen, transforming ephemeral thoughts into tangible puzzle pieces ready for exploration.
4. Practical Lesson Ideas for Implementing Questioning Strategies
Great First Activity: Question Sort
Create a set of question cards (or a digital equivalent) showcasing different types of questions (thin, thick, open-ended, closed).
Have students sort them into categories using an anchor chart or large table. This allows them to differentiate between surface-level “When did it happen?” queries and more thoughtful questions like “Why is this important?” or “What if we changed this variable?”
Picture Book Science
Select a short, visually appealing picture book with a science theme—perhaps something about weather patterns or plant life.
As a class, generate thick questions about the characters, scientific concepts, or underlying processes. Compare them to thin questions that only address recall. Encourage young readers to add a personal or own question connecting to own experiences (Has anything like that happened in our neighborhood?).
Small Groups Research Session
Give each group a short informational article on a science topic (e.g., pollination, climate change, robotics).
Provide them with a graphic organizer to fill out with various question stems—some open-ended questions, some closed questions, some designed for critical thinking.
Let them practice self-questioning, or question webs, to break down the article’s main idea and gather further information for discussion.
Questioning Stick or Mystery Box
Decorate a questioning stick (like a talking stick) or a mystery box that each student can open to retrieve a question prompt.
The prompts may include higher-level questions that demand them to connect the text to own knowledge, or pose a hypothetical scenario (For example: How might this discovery change in 50 years?).
This method transforms question-asking into an interactive experience, sustaining active engagement and curiosity.
Exit Slip for Reflection
As students’ reading comprehension wraps up, distribute an exit slip that asks them to write down one new question they have after the lesson, one thing they learned, and one thing they want to explore more.
This reflection cements the day’s content and signals that inquiry doesn’t end when class is over.
5. Strategies to Model Question-Asking in the Classroom
Teacher Question Modeling
Show your students how you approach a text. Think aloud as you read a short paragraph, pausing to ask clarifying questions or propose possible logical questions.
By demonstrating the difference between a thin question (What is the name of the chemical element?) and a thick question (How does the chemical’s properties change when exposed to heat?), you establish norms for deeper inquiry.
Self-Questioning Strategy
Encourage students to quietly ask themselves questions as they read, noting them in a reading journal or on sticky note placeholders.
This method fosters active reading, where each sentence can spark a new inquiry or confirm an earlier hypothesis.
Sharing and Discussing in Small Groups
Divide the class into small groups, ensuring each student contributes at least one question.
Have students explore how each question might be answered using the text, own experiences, or additional resources. This encourages collaborative document usage if technology is available, which can become a living record of their evolving inquiry.
From Simple to Complex Questions
A well-structured lesson plan starts with thin questions that ensure basic recall, then scaffolds toward complex questions requiring higher-level critical thinking.
This approach is especially beneficial for young readers or those needing more support to move from identifying the main idea to analyzing relationships between puzzle pieces of information.
6. Ensuring Transfer: Questioning Across Content Areas
Although we’re focusing on science reading, these questioning strategies apply to all content areas—from history to literature to math word problems. Encouraging students to see how their questioning skills transfer is an important step in developing truly proficient readers and thinkers.
In science, though, the link between questioning and discovery is especially direct. Teaching them how to form better questions in science sets them up for success with design-based learning, laboratory experiments, and real-world problem-solving. If they become accustomed to exploring a text through higher-order thinking questions, they’ll be more confident during experiments and projects, seeing them not merely as tasks but as investigations that yield own answers.
7. Professional Development Angle: Why Teachers Benefit Too
Questioning is a learned skill. Teachers can benefit from training sessions or professional development workshops focused on reading comprehension strategies, where they explore techniques like:
Question Webs or mind maps
The role of affiliates links to curated resources (e.g., a TPT shop) that offer printable graphic organizers - like my science reading anchor charts (for example)
Techniques from the Journal of Learning Disabilities or the University of Kansas which highlight reading strategy research
Such workshops reinforce good practice and provide engaging ideas for lesson plans that teachers can adapt for their classrooms. If you wrote a previous post on a related topic—like using visual imagery or building students’ thinking skills—you can connect the dots for your readers, bridging from one dimension of literacy instruction to another.
8. Overcoming Common Barriers to Questioning
Even with the best strategies, teachers might notice some barriers:
Student Shyness or Reluctance
Encourage a growth mindset by praising the effort behind a question, not just the quality of it. Emphasize there are no bad questions—only the first question that can lead to deeper inquiry.
Time Constraints
If the reading is long, chunk it into manageable sections, allowing short intervals for answering questions and formulating new questions.
Limited Reading Resources
Use a variety of accessible reading resources—from short informational articles to relevant sections of textbooks—so that all students can participate.
Lack of Background Knowledge
Pre-teach or review key vocabulary and concepts if students have never encountered the topic. This helps them form more logical questions and ensures they don’t get stuck.
Teacher Over-Direction
Allow students to generate their own question rather than always providing them. Then provide guidance only if they struggle.
9. Expanding Questioning with Technology
Collaborative Documents: Platforms like Google Docs or other real-time editors let students record questions collectively. Each question can become a thread for group discussion, with peers adding commentary or sources for further information.
Questioning Apps and Tools: Some apps allow teachers to post a question, and students respond in real time, fostering an online environment of quick student response. This digital approach can be especially helpful for shy students or those who need more time to formulate their thoughts.
Virtual Anchor Charts: Instead of just paper on the wall, interactive anchor charts let you link to affiliate links, videos, or related resources that open in a new window. Students can revisit them at home to review the content areas.
10. Putting It All Together: A Sample Lesson Plan Structure
Below is a concise structure that integrates these strategies into a cohesive experience. Adapt it to your lesson plans or your teaching style:
Preparation
Create an anchor chart describing different types of questions (thin vs. thick, open vs. closed).
Prepare a graphic organizer or question web template for each student, which they’ll use during reading.
Introduction (5 minutes)
Briefly explain why asking thoughtful questions helps us become good readers. Introduce the concept of self-questioning strategy.
Let students know they’ll be reading a short informational article on a current science topic (e.g., microplastics in oceans).
Reading (10-15 minutes)
Have students read the article in pairs or small groups. They should jot down at least two thin questions and two thick questions on their graphic organizers.
Group Discussion (10 minutes)
Each group shares one question they found most interesting. Discuss how they arrived at it and whether it’s an open-ended question or a closed question.
Follow-up Activity (10 minutes)
Students reorganize their questions on a question web. They connect related questions with lines and identify any main themes. Ask them to note which queries require additional research or further information.
Exit Slip (5 minutes)
Each student writes down one lingering question and why they think it’s a good question. This fosters a deeper understanding of the text and leaves them wanting to learn more.
11. Tying Questioning to Assessment and Reflection
No classroom strategy is complete without a plan for reflection and assessment. For questioning, consider:
Exit Slips: As mentioned, have students share own question or a new insight at the lesson’s end.
Student Response Journals: Encourage them to keep a log of their reading comprehension strategies, noting which questions led to breakthroughs in understanding.
Thinking Skills Self-Evaluation: Periodically ask students to evaluate their questioning ability. Are they using open-ended or thick questions more often? Do they still rely on thin questions exclusively?
Professional Development Check-ins: Share your experiences with colleagues. If you learned a new technique from a workshop or the journal of learning disabilities, reflect on how that method improved (or didn’t improve) students’ reading comprehension.
12. Additional Resources and Next Steps
If you want more engaging ideas, consider exploring:
TPT Shop Creations: Many teacher-authors provide printable graphic organizers, question webs, and anchor chart templates - like my science reading anchor charts. Some might be available through affiliate links, offering a small commission that helps support their work without extra cost to you.
University of Kansas Research: Known for studying best practices in reading strategy instruction, they publish articles and guidelines that can shape your questioning approach.
Journal of Learning Disabilities: Offers peer-reviewed studies and proven techniques for improving comprehension and active engagement through questioning.
Previous Post or School Blog Archives: Revisit your own or colleagues’ notes on building comprehension skills in other content areas. You may find a good idea that’s easy to adapt for science reading specifically.
Finally, always encourage students to maintain a growth mindset. Asking questions is not a sign of ignorance; it’s a crucial important step on the path to knowledge. Through questioning, students become participants in their own education, forging connections and forming insights that elevate their own comprehension well beyond the page.
Conclusion: Fostering a Community of Inquiry
Learning how to use questioning strategies for science reading requires intention, structure, and the right tools—like anchor charts, graphic organizers, and carefully planned lesson ideas. Yet the returns are immeasurable: Students engaged in self-questioning strategy become proficient readers with the confidence to explore ideas, solve problems, and communicate their knowledge effectively. They learn to integrate own experiences, link new facts to prior knowledge, and see reading not as a chore, but as an invitation to investigate, wonder, and grow.
So, whether you’re teaching a unit on ecosystems, climate change, or robotics, integrate questioning techniques at every turn. Provide fillable templates that guide student inquiry, model the thinking you want to see, and let them practice until it becomes second nature. Over time, you’ll notice that your learners are not just answering questions with ease—they’re starting to ask the best ones, too. And that transformation from receivers of information to creators of knowledge is what makes questioning strategies a great way to spark genuine curiosity and achievement in the science classroom and beyond.
Thanks for reading
Cheers and stay curious
Oliver - The Teaching Astrophysicist