The Curious Generation™
Learning Science · 2020

Teacher Questioning Styles and Student Risk-Taking

Dr. Sena Boateng

Abstract

What this study did

Observing 88 classrooms over one semester, this study coded teacher questions by type and tracked how often students volunteered uncertain or exploratory answers. Classrooms with more 'I wonder' framing saw markedly higher rates of student risk-taking.

Key findings

What we learned

01
Classrooms using 'I wonder' framing weekly saw 40% more volunteered uncertain answers.
02
Fear of being wrong dropped significantly when teachers modeled their own uncertainty aloud.
03
The effect was strongest in mathematics, weakest in rote memorization subjects.
In practice

What it means for families

Translated for the kitchen table: this study is a nudge to ask a genuine, open question at dinner rather than a quiz-style one, to leave room for unstructured play, and to trust that curiosity — not test scores alone — is doing real work in a child's development. Small, repeatable habits, not grand interventions.

Citation

How to cite this paper

Dr. Sena Boateng (2020). Teacher Questioning Styles and Student Risk-Taking. The Curious Generation™ Research Series.

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