An Analysis of Primary School Teacher’s Questioning in Mathematics: A Focus on Fractions

Examining teachers’ questioning approaches in the classroom is critically important for effectively developing students’ mathematical thinking. In this context, the purpose of this study was to analyze the types of questions used by a fourth-grade teacher at a public middle school, focusing on the concept of fractions in mathematics instruction. To this end, ten lesson videos capturing the teacher’s instruction on fractions were analyzed according to a predetermined questioning framework. The findings indicate that the teacher predominantly used checklists and guiding questions during the lessons, while questions aimed at deepening student thinking, such as those for probing and extending thinking questions, were used less frequently. Additionally, it was found that the teacher mainly focused on procedural questions, using questions that encourage higher-order thinking in a limited manner. It was observed that the types of questions and the approach to questioning varied depending on the content of the lessons.