ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the important role of teachers' and children's questions in providing opportunities for learning in science. Questioning is frequently mentioned in discussing the teacher's role and is perhaps the main means of finding out children's ideas and of encouraging their thinking and use of inquiry skills. Jelly, expanding in detail on the meaning of 'productive' in the context of teachers' questions, emphasises their importance in encouraging a scientific approach. Research shows that extending the time that a teacher waits for children to answer increases markedly the quality of the answers. In 1974 Mary Budd-Rowe published significant research on teachers' questions in elementary science classes in the USA. Children's questions that arise from curiosity and a desire to understand have a key part to play in learning science. Research in the UK confirmed that this situation was far from being confined to American classrooms.
