* Questioning in the Primary School and Questioning in the Secondary School, by E C Wragg and G Brown (RoutledgeFalmer, pound;9.99 each) are detailed guides to the art of effective questions with useful transcripts and examples.

* Taxonomy of Learning, Teaching and Assessing: a revision of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives, by Lorin W Anderson and David R Kratchwohl (Addison Wesley, pound;22.99).

* Teaching Children to Think, by Robert Fisher (Nelson Thornes, pound;15.50).

* Building Learning Power, pound;20, by Guy Claxton has information on promoting question-asking among pupils. Order on the website: www.buildinglearningpower. co.uk.

* Mapwise, by Ian Harris and Oliver Caviglioli (Network Educational Press, pound;16.95) has a useful chapter on “improving communication between teachers and learners”.

* Culture and Pedagogy, by Robin Alexander (Blackwell, pound;19.99) compares teaching methods across Europe.

TRAINING

* Model Learning runs training courses that link questioning skills tomodel-mapping techniques. www.modellearning.com.

* Smarter Learning offers training courses in developing teachers’

questioning skills. www.smarterlearning.net.

WEBSITES

* www.youthlearn.org learningteachingquestions.asp and www.dmu.ac.uk jamesateachingquestions_3a.htm both have advice on effective questioning.

* www.leeds.ac.ukeducoldocuments00001683.htm is a summary of Julie Ann Anderson’s research into negative effects of questioning.

* www.nwrel.orgscpdsirs 3cu5.html is a summary of Kathleen Cotton’s findings based on US research.

* www.teachernet.gov.uk has some material on questioning - write “interactive teaching” into the search engine.