Is this a good question? Bonus: Question Qualities summative infographic

Last Updated on August 30, 2022

In the previous three blog posts of our Question Qualities mini-series, we explored a world of questioning. Our main quest was to find a way towards the generation, formulation, and answering of “good questions.” With Dr. Harry Stokhof, we operationalized relevance, feasibility, and learning potential as question quality criteria and we discussed their different levels.

We now summarize these criteria into a tangible infographic to download and refer back to when pursuing or examining question qualities:

The different combinations of these criteria and levels can give you a clue for “good questions.” Although the mix and match can lead to alternative results, we suggest that a level-0 question would probably be ineffective for learning; a level-1 question would most likely reflect the need for basic information; a level-2 or level-3 question would indicate a  wonderment question.

HARRY’S TIP 💡

It’s important to appreciate and value the efforts of questioners to reach out and probe their understanding. Taking every question seriously as an attempt to learn supports learners to appreciate that their questions can be important thinking tools to develop knowledge and understanding.


We can always remind ourselves of these criteria when questioning is involved. If we’re standing on the questioning side, we can improve our questions; if we’re on the answering side, we can make suggestions for improved questions. Questions – and ultimately, good questions – are key for developing an effective inquisitive spirit. As Elie Wiesel (Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1986) wrote “…every question possessed a power that did not lie in the answer.”

Pepy is a University and IB Diploma Programme Physics teacher, with an MA and Ph.D. in Science Education. She is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher in teachers' STEM education. As the Head of Research at 100mentors, she empowers educators to turn theory into practice with educational technology solutions.

2 comments On Is this a good question? Bonus: Question Qualities summative infographic

  • Renald Lachashvili, PhD in computer-aided design

    I admire this two-axis system of question assessment!
    One coordinate actually assesses the usefulness of efforts to answer the question asked: whether it belongs to the competence of mentors, whether it is possible to answer it at all, how useful it will be to the educational community.
    The second coordinate estimates the level of the question in the tradition of Bloom or SOLO. Here is a bonus for provocative questions that have the form of surprise.
    Everything is clear, although not very simple – thank you very much!

    • Dear Renald,

      thank you for your elaborate comment and I’m glad that you see value in our blog post! I hope this is a useful asset for you to actively guide your students through their progressive inquiry.

      Take full advantage of the 100mentors educational platform to evaluate, answer, and, most importantly, keep students’ questions coming!

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