English abstract
The aim of this study is to evaluate the levels of classroom questions asked by the teachers of History to the students of grade eleven in Al-Batinah North region in the Sultanate of Oman. The study tries to answer the following questions: 1- What kind of classroom questions widely used by the teachers of history according to the levels of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives? 2- Are there statistically significant differences at the level (0.05) between the average classroom questions that can be attributed to the variable of teachers' experience? 3. Are there statistically significant differences at the level (0.05) between the average classroom questions that can be attributed to the variable of teachers' gender (male or female)? 4- Are there statistically significant differences at the level (0.05) between the levels of classroom questions asked by the teachers and the objectives of the syllabus being taught? 5- Are there statistically significant differences at the level (0.05) between the levels of classroom questions asked by the teachers and the levels of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives? The study sample is composed of 60 teachers of history (30 males and 30 females) who are teaching Islamic Civilization Syllabus for the pupils of grade eleven in Al Batinah North region. To achieve the objectives of the study, an observation check-list was used. It contained the levels of the main questions as well as those of sub-questions according to Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives. The list included 65 items representing the secondary levels to which the questions belong. The Kappa equation was used to measure its accuracy. The researcher used the SPSS to process the data. The sum of all questions was calculated as well as the percentage of each level to answer the first question. Then, the researcher calculated the mathematical means, SD and ANOVA for answering the second question.
T test was used to answer the third question and Z test to answer the forth and fifth questions. The main research findings came as follows:
1. The knowledge questions came first, with 72,38 % followed by understanding questions with 11,91%, then application questions came third with 11,38%. The analysis questions came forth with 2,91%, the evaluation questions were in the fifth place with 0, 73% and finally the synthesis questions came last with 0,69%. 2. There were no statistically significant differences at the level (0.05) between the average classroom questions attributable to the experiences of teachers in all levels except the evaluation level that was in favor of the experienced teachers. (8 years onward). 3. There were statistically significant differences at the level (0.05) between the average classroom questions attributable to the variable of gender. The questions of application and synthesis came in favor of female teachers whereas there are no statistical differences in the other levels. 4. There were statistically significant differences at the level (0.05) between the percentage of classroom questions that were used by the sample teachers and the objectives of the Islamic Civilization curriculum in favor of the teachers in the level of knowledge questions. However, in the other levels the result came in favor of the objectives of the curriculum except in the application level where there were no differences. 5. There were statistically significant differences at the level (0.05) between the levels of questions and Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives in favor of the knowledge questions. The rest of the levels came in favor of the evaluation level identified by Bloom. The findings showed no statistically significant differences in the level of understanding, In the light of these results some recommendations are given. Teachers of History should be trained to ask questions of different levels of knowledge cognition. The text books and teachers' books should also contain various questions and instructions for the teachers. These questions must be in accordance with the objectives of the subject teaching. The training of teachers about varying their questions in classrooms should be followed-up. The research recommended further researches in this topic. For example, the impact of using high level questions on the acquisition in the subject of history and assessing the levels of questions in other branches of social studies like geography.
