ese factors must be considered:
First, the principle of apperception must be recognized. Every question
must deal with material that is on a level with the stage of development
of the one questioned. Not only so, but the question must connect
somewhere with the learner's experience. This means a recognition also
of individual differences. The question must also be couched in language
that can be understood easily by the one questioned. To have to try to
understand the language of the question as well as the question, results
in divided attention and delayed responses. Second, the question should
be clear and definite. A question that has these characteristics will
challenge the attention of the class. It is directed straight at the
point at issue, and no time will be lost in wondering what the question
means, or in trying two or three tentative answers. Third, the younger
the child, the simpler the question must be. With little children, to be
good a question may involve only one idea, or relationship. The amount
involved in the question, its scope and content, must be adapted to the
mental development of the learner. It is only a mature thinker who can
carry simultaneously two or three points of issue, or possibilities.
Fourth, the question to gain a ready response must be interesting. Not
only must the lesson as a whole be interesting, but the questions
themselves must have the same quality. Dull questions can kill an
otherwise good lesson. The form of the question is thus a big factor in
gaining a ready response. All the qualities which gain involuntary
attention can be used in framing an interesting question--novelty,
exaggeration, contrast, life, color, and so on.

The third point to be considered in determining a good question is
whether or not it satisfies the demands of economy. This demand is a
fair one both from the standpoint of the best use of the time at the
disposal of the learner, and also from the standpoint of the best means
of gaining the greatest development on the part of the learner in a
given time. The number of questions asked thus enters in as a factor.
When a teacher asks four or five questions when one would serve the same
purpose, she is not only wasting time, but the child is not getting the
opportunity to do any thinking and therefore is not developing. Recent
studies on the actual number of questions asked in a recitation point to
the conclusion that economy both of time and in development i