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In this edition of ⚗️DistillED, we’re focusing on process questions!
Process questions sit quietly inside strong explicit teaching. And when used well, they help students make sense of what they know, articulate their thinking, and cement understanding in long-term memory. Let’s go!
In this edition
📊 Do Now: Quick Poll!
When a student gives a correct answer, what usually happens next?
What are Process Questions?
Process questioning means asking students to explain how or why they arrived at an answer — not just what the answer is.
Barak Rosenshine observed that effective teachers ask a large number of questions and check the responses of all students. Importantly, this includes questions that probe students’ thinking processes, not just their recall. Rosenshine observed that in highly effective classrooms:
“The most-effective teachers also ask students to explain the process they used to answer the question, to explain how the answer was found.”
This suggests that answers are not the endpoint of questioning — they are the starting point. In simple terms, think of a process question as a follow-up to check thinking. A student gives an answer. The teacher listens. Then the teacher warmly asks:
“How did you work that out?” → Students think about the steps they followed and the sequence of decisions they made.
“What was your reasoning?” → Students think about the logic behind their answer and how ideas or evidence connect.
“Why did you choose that method?” → Students think about strategy selection — why one approach was more appropriate than another.
👎 Process questions are not:
Surface follow-ups (“Is that right?” / “Does everyone agree?”)
Open discussion prompts without focus (“What do you think about this?” with no anchor in the taught content)
Guess-what’s-in-my-head probing (Pushing students toward an unseen answer rather than clarifying their thinking: “Not quite… what am I looking for?”)
Premature analysis (Asking students to explain reasoning before the knowledge or method has been taught: “Why do you think that happens?”)
A replacement for explanation or modelling (Expecting questioning to do the teaching instead of checking understanding: “I won’t tell you — think harder.”)
👍 Process questions are:
Deliberate follow-through (“How did you work that out?” / “What step came next?”)
A way to make thinking visible (Surfacing the reasoning behind an answer, not just its correctness: “Talk me through the steps you took.”)
Anchored in taught content (Referring explicitly to the method, example, or idea just modelled: “How does this fit with the model we just used?”)
Guided elaboration (“Why does that example fit?” / “What makes this stronger than the other option?”)
A routine habit, not a one-off move (“Like last time, let’s unpack how you got there.”)
A signal that reasoning matters (“The answer is important — but how you arrived at it matters just as much.”)
Why do Process Questions Matter?
Research shows that while explicit instruction and retrieval practice are essential, they are not sufficient on their own to produce deep understanding. This is where cognitive science — particularly the concept of elaboration — becomes critical!
Natalie Wexler argues that learning deepens when students are required to add something to what they’ve learned: to explain, connect, justify, or generate examples. Cognitive scientists like Jeffrey Karpicke refer to this as elaboration or elaborative interrogation:
“We want students to engage in deep, meaningful, thoughtful processing — and that is what we really mean when we’re talking about elaboration.”
Process questions are one of the most practical classroom mechanisms for triggering this kind of thinking. When teachers only ask factual questions, students can appear fluent while their deep understanding remains fragile. They may recall definitions, steps, or quotations, but struggle to explain relationships, justify decisions, or transfer learning to new contexts.
Studies examining elaboration show that asking students to explain why something works, or how an answer was reached, improves understanding and long-term retention — sometimes matching or even outperforming retrieval practice alone.
Ultimately, process questions requiring elaboration matter because they:
Benefit 1: Turn retrieval into deeper understanding
Benefit 2: Reveal misconceptions before they harden
Benefit 3: Support transfer to long-term memory
Benefit 4: Ensure learning is more than performance
This graphic visualises a process question interaction between teacher and student
Process questions come after instruction and modelling, once students have something to think with. They focus attention on a narrow slice of reasoning — a specific step, decision, or justification — rather than demanding broad or abstract analysis. And because they are tightly anchored to just-taught content, they optimise cognitive load without overwhelming working memory.
So how can we bring this to life in the classroom? Let’s look at some practical examples.
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How do I Implement Process Questions?
Before focusing on specific steps or question stems, it’s important to recognise that effective process questioning doesn’t work in isolation. Process questioning relies on clear expectations, consistent follow-through, and a shared understanding of purpose. It works best when four conditions are in place:
Condition 1: Made Explicit → Students should know that explaining how and why is expected, not optional — and what a strong explanation sounds like.
Condition 2: Applied Consistently → Process questions only shape thinking when they are used routinely.
Condition 3: Enforced Calmly and Confidently → Teachers follow through on explanations with warmth and precision.
Condition 4: Rehearsed for Fluency → Students need regular practice articulating their thinking, refining explanations, and using precise language with sentence stems or scaffolds in the first instance.
Below is a five-step DistillED approach.
Step | Explanation | Example |
|---|---|---|
1. Teach the Knowledge First
| Process questions only work after clear explanation, modelling, and basic retrieval. This reduces cognitive overload and keeps elaboration productive. | After modelling how to calculate density step-by-step, ask a quick retrieval check on mini-whiteboards: |
2. Cold Call and Listen Carefully
| Start with a focused question that has a specific answer. Listen closely — the quality of the follow-up depends on what the student actually says. | “What is the density of this object?” |
3. Follow Up with a Process Question
| Ask how or why questions that focus on a narrow slice of reasoning — a step, decision, or justification. | “How did you work that out, David?” |
4. Refine and Rehearse the Explanation
| Students’ first explanations are often incomplete. Offer a brief prompt or model, then ask them to re-articulate their reasoning more precisely. | Teacher: “Sarah, try that again — name the steps you followed.” |
5. Normalise and Revisit Process Questioning
| Use process questions across lessons, subjects, and question types — including errors and non-examples. Revisit common reasoning patterns to strengthen schemas over time. | “Last lesson, several people explained density by describing the steps. Let’s practise that again.” |
Process questions are about making thinking visible, strengthening understanding, and helping students learn how to think — not just what to say.
— Jamie
If you want more:
👉 Explore the Questioning & Participation CPD resources in the DistillED+ Hub
👉 Read the DistillED edition on Making Participation Safe
👉 Revisit The Simple Model of the Mind and what it tells us about learning
👉 Get the DistillED Playbooks for practical, evidence-informed classroom practices
Free Student Resource
Process Questions & Elaboration Sentence Stems
To help you put these ideas into practice immediately, download the Process Questions & Elaboration Sentence Stem Guide — a classroom-ready resource designed to support students in explaining their thinking, justifying their answers, and developing clearer, more confident explanations across subjects.
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