Mathematics eduction? Aren't I missing an “a” in the middle of that word? No, I mean eduction, a process by which good questions educe, or

• draw out latent understanding of how the world works

• lead students to build a deep foundation of fundamental understanding

• engage students in bringing order to, or making sense of, complex phenomena from basic given facts.

In this article I present some examples of educing questions that were developed and tested via clicker technology through the Good Questions Project. I will summarize some of the student feedback, and the research on teaching and learning that provides a framework for understanding why “educing” questions may be effective.

The Good Questions project grew out of an effort to introduce young instructors to the benefits of teaching by asking. It was inspired by Cornell mathematician David Henderson's rich knowledge and experience of teaching geometry [40] by posing questions that lead students to construct and refine mathematical concepts based on their own experiences. We were also inspired by the success of Harvard physicist EricMazur [55] in using ConceptTests and peer instruction to teach physics. We wanted to develop questions to stimulate thoughtful discussions of key concepts in calculus, and put them in the hands of instructors in their formative years as TAs and postdoctoral fellows. We wanted to know if discussing the questions would lead to better student understanding and better performance in a traditional freshman calculus course.