The Benefits of Asking Questions in Technical Courses

[cs23]

If you continuously ask questions in technical courses will that lead to better understanding?

 

[S_Happens]

The two are not directly related, no. It depends on why you are asking the questions and what the questions are.

If you ask questions for small clarifications or if your questions are an assumption based on the present material and the answers provided are understandable to you, then it's likely that you are doing well or that asking the question was useful to you.

If you are constantly asking questions because you are completely lost and the answers provided do nothing to help you understand, then chances are that you do not comprehend the material. In this case, the actual number of questions you ask doesn't matter, and you either need to go over the material or get with the professor to determine what needs to be done.

Why are you asking? Are you worried that you currently ask to many questions or are you planning on making a quota for number of questions asked per class just to be successful?

For me, I ask very few questions during classes. I usually understand the material, and my questions are usually phrased as an assumption that can be made based on what we just covered or if there is some small detail I did not understand. I have classmates that ask quite a few questions, mostly nonsensical, which shows they do not understand the material. So far, I have been more successful.

That doesn't mean that the less questions you ask, the better off you'll be either. If you have a question, then you should ask. The teacher can decide how to proceed from there. Again, I don't ask many questions, but when I have one am very quick to pose it.

Edit- My whole point is that there is a distinct difference in always wanting to know "why?" as a drive to understand vs always HAVING to ask "why?" due to not understanding the material.

 

[micromass]

Very good advice from S Happens!

I myself don't ask question very often, I always try to understand the material by myself (which is a skill you'll need in a PhD!). After studying and reviewing the material by myself, I've never had any questions. The only questions that I asked were background questions, things that are not in the material.

If you do have a question, and if it really bothers you after you studied it, then you should ask the question to your professor. At least, that's what I would do...

 

[mathwonk]

i recommend asking questions. they help the professor gauge how well he is explaining things and what to go into more deeply. you do not want to just ask a hundred questions in a row without pausing to reflect on the answers, but you do want to learn to ask good questions, and that can only be done by practicing and reacting to the answers they receive. people who do not ask questions and think they understand everything are usually either in trivially easy classes not worth taking, or are deceiving themselves. A really perceptive student considering an interesting topic will generate questions. Understanding well leads to questions about extending the material. In my classes if there are no questions then I am being unclear. When I make it really clear then people understand enough to ask some. As suggested above it is certainly all right to try to answer your own questions. Some people learn by studying alone, but others learn more by discussing. Researchers and PhD students especially need to learn to ask questions. The first job of a PhD student is to find a good question to investigate. (The professor does not always provide one.)