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A person's mind is a sealed vault.
It is something inaccessible to the other unless a person allows what's inside to be apparent either by his words or actions.
If it is so, then a question is a key that opens up that vault.
In the classroom, where a teacher faces multitudes of minds waiting to be unsealed, a question is a magical tool that allows students to figure out their thoughts and, eventually, if given the opportunity, to express them.
In certain cases, a question is enough to redirect, focus or refocus and clarify the otherwise wayward or chaotic thought processes of a learner. Take for instance a learner, who after reading a story still cannot figure out how to make meaning out of the information read. A teacher, just by simply asking basic questions such as "who" (are the characters), "where" (did the event happen) or "when" (did the story take place) can guide the learning in organizing information, thus, opening up endless possibilities on how the learner makes meaning out of the learning material.
On a higher level, a question can trigger more complex thought processes. A teacher, for instance, after establishing facts out of a learning material can bring the discussion to a higher level by providing opportunities for discourses that exhibit the learner's ability to comprehend and understand. A teacher can also choose to pave the way to relating learned concepts into real life situations by asking questions geared to application or analysis.
Finally, a teacher can choose to challenge the learner to make judgments about the learning material and, ultimately, further motivating the learner to create his own output based on the topics discussed.
All these levels of thinking can be ignited just by a question.
Without even having to feed information, a teacher can create an amazing learning environment if he/she hones himself/herself in the art of questioning.
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