Description: The Question/Answer Relationship or QAR helps students understand different levels of questioning and the relationships between questions and answers. Often students respond to questions with either a literal answer or by stating that “it” is not in the text. QAR provides four levels of questions – Right There, Think and Search, The Author and You, and On Your Own – to indicate how the question is related to the text. This strategy allows students to understand their thinking processes and develop their metacognitive abilities.
Step-by-Step
- Introduce the QAR using a visual aid and a short selection to demonstrate the relationships.
- Model identifying and answering questions at each level of QAR.
- Right There! (The answer is found in the text. The words in the questions can usually be found in the same sentence with the answer.)
- Think and Search! (The answer is in the text, but the words are probably not in the same sentence. Read the text; look for ideas that can be put together, and think about what the author is saying.)
- The Author and You! (The author provides ideas and makes students think, but connections to students’ knowledge are needed to answer the question.)
- On Your Own! (Students must apply their own knowledge and what has been learned to answer the question.)
- In the beginning teachers may wish to introduce and practice one level at a time before introducing the next level.
Extensions
Use this strategy to demonstrate higher order thinking skills. Familiarize students with Bloom’s Taxonomy of Questioning to facilitate their understanding of higher order thinking.