I-R-F

I-R-F

I-R-F stands for Initiation-Response-Feedback. In this approach to classroom discourse, teacher use questions which encourage learners to analyze, explore and think critically about information presented to them. This sort of learning demands higher order cognitive processes.

An I-R-F scenario might look something like this:

Teacher: If Columbus discovered America 516 years ago, in what year did he discover it?

Student: Columbus must have discovered America in 1492.

Teacher: How did you get to that number?

The final stage of I-R-F is the key to its significance in the classroom. The question that the teacher presents is one that is meant to encourage deeper thinking on the subject and is one that is meant to initiate higher order thinking skills. It is only once a student uses his critical thinking skills that he can evaluate a situation, analyze what is being presented, extract relevant information and create his own learning by making connections to previously learned material. That is the goal of classroom discourse.

Click here to refer back to I-R-E.

Click here to return to Unit Three: How Should an Educator Question his Students?#mini-lecture