Description questions are answered by addressing a topic-dependent subset of Wh- and How subquestions¶

Design Method · All design methods
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

Description questions ask students to describe a person, place, or thing by giving its characteristics or properties, including definitions of concepts. The authors analyze answering as decomposition into subquestions: "The key to answering Description questions is knowing which responses to which subquestions must be included in the answer." Which subquestions apply, and their form, depends on the topic — for a group the key What subquestion concerns key beliefs, whereas for a policy or doctrine it concerns provisions. Table I illustrates probable subquestions for common social studies topics, though the authors do not claim the analysis is exhaustive and invariable.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

Students must learn which subquestions to address for each topic, gather the appropriate information from the text, and weave the responses into a coherent answer

Constraints¶

Not all subquestions are appropriate for all topics; the answer format varies with what is being described

Target Learners¶

middle school students answering description questions in social studies

Target Goals¶

composing coherent descriptive and definitional answers from textbook text

Claims¶

Explanation questions divide into cause-seeking, effect-seeking, and causal-elaboration types with distinct answer structures

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

Armbruster, Bonnie B.; Anderson, Thomas H.; Bruning, Roger R.; Meyer, Linda A. (1984). What Did You Mean by That Question? A Taxonomy of American History Questions. Technical Report No. 308. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED240511

Page metadata

Field	Value
`type`	`method`
`id`	`description-questions-topic-dependent-subquestions`
`title`	`Description questions are answered by addressing a topic-dependent subset of Wh- and How subquestions`
`description`	`Description questions ask students to describe a person, place, or thing by giving its characteristics or properties, including definitions of concepts.`
`status`	`review`
`generated`	by `process:wiki-ingest` on `2026-09-27`
`trust`	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
`sources`	1 — `armbruster-1984`

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