That’s a Good Question: Inquiry as a Pedagogical Strategy of Jesus in Matthew

This article analyzes the ways in which Jesus’ questions in Matthew’s gospel align with the categories of Bloom’s taxonomy, and how Jesus’ audience influenced the questions he asked. Results indicate Jesus asked the religious leaders higher-level questions more often than the disciples, who received a greater number of lower-level questions. These differences inform how teachers construct questions that help students learn. Recommendations are made for educators who construct questions that account for students’ preparation, students’ motivation, the value of silence, and the difficulty of questions.