the attention of the class.  It is directed straight at the point at issue, and no time will be lost in wondering what the question means, or in trying two or three tentative answers.  Third, the younger the child, the simpler the question must be.  With little children, to be good a question may involve only one idea, or relationship.  The amount involved in the question, its scope and content, must be adapted to the mental development of the learner.  It is only a mature thinker who can carry simultaneously two or three points of issue, or possibilities.  Fourth, the question to gain a ready response must be interesting.  Not only must the lesson as a whole be interesting, but the questions themselves must have the same quality.  Dull questions can kill an otherwise good lesson.  The form of the question is thus a big factor in gaining a ready response.  All the qualities which gain involuntary attention can be used in framing an interesting question—­novelty, exaggeration, contrast, life, color, and so on.

The third point to be considered in determining a good question is whether or not it satisfies the demands of economy.  This demand is a fair one both from the standpoint of the best use of the time at the disposal of the learner, and also from the standpoint of the best means of gaining the greatest development on the part of the learner in a given time.  The number of questions asked thus enters in as a factor.  When a teacher asks four or five questions when one would serve the same purpose, she is not only wasting time, but the child is not getting the opportunity to do any thinking and therefore is not developing.  Recent studies on the actual number of questions asked in a recitation point to the conclusion that economy both of time and in development is being seriously overlooked.  Economy in response may also be brightened by preserving a logical sequence between questions.  It is a matter of fact in psychology that associations are systematized about central ideas; it is also a fact that the set of the mind, in this direction rather than that, is characteristic of all work.  Logical sequence, then, makes use of both these facts—­both of the systematization of ideas and of the mental attitude.

The fourth test of good questioning is the universality of its appeal.  Some questions which are otherwise good appeal but to comparatively few in the class.  This, of course, means that responses are being gained but from few.  The best questioning stimulates most of the class; all members of the class are working.  In order to secure this result the questions must be properly distributed over the class.  The bright pupils must not be allowed to do all the work; or, on the other hand, all the attention of the teachers must not be given to the dull pupils.  Not only should the questions be well distributed, but they must vary according to the individual ability of the particular child.  This has already been emphasized in dealing with readiness of response.  Many a