What should a monitoring question aim to do?

A monitoring question is designed to probe the depths of understanding, allowing learners to reflect on their knowledge and comprehension of a subject. By asking such questions, instructors can stimulate critical thinking and encourage students to analyze their own understanding more deeply, facilitating a richer learning experience. This type of questioning supports metacognition, prompting students to consider not only what they know but also how they know it and how they can apply that knowledge in various contexts.

The focus is on fostering a comprehensive grasp of concepts rather than simply assessing surface-level recall or performance, which differentiates monitoring questions from those aimed at evaluation, feedback, or basic information retrieval.