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Higher education institutions are currently undertaking a challenging process in moving from teacher-orientated to student-focused approaches. Students' ability to asking questions is fundamental to developing critical reasoning, and to the process of scientific enquiry itself. Our premise is that questioning competences should become a central focus of current reforms in higher education. This study, part of a broader naturalistic research project, aims at (1) describing teachers' reactions to students' questions; (2) exploring how these reactions are perceived by students, and (3) how these two dimensions interrelate to create 'contextual questioning zones'. Specific components of a context, such as 'Settings', 'Social' and 'Individual/Personal', will be highlighted. The discussion of two 'opposite' contexts of enquiry is based on qualitative data gathered through close collaboration with four teachers of undergraduate biology at a Portuguese university. During an entire academic year these teachers were observed during their 'daily activity'. The teachers and a group of seven selected students were also interviewed at the end of the year. Discussion of the interview data, validated by the respondents, is used to illustrate the different kinds of 'questioning zones'. The paper concludes with some reflections and suggestions to promote authentic enquiry-based learning experiences. Contexts for questioning Contexts for questioning: two zones of teaching and learning in undergraduate scienceHigher education institutions are currently undertaking a challenging process in moving from teacher-orientated to student-focused approaches. Students" ability to asking questions is fundamental to developing critical reasoning, and to the process of scientific enquiry itself. Our premise is that questioning competences should become a central focus of current reforms in higher education. This study, part of a broader naturalistic research project, aims at (1) describing teachers" reactions to students" questions; (2) exploring how these reactions are perceived by students, and (3) how these two dimensions interrelate to create "contextual questioning zones". Specific components of a context, such as "Settings", "Social" and "Individual/Personal", will be highlighted. The discussion of two "opposite" contexts of enquiry is based on qualitative data gathered through close collaboration with four teachers of undergraduate biology at a Portuguese university. During an entire academic year these teachers were observed during their "daily activity". The teachers and a group of seven selected students were also interviewed at the end of the year. Discussion of the interview data, validated by the respondents, is used to illustrate the different kinds of "questioning zones". The paper concludes with some reflections and suggestions to promote authentic enquirybased learning experiences.

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Educational research points to similar learning experiences across different countries, in particular that physical science tends to be an unpopular discipline among students from secondary school. The use of students’ voice to adapt curriculum and implement innovative teaching practice has been gaining relevance towards the effort of potentiating positive and meaningful learning experiences. The present research discusses the voice of 1139 Angolan students from one public school attending the first cycle of secondary education (7th to 9th grade) considering their physics classes. Students’ voice was accessed through the application of a questionnaire which included open and closed questions, some in the format of statements requiring students to indicate their individual opinion. Descriptive statistics to ten specific aspects of their physics classes points to a global scenario of transmissive teaching and a lack of laboratorial and technological resources. Moreover, laboratorial work, suggested in national curriculum to cover topics in Physics, and students’ involvement in assessment seems to decrease from 7th to 9th grade. Identified patterns revealed to be statistically significant. Based on these results three specific recommendations for educational stakeholders are presented. The consideration of students’ voice in curriculum and school management is particularly innovative, not only but also for Angolan contexts and particularly relevant considering that the Angolan curriculum reform is presently under evaluation. Finally, educational researchers around the world may find relevant insights for their own educational challenges taking into account the milestones associated to the fourth goal of the Sustainable Development Goals, which is focused in assuring a quality education for all. Keywords: Angola, physics classes, secondary education, students’ voice, quality education.