The science of asking good questions

By consistently asking good questions, educators gradually shift agency to students; helping them think more critically and develop a lifelong mindset of inquiry.

students and co-learner at KEY academy

“The science of asking good questions lies in understanding how they activate prior knowledge and scaffold students toward more complex ideas.”

- Imuseoluwa Are, co-learner in the Shoots learning group (ages 9 - 11 years).

How questions drive learning

Children often surprise us with the questions they ask - not because they are simple, but because they are unexpectedly profound. A few weeks ago, during a Reading the World session, one of my students paused mid-discussion and asked, “How are thermos flasks made?”

It was such an ordinary question on the surface, yet it opened the door to an extraordinary learning moment. What she really wanted to understand was the science behind how things stay hot or cold. Learning doesn’t begin with answers, it begins with questions. When students ask questions, they move from passive receivers to active sense-makers. Questions connect the known to the unknown, engage curiosity, reveal misconceptions, and invite ownership of learning. In fact, high-quality questions can open trajectories of exploration, linking what students already know with what they are just beginning to discover.

The science of asking good questions lies in understanding how they activate prior knowledge and scaffold students toward more complex ideas. Within inquiry-based and project-based classrooms, the right question at the right time can unlock creativity, problem-solving, and collaborative learning in ways that answers alone cannot. As educators, parents, and facilitators, our role is not to be fountains of answers but catalysts of questioning, modeling curiosity, framing learning as exploration, and helping students see that often, the question itself is more powerful than the answer.

Characteristics of high-quality questions Not all questions hold the same educational value. Research by Walsh & Sattes (2016) shows that educators often default to lower-order, convergent questions focused on recall, while higher-order, divergent questions stimulate reasoning, creativity, and engagement. High-quality questions share several essential features:

1. Open-ended: strong questions allow for multiple possible responses rather than simple yes/no answers. They invite explanation, reasoning, or perspective, creating space for dialogue and exploration. For instance, asking a student, “How might we design a container that keeps liquids hot or cold for hours?” is more beneficial than “Does a Thermos keep things hot?”

   
   

2. Cognitively demanding: High-quality questions require students to analyse, evaluate, create, compare, or infer, pushing students beyond memorisation into higher-order thinking, engaging skills like critical reasoning and problem-solving.

   
   

3. Contextual and relevant: When questions link to students’ interests, culture, or lived realities, they become more meaningful and motivating. Anchoring questions in real-world phenomena or authentic problems increases relevance and curiosity.

   
   

4. Extensible and scaffoldable: A good question should not be an endpoint but the start of deeper inquiry. It naturally leads to follow-up questions, revisions, and sub-questions. Educators can scaffold this process by prompting further thought: “Why do you say that?”, “What evidence supports your idea?”, or “Can you phrase that more precisely?” At the same time, strong questions allow for different pathways to exploration, since students vary in ability and approach. Some students may engage through practical problem-solving, while others may approach through theoretical reasoning - both are valid and enriching.

   
   

5. Balanced: effective questions stretch thinking without overwhelming students. They sit within the learner’s zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978), just beyond what a student can do independently, but achievable with support. This balance ensures engagement while sustaining persistence.

In project-based learning (PBL), sessions often revolve around a “driving question", a complex, open-ended query that cannot be answered directly but requires sustained investigation, collaboration, and reflection. In this way, the science of asking high-quality questions becomes central to meaningful learning design.

Encouraging curiosity in students Students do not always arrive ready to ask strong questions. Factors such as classroom culture, prior experiences, or fear of being wrong can silence inquiry. Below are several strategies for nurturing curiosity:

1. Safe environments: learning spaces where mistakes are valued as learning opportunities encourage students to speak up.

   
   

2. Modeling: Think aloud your own questions when exploring a topic. Say, “I wonder …” or “What if …” and invite students into your mental process. This shows students that inquiry is not just permitted, it is expected.

   
   

3. Explicit teaching of questioning strategies: One effective tool is the Question Formulation Technique (QFT), developed by Rothstein and Santana in 2011. QFT guides students through a structured process of generating as many questions as possible, refining them by distinguishing between open- and closed-ended types, and then prioritising which questions to pursue. By practicing this cycle, students gradually improve the quality of their questions and learn to use them as drivers of inquiry.

   
   

4. Student choice: Allowing students to choose inquiry directions increases ownership and intrinsic motivation.

   
   

5. Reflection on questions: Having students evaluate which of their questions led to insight builds metacognitive awareness.

   
   

These practices gradually build the capacity for higher-quality questioning, shifting agency to students and preparing them for lifelong inquiry.

Students at KEY academy

Examples of student-led inquiry

At KEY academy, Reading the World (RTW) sessions illustrate how children’s questions can spark learning. Like I mentioned earlier, a student in my learning space, the Shoots (ages 9–11 years) learning group, asked a very fascinating question on how thermos flasks were made.

So as a group, we began unpacking the question together. The class realised that what she really wanted to know was the broader idea: How are flasks that keep things hot or cold made? What is the technology behind them? This refinement shifted the inquiry from a single product to the science of insulation, heat transfer, and material design.

The students then explored videos, diagrams, and demonstrations, noticing how materials interact to maintain temperature. This exploration naturally led us into topics like convection, condensation, conduction, and insulation - topics linked to prior knowledge and future science units. When these topics arise, students will already have conceptual and practical anchors, all sparked by a child’s question.

When students generate and refine their own questions, engagement deepens and retention strengthens. Sometimes, the most powerful inquiries don’t begin with structured academic prompts but with spontaneous curiosity. You might get questions like:

• “If trees can make oxygen, can they ever run out?”

• “How do planes stay in the air if they’re so heavy?”

• “Why does Coke fizz when you shake it?”

• “Who made the first map, and how did they know where things were?”

• “Why do we dream when we sleep?”

  
  

Each of these seemingly random questions can open into broader explorations across science, history, or social studies. The point is that the raw, unfiltered curiosity of children often contains the seeds of rigorous academic inquiry - if we, as educators, are willing to take them seriously.

Conclusion When we reflect on what makes a lasting impact in learning, it is often the question that stays with us, not merely the answer. A compelling question lingers in the mind, sparks new connections, drives further investigation, and shapes the way we understand the world.

The science of asking good questions in project-based learning shows that what matters most is not how quickly a student arrives at an answer, but how well a question sustains exploration, curiosity, and deeper thought. In PBL, driving questions form the backbone of authentic learning. More broadly, cultivating the habit of high-quality questioning prepares students not just for exams, but for a world where critical thinking, creativity, and adaptability matter more than rote memorisation and recall.

Ultimately, the question is often more powerful than the answer – because it is the question that keeps learning alive.

Written by Imuseoluwa Are, co-learner in the Shoots learning group (ages 9 - 11 years).

References Chin, C. (2007). Teacher questioning in science classrooms: Approaches that stimulate productive thinking. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 44(6), 815–843. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.20171 

Chin, C., & Osborne, J. (2008). Students’ questions: A potential resource for teaching and learning science. Studies in Science Education, 44(1), 1–39. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057260701828101 

Kang, M. J., Hsu, M., Krajbich, I. M., Loewenstein, G., McClure, S. M., Wang, J. T., & Camerer, C. F. (2009). The wick in the candle of learning: Epistemic curiosity activates reward circuitry and enhances memory. Psychological Science, 20(8), 963–973. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02402.x 

Rothstein, D., & Santana, L. (2011). Make just one change: Teach students to ask their own questions. Harvard Education Press. https://hepg.org/hep-home/books/make-just-one-change 

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press. https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674576292 

Walsh, J. A., & Sattes, B. D. (2016). Quality questioning: Research-based practice to engage every learner (2nd ed.). Corwin. https://us.corwin.com/en-us/nam/quality-questioning/book246600