The formulation of a problem is often more essential than its solution.
Albert Einstein
Of all Costa and Kallick’s Habits of Mind, perhaps none has been more dramatically elevated by the rise of AI than Questioning and Problem Posing. In my work developing Learnership capabilities in schools across Australia, I’ve observed something fascinating: the quality of questions students ask now directly determines the quality of AI assistance they receive.
This represents a fundamental shift in how we should approach teaching and learning.
The New Currency: Question Quality
AI tools like ChatGPT are remarkably capable, but they’re only as good as the prompts they receive. Students who can formulate precise, thoughtful questions get dramatically better results than those who ask vague or poorly structured questions.
In a Year 10 class I observed, students were exploring historical perspectives with AI tools. Students using basic prompts like “Tell me about World War II” received generic, encyclopedia-style responses. But students who had developed sophisticated questioning habits asked things like:
“Compare how World War II was experienced by civilians in three different countries, focusing on daily life changes”
or
“What economic factors contributed to World War II that aren’t commonly discussed in textbooks?”
The difference in AI outputs was striking – as was the thinking quality that followed.
From Information Consumers to Question Creators
In the pre-AI classroom, questioning was important but often secondary to finding answers. Now, the ability to formulate good questions has become the primary skill. As I explain in my Learnership framework, we’re moving from an education system that values having the right answers to one that values asking the right questions.
This shift requires us to teach questioning explicitly:
- Question refinement: Teaching students to iterate and improve their questions
- Question categorization: Helping students understand different types of questions (factual, conceptual, provocative)
- Question sequencing: Showing how series of questions can build understanding
- Metacognitive questioning: Developing awareness of when and why we ask particular questions
Classroom Strategies for Developing Questioning Habits
Here are practical approaches I’ve seen work effectively:
Question Walls: Dedicate space where students post, refine and build upon questions throughout a unit.
AI Prompt Journals: Have students keep records of their AI prompts and results, reflecting on what made certain questions more effective.
Socratic AI: Model Socratic questioning with AI, showing how follow-up questions clarify and deepen understanding.
Question Quality Criteria: Develop with students a set of criteria for what makes a good question in different contexts.
The great paradox of education in the AI era is that as answers become more accessible, the ability to ask thoughtful questions becomes more valuable. This is exactly why I emphasize Questioning and Problem Posing as a core component in my Problem Solving Super Powers workshops.
As AI becomes more integrated into our classrooms, our focus must shift from teaching students to find information to teaching them to formulate the questions that will guide their learning journey.
What approaches have you found effective for developing questioning habits in your classroom? And how have you seen questioning change with the introduction of AI tools?
