How to use questions in new ways

Bonni: “Did you notice cultural differences or differing degrees of comfort levels with questions that do not have, quote, right answers?”

Me: "No. Actually, I didn’t.

The teachers I was observing didn’t even go there.

That is, they didn’t go there where it was a possibility for the students to ask these kind of questions.

They were brilliant teachers. I could see that.

But I think it would be a different and maybe even a more fruitful learning environment if educators felt more comfortable establishing a space where students can ask questions that no one in the room is able to answer.

But that’s not how the education system was designed to work, I think.

However, I think things are changing right now, and I think they need to change, you know, with AI and everything.

We need to have different ways of embracing questions because with technology providing most of the answers, answers will not be the most interesting thing.

We need to cultivate our ability to ask insightful questions, and insightful questions more or less by default have no clear answers.

So that’s why we have to discuss them.

That’s why we have to ask them."

In my conversation with Bonni Stachowiak, we also discuss:

• Why teaching how to prompt AI-driven technologies is NOT the same as helping students ask more insightful questions
• How to relieve the fear of silence - and the fear of not knowing
• How Question Jam can help educators help students be curious together.

Tune in on the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast to learn more.