The producer and host of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, Bonni Stachowiak, recently sat down with the inventor and founder of Question Jam, Pia Lauritzen for a chat about the power of questions in education.

When the Jam ends, you should take the lead in exploring the collective output with your students. Here are 3 suggested approaches.

The summer is coming to an end.

Your students just spent weeks cultivating their own interests, and now they are excited to reunite with their friends - and get to know a lot of new people.

Now is the perfect time to invite them to be curious together!

I probably should have seen it coming. But I didn’t. I didn’t think anyone would be so tech optimistic to suggest that: 1) AI should teach kids how to be curious. 2) Question-asking skills can be trained like any other skill. 3) Questioning skills can be evaluated in the same way we evaluate answering skills.

Once in a while, we catch up with Question Jam users to learn how they are using the tool. This time we spoke to Melissa Lingle-Martin who is an English teacher and 11th grade dean in Ethiopia.

Melissa teaches at Haile-Manas Academy - a private college preparatory boarding school for promising Ethiopian students. Previously Melissa has taught in the US and Bulgaria.

Great educators have always valued great questions, and as AI-driven technologies become better at providing answers, teaching your students to ask great questions seems more important than ever. But how do you teach someone to ask great questions?

Sparking student curiosity is a crucial ingredient for engaging and motivating students in their learning journey. A curious student is more likely to ask questions, seek answers, and explore new ideas beyond the classroom walls.

As a teacher in higher education, you want to create an environment where students feel comfortable asking questions and engaging in discussions. However, fostering a classroom culture of inquiry is deliberate choice that requires classroom leadership. 

Here are some effective strategies you can apply to create a classroom culture that encourages curiosity and active participation.

Asking questions is a skill that leads to growth, learning, and progress. Curiosity is the driving force behind innovation, creativity, and discovery. The act of asking questions has immense potential and power - and this is why you should let your students practice often and freely: