A reader asked: “Hints pls. How can we use AI to shape enquiry questions?”
This is an important and timely question.
AI can assist in refining the wording and articulation of inquiry questions, but should we rely on AI to generate them outright? I’d argue no.
The power of inquiry lies in students developing a deeper understanding of the past and grappling with real, complex, and significant issues – not simply selecting a question that sounds compelling but lacks depth or authenticity.
Who Shapes the Inquiry Question? Teacher, Student, or Both?
Before discussing AI’s role, it’s important to acknowledge that, in history, inquiry-based learning takes different forms*. Sometimes, the teacher is the best person to develop an overarching inquiry question that frames a unit of study—especially when guiding students towards historically significant issues they might not yet be able to articulate. Other times, it’s appropriate (and necessary) for students to develop their own inquiry questions, with teacher support. In many cases, the process involves both: the teacher scaffolds the learning, and students gradually take ownership of the inquiry.
The way AI is used to shape inquiry will depend on which of these modes we are operating in:
Teacher-Designed Inquiry Questions
When a teacher constructs the inquiry question, it should be deeply tied to actual historiographical debates and authentic, meaningful issues. Often, when teachers articulate an inquiry question for a unit, it is a ‘big idea’, a broad historical theme or essential guiding question for a unit of work.
For example, in the Year 9 AC v9 unit Making and Transforming the Nation (1750–1914), a strong essential guiding ‘big idea’ could be expressed as a contextual statement with a focusing question:
“While Australia was once considered the world’s ‘social laboratory’ – pioneering in workers’ rights and suffrage, this progressive history has often been forgotten, overshadowed by the trauma of the 1914-18 War”.
To what extent is this statement an accurate assessment of Australia’s history in this era?
With such a question, AI could be used after the question is set by teachers within a range of learning experiences which help students explore different perspectives, sources, and counterarguments.
Student-Generated Inquiry Questions
When students are tasked with designing their own inquiry questions in history, they must first develop their historical intelligence (HI) . Devloping a meaningful inquiry question is challenging for anyone. Students are likely to only experience success with significant teacher support, a grounding in some core content knowledge, practice in historical thinking skills, and a broad awareness of key issues.
AI can certainly help students refine their thinking, and sharpen the expression of their questions, but only after students have engaged deeply with secondary and primary sources… and only in the midst of a process in which teachers shape their thinking and scaffolded a process by which ideas are articulated. AI has a place in the arsenal alongside other strategies and tools as students draft and develop inquiry questions.
AI cannot be a replacement for thinking or human engagement as inquiries are developed. As such, AI is best perceived as part of a blended approach to learning.
A Blended Approach
Often, the most effective approach involves both teacher guidance and student agency. A teacher might provide a broad historical theme or essential question, and students refine or personalise it based on their interests.
AI can act as a co-designer in the learning process, helping students test different angles and improve clarity.
The Foundations of Inquiry: Human Intelligence (HI) Before AI
Regardless of whether the teacher or students shape the inquiry question, the process must be grounded in:
- Breadth and Depth of Understanding – Inquiry works best when students have engaged deeply with historical sources, debates, and perspectives.
- Authenticity and Lived Experience – The best inquiry questions are not arbitrary; they should connect to enduring, meaningful issues that resonate with students’ identities, values, and the world they inhabit.
- Reparative and Transformative Thinking – A powerful inquiry question should push students to consider how historical understanding can lead to action – both in understanding the past and imagining better futures.
Where AI Can Help: Refining, Expanding, and Interrogating Inquiry Questions
Once an inquiry question has been drafted – whether by the teacher or the student – AI can be a useful tool to refine and extend thinking:
- Expanding Historical Thinking – Students can prompt AI with: “What perspectives am I missing?” or “What historiographical debates relate to this question?” This can help uncover blind spots.
- Strengthening the Question’s Focus – AI can suggest alternative phrasings that increase clarity and analytical depth, but students must critically evaluate whether AI’s suggestions align with their intent.
- Engaging in Multi-Turn Chat – Rather than asking AI for a single answer, students should engage in iterative questioning, treating AI as a research assistant rather than an oracle.**
Using “C – E – C” in the Multi-Turn chat
In using the multi-turn chat, students should be encouraged to use iterative comments and questions to clarify the responses given, to request elaboration and further exploration, and to challenge any information generated by the AI that is not verified with reference to other sources.
These ideas are expressed by early adopter teacher, Sabrina Wall, as C-E-C in professional learning sessions she conducts.
C – Clarify
E – Ellaborate
C – Challenge
A Seasonal Model for Shaping Inquiry Questions
As explored in This Teacher’s Journal: Blog Post 1, inquiry-based learning follows a seasonal rhythm. Each phase represents a different stage of intellectual growth and engagement. As such an inquiry question should enjoy a ‘life’ beyond a unit planner or an assessment task. It should be integrated within an authentic cycle of learning.
“New Leaf Season” (Weeks 1–3) – Laying the Foundations
- This is the time for immersion in sources, concepts, and historiographical debates.
- Inquiry questions should not be rushed; instead, students should be exposed to key historical tensions through flipped learning, concept mapping, and reflective discussions.
- AI is not yet introduced for question formation – it is used to clarify terminology, break down difficult introductory concepts, and explore different historical beginning ideas.
“A Season of Deep Green Leaves” (Weeks 3–5) – Developing Historical Thinking
- Students move from content absorption to active engagement, refining their analytical skills.
- They begin identifying patterns and tensions, leading to the first iteration of their inquiry questions.
- AI can assist at this stage by acting as a thought partner – helping students explore alternative angles, test assumptions, articulate ‘big questions’ and first ideas, and to uncover historiographical gaps.
“Fruiting Season” (Weeks 5–6) – Applying Inquiry Thinking
- Inquiry questions should now begin to take shape in the minds of students, with students preparing to test them against evidence.
- AI can help students refine their phrasing, check the clarity of their argument, and suggest counterpoints to strengthen their inquiry focus.
- Students should begin engaging in multi-turn AI interactions, prompting it to critique and refine / shape their emerging hypotheses.
“The Ripening” (Weeks 7–8) – Refining and Strengthening Inquiry
- Inquiry questions are now being finalised and serve as the basis for deep analysis and argumentation.
- AI may assist in structuring responses, identifying additional sources / historiographical conversations / perspectives, and refining argumentative clarity – but critical evaluation remains key.
“Harvest Season” (Week 9) – Demonstrating Understanding
- Students present their inquiry findings through essays, presentations, digital projects, or the like.
- AI might assist final proofreading, coherence checking, and testing the strength of arguments.
“Seeding Season” (Week 10) – Reflecting and Extending Inquiry
- Inquiry does not end with assessment – students explore what comes next through reparative approaches to history. It’s important for students to think about the ‘so what’ questions that arise from their inquiry and to let new questions emerge. These questions might prompt social melioristic action and reveal the future orientation that is so often overlooked iin the study of history. In this season, AI can be used to help students extend their questions into broader civic and ethical considerations: How does this history inform our world today? What should we do with this knowledge?
- In short, true inquiry learning moves from historical investigation to historical agency.
School Holidays: “Dormancy” – Unseen Growth
- The break between formal learning periods allows ideas to settle, ferment, and grow. This dormancy is often overlooked by teachers but is crucial in the growth of learning.
- During this season, students reflect on their inquiries informally—through travel, discussions with family, and everyday engagement with history.
Final Thought: AI as a Means, Not an End
The goal of historical inquiry questions is not to produce the most elegant, complex or best expressed question, but to ensure that students engage in deep and authentic historical thinking.
If students rely too heavily on AI without developing their own analytical frameworks, they risk missing the true purpose of inquiry: a grappling with the complexity of history in a way that fosters agency, justice, and a richer understanding of the past.
So, should we use AI to shape inquiry questions? Yes – but only as a tool to extend and challenge human intelligence, not as a shortcut that bypasses it.
* … and so-called “discovery learning” is NOT the inquiry method used or advocated for by any reputable source on history pedagogy. As stated in This Online Reader’s Digest: January 27 – 31, 2025,
“Inquiry-based learning has long been a contentious topic in educational discourse, with critics often conflating it with discovery learning – an unstructured approach that offers little guidance to students. However, a careful reading of the research suggests that this is a misrepresentation. This article provides a crucial clarification: criticisms of inquiry-based learning are largely directed at discovery learning, which indeed has limited educational value. In contrast, guided inquiry and problem-based learning -when structured effectively – offer significant pedagogical affordances that align with both traditional education and authentic learning movements. In an age where generative AI is becoming ubiquitous, these distinctions become critical.
One of the most compelling arguments put forward in the article is the necessity for educational policymakers and practitioners to actively engage with critics who mis-characterise inquiry-based learning. The authors argue that education authorities should explicitly differentiate between flawed minimally guided “discovery learning” approaches and structured inquiry approaches that incorporate scaffolding, direct instruction, and iterative feedback. These approaches are typical of history classrooms“.
** Such an approach is discussed in Wall, V., Redmond, P., and Bedford, A. (Under Review) Using Generative Artificial Intelligence in Education: Initial Principles Developed From Practitioner Reflexive Research.
Disrupted History 