Research questions
Research questions must be specific, answerable and worth asking. Refining the question is most of the work.
AI for Kids · Class 10 · Module 3 of 9
Deep Research Skills
Certainty is easy to write. Honest uncertainty is much harder — and much more useful.
8 sessionsSessions 17–24
4 weeksTypical pace
AppliedLevel
Class 10Artificial Intelligence
The big idea
Students conduct academic-standard research: sharp questions, evidence weighed by quality, and writing that states its confidence level honestly rather than flattening everything into assertion.
Why it matters
This is precisely the standard expected at senior school and university, and the students who have practised it arrive ahead.
Unpacked
What you will actually learn
Three core ideas, each taught with worked examples and then practised until it feels obvious.
Evidence quality
Evidence quality varies enormously — sample size, method, funding and replication all matter before the conclusion does.
Citations and uncertainty
Citations and uncertainty go together: cite everything, and say plainly where the evidence is thin.
Did you know?
Many published findings across several fields have failed to replicate when retested — the reason single studies should never be treated as settled.
Common mix-up
“Saying I am uncertain weakens my work.” Stated uncertainty is a marker of rigour. Unearned certainty is what experts distrust.
Session by session
Your 8-session journey
Sessions 17–24 of the 72-session year, at two one-hour sessions per week.
- 1
Warm-up and big picture
Where this module fits, what you will build, and a hands-on starter that gets everyone curious about research questions.
- 2
Research questions
Guided teaching on research questions, worked through together with the teacher.
- 3
Research questions — practice lab
Independent practice, small challenges and one deliberate mistake to diagnose.
- 4
Evidence quality
Guided teaching on evidence quality, building directly on the previous two sessions.
- 5
Evidence quality — practice lab
Applied tasks that combine research questions and evidence quality in one piece of work.
- 6
Citations and uncertainty
Citations and uncertainty introduced and practised, completing the toolkit needed for the project.
- 7
Project build
Guided build session for the module project: Academic-style research explainer.
- 8
Test, present and reflect
Finish, test against the checklist, present the work and explain the decisions behind it.
Project lab
Academic-style research explainer
Every module ends with something the student built themselves and can demonstrate. This is the piece that goes into their portfolio and gets explained out loud at the end of session 24.
Try this at home
Grade every source in your bibliography for quality, then check whether your strongest claim rests on your weakest source.
It is finished when
- It works from start to finish without breaking
- You can explain every part of it in your own words
- You tested it and improved at least one thing afterwards
- Someone else used or understood it without your help
By the end of this module
Students finishing Module 3 can:
- Explain and use research questions without prompting
- Explain and use evidence quality without prompting
- Explain and use citations and uncertainty without prompting
- Build and finish academic-style research explainer
- Test your own work and correct what you find
- Talk an adult through what you made and why
Word bank
The vocabulary introduced here, in plain language:
- replication
- Repeating a study to test its findings.
- evidence quality
- How much weight a source deserves.
- confidence
- How certain a conclusion honestly is.
Module challenge
Think you have got this?
0 XPLevel 1 · Curious Beginner
6 quick questions drawn from this module — vocabulary, the project you build, and a myth-or-fact round. Every wrong answer explains itself, so a mistake still teaches you something.
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