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Critical questioning with generative AI: Developing AI literacy in secondary education
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Critical questioning with generative AI: Developing AI literacy in secondary education

Kok-Sing Tang, Grant Cooper, Natasha Rappa and Jonathan Edwards
Thinking skills and creativity, Vol.59, 102043
2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2025.102043
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Published668.53 kBDownloadView
Published (Version of Record)CC BY-NC V4.0,  Open Access

Abstract

AI literacy Critical questioning Critical thinking Generative AI Human-AI Interaction
The rapid integration of Generative AI (GenAI) in education presents both opportunities and challenges in fostering critical questioning – a skill essential for critical thinking and AI literacy. In the context of GenAI, critical questioning refers to the ability to question, probe, and critically assess information generated by GenAI that will equip students with the discernment necessary in a digital world. However, there is limited research on how students develop and apply critical questioning when interacting with GenAI. This study addresses the research gap by investigating the pedagogical and contextual conditions that support high school students in critical questioning with GenAI. Through an action research study situated in a Grade 10 English classroom, the study examines the key conditions that facilitated students’ critical questioning with GenAI. Ethnographic methods were used to generate data from classroom observations, interviews, and student chatlogs that captured how students engaged with GenAI in situ within the classroom environment. A prior critical questioning framework was modified and used to identify instances of critical questioning with GenAI in the data, which were coded along the dimensions of context, delivery, and competency. Findings highlight how the instructional design of AI-mediated interactions, role of the teacher, students’ knowledge and disposition, and the delivery of GenAI platform were crucial in shaping the quality and depth of students’ questioning. These findings indicate that the success of critical engagement with GenAI does not rest on its technological capabilities alone, but on the specific pedagogical and classroom conditions that enable students to use it purposefully and reflectively. By extending our understanding of critical questioning in AI-mediated learning environments, this study provides insights into the conditions that foster AI literacy, which can lead to students actively and critically engaging with AI-generated content rather than passively consuming it.

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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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#4 Quality Education

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Citation topics
10 Arts & Humanities
10.290 Art
10.290.2219 Art Education
Web Of Science research areas
Education & Educational Research
ESI research areas
Social Sciences, general
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