Asking students high-quality questions is key to “sustaining deep learning,” according to Illinois high school teacher Chris Kubic, and so is incorporating one simple, specific query: How do you know?

“Asking this follow-up question after a student provides an answer prompts deeper thinking in a number of ways,” Kubic writes for Edutopia. “Students have to not only consider evidence and alternative answers but also support their thinking. It moves the initial question from a place of simple recall or recognition into higher levels of thinking.”

Read more from Kubic here.