ABSTRACT
The assertion of ignorance is a pedagogical strategy that dates back to the earliest accounts of teaching, and is probably even older than that. 1 When the responsibility for responding to an inquiry is redirected back onto the student, it sends a message that the struggle to think through the question is more important than the answer itself. Educators have long known that it is more likely for students to recall answers they have previously figured out on their own, compared with something they were simply told. However, like many aspects of teaching, being able to do something as seemingly simple as not answering a question from a student turns out to be surprisingly difficult.
