You need a statement because a question is not falsifiable. Asking students to come up with a statement rather than a question is one step closer to coming up w

You need a statement because a question is not falsifiable. Asking students to come up with a statement rather than a question is one step closer to coming up with a falsifiable proposition. Your high school self stumbled onto a serious debate in the philosophy of science of course. What I have said is fairly accepted, but if you're interested in the philosophy & arguments behind it you should read some Karl Popper[0]. [0]: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/popper/ https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/popper/