What is a question?

? I'm generally fairly confident in my teaching of English. I feel like I've got the concepts down myself and can explain them well. Today, however, my task was far more daunting than usual. I have discovered in my class a child who does not understand what a question is.
Let me explain.
I asked my darling 8th graders to pick one particular event in their life (we had a giant bru-ha-ha leading up to this...we did drawings, we made timelines, the whole deal). So, pick an event. No problem. Everyone was good with that. Then, I said, "If someone wanted to know more about this life event of yours, what kinds of questions would they ask you?" I showed them what I meant by using my own life. "We want to know about when you went to college," they said. "Fair enough," I said. What would you like to know?
Was it hard? Do you feel smart now? Where did you live? Was the food good? Were you in a sorority? (If they only knew...) Did you have a boyfriend and did he get in your way? (If only they knew...)
So, then we talked about the difference between "yes or no" questions and questions with a lot of meat. We decided meaty questions were the way to go, so they beefed up their questions for me...
Then it was their turn. "What do you think people might want to know about the life event that you picked. What kinds of questions would they ask? Write them down." As I was roaming about the room, I noticed that one lad's paper said: 1. Lived with my grandpa.
"Is that the event that you're going to ask questions about?" I asked.
"No, I'm going to write questions about when I moved," said the boy.
"Ok. So, is that your first question?"
"Yes."
"Lived with my grandpa. When I read that does it sound like a question? Something that you could give an answer to?"
"Yes."
That was not the answer I wanted. "So I walk up to you and ask, 'Lived with my grandpa?' What would your answer be?" See, this is a trick question for the boy....There couldn't be an answer because it's not a question. I'm so sneaky.
"I would tell you about moving."
"Really. Hm...A question is something you ask. It has a question mark at the end. That's not a question. It's kind of a statement. A fact."
"No, it's a question about how I moved."
"It's the answer to a question," I prodded.
"No, it's the question."
Dear Lord. Someone help.
I really, really, really think this kid had no idea what the difference is between a question and an answer is. None. How can you go through school and not figure that out? Isn't questioning and answering the basic premise of school? I promise you that he wasn't being a jerk or a smart alec. This kid was dead serious. When I made a suggestion as to how to revise his "question" he didn't want to.
So, for tomorrow...how do I explain what a question is to someone who does not understand the concept?