by Jennifer Pieratt, Ph.D. Leading organizations in the field of Project Based Learning (PBL) have identified inquiry as a characteristic of high quality PBL, and PBL facilitators are often interested in ways to sustain student inquiry; however after reflecting on my work in the field as an educator supporting teachers I have come to feel […]
January 31, 2018
Education Program Summer Fellowship Opportunity at the Right Question Institute
Position Type: Education Program Summer Fellow – The Right Question Institute Would you like the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to a successful nonprofit working on innovative strategies in the field of education? If so, the Right Question Institute (RQI), an education nonprofit in Cambridge, MA, is offering a limited number of fellowship positions for summer […]
January 23, 2018
Right Question Stories From the Field: Edible Packing Material, Smelly Barrels, and Regurgitated Owl Food
When educators use objects or images as a Question Focus it can send elementary school students’ minds racing in new directions. By Chris Orchard If a picture is worth a thousand words, how many questions is it worth? A lot, it seems. We’ve found that elementary school teachers often achieve great results with the Question […]
December 22, 2017
What If My Students’ Questions Go Off the Rails?
by Connie Williams Like any lesson ever, the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) doesn’t always go as perfectly as planned, but there’s always something you can learn from your facilitation of the QFT and students always benefit from having space and time to ask questions. I’ve certainly had those experiences where the Question Focus (QFocus) and […]
December 5, 2017
It’s All About the Question
By Ellen Gammel The Fitchburg High School state report came back… Level 3… again. For schools in Massachusetts, this Department of Education label informs us we are in the bottom 20% of schools – definitely a label no school wants. The discouragement and frustration came to the forefront, and then the big question: Why? Why […]
December 5, 2017
Seminar on Best Practices in the Question Formulation Technique in Collaboration with Cuyahoga County ESC, Ohio
A good question can spark curiosity and fuel creativity, understanding, and innovation. Question formulation is an increasingly vital skill for critical thinking, literacy, inquiry, and civic engagement in the 21st century, as reflected in many new state and national standards. Yet, it is rare that the skill of question formulation is deliberately taught to students. […]
November 15, 2017
Right Question Stories from the Field: Farming on Volcanoes, Flint’s Water Crisis, and Excreting Isopods
How educators are using the Question Formulation Technique in STEM lessons around the country and world. By Chris Orchard Students in Alyssa Park’s fourth-grade class had a pressing question about isopods. Specifically, “Do they poop?” To refresh your memory, isopods are “small sessile-eyed aquatic or terrestrial crustaceans with the body composed of seven free thoracic […]
November 14, 2017
“How does the sun’s power get into you?” Using the QFT to Explore Energy with First Graders
By Jodie Botzang, First Grade Teacher, Summers’ Corners Public School, Aylmer, Ontario, Canada What I like about the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) process is that it provides an opportunity for my first graders to ask their questions without feeling insecure or judged on their prior knowledge. The idea that you ask every question that comes […]
November 6, 2017
My Ah-Ha Moments with the Question Formulation Technique
by Connie Williams When first starting to use the Question Formulation Technique (QFT), I thought I needed to run through the process as described each and every time. It made sense, after all, to complete it with fidelity so that I would know that I was doing it “right.” As I became more competent – […]
September 13, 2017
To Adapt, or Not to Adapt?: How Fidelity-Of-Implementation of the QFT Can Impact Student Outcomes
by Shelby Clark In the fall of 2015, my colleagues at Boston University and I set out to find out how the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) impacts high school student outcomes, in particular curiosity, divergent thinking (creativity), school engagement, and self-efficacy. On the one hand, we were particularly interested in knowing whether teaching students to […]
