By Jay Sorensen So, the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) isn’t necessarily a technology-related tool. It can be done with no more than pencil and paper. Of course, you can enhance it by bringing in videos, or using VR for your Q-focus, or holding an online discussion of questions. But I think of the QFT as tech-related in […]
Educator Reflections
Educators share their insight and use of the Question Formulation Technique.
April 18, 2017
Biography and Bioethics: 9th Graders Ask Questions about the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
It all began with a question. For writer and journalist Rebecca Skloot, it was a question she asked as a high school student in a college biology lecture that launched her into a decades long research and writing process that eventually became the New York Times Bestseller, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. After a […]
February 27, 2017
“What would change in our community if no one judged?” 7th Graders Question Social Dynamics in Literature, and in Their Own Lives
How can teachers foster social awareness and empathy through student-generated questions? Teachers are often looking for new ways to build connections between course content and their students’ lives. In this classroom example, Erin Wynn, a 7th grade English Language Arts (ELA) teacher, used the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) to engage students at the start of […]
November 22, 2016
English Students Use the QFT to Drive AP-ready, SAT-ready, EPT-ready Learning
by Andrea Giordano-Rink In my 24 years of teaching high school English in the Sweetwater District in Southern California I have never used a strategy as powerful as the Question Formulation Technique (QFT). I am teaching Honors English 11 this year with a very unique set of students. These are the students, primarily, who have […]
October 21, 2016
My QFT Journey: Putting Students’ Minds into Motion with their Questions
by James Brewster I’m proud to serve as the U.S. History teacher at the Gus Garcia Young Men’s Leadership Academy in Austin, Texas, a 6th-8th grade, Title I campus. My students don’t always see themselves reflected in the subject I teach and don’t always feel like they have agency in their learning. With that in […]
September 27, 2016
My Learning Philosophy
By Nicole Cruz, RDH, BSDH It’s vital that I structure my classroom as a learning environment, and not just a teaching environment. The difference is simple: in a learning environment, the focus is on the students and their learning. In a teaching environment, the focus is on the knowledge of the teacher. The whole point […]
June 8, 2016
Elementary Students Driving their Learning by Asking Questions: An Interview with Deirdre Brotherson
an interview with Deirdre Brotherson by Mikah Farbo Earlier this month Deirdre Brotherson, a 5th grade teacher at Hooksett Memorial School in New Hampshire, took time out of her busy day to speak with me and share her experience with the Question Formulation Technique (QFT). Through our conversation, I learned how Brotherson’s use of the […]
May 10, 2016
Three and Four Year Old Students Learning to Ask Their Own Questions
By: Lisa Bernadino, Kristen Harvey, Andrea Serino, Kristen Sasso, Donna Rosso, & Margaret Adams “In early childhood classrooms, science based lessons are something that are often done, but not as often explored by students,” shares Kristen Harvey, Pre-Kindergarten teacher at the Franklin. The Franklin Early Childhood Center, part of the Melrose Public Schools in Massachusetts, serves approximately 300 three […]
March 23, 2016
St. Patrick Expelling the Snakes from Ireland: Using the QFT During Question Week
By Joshua Beer I have been enjoying Question Week and the extra reason to focus on students generating their own questions. We have used the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) all week in my classes, along with a few components of Project Zero’s Artful Thinking. Here is one example of a QFT I used. The Question Focus […]
March 14, 2016
How to Deepen Student Learning Using PBL & the QFT
By Jim Bentley When I started teaching, my primary concerns were fairly straightforward: engage students personally, plan clear instruction, and manage behavior effectively. I was the leader of instruction, and I perceived my job to be one of shepherding my students and helping them whenever they struggled. Looking back now, I can see it was […]
