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 […]
October 11, 2016
Cultivating Curiosity by Deliberately Teaching Students How to Ask Questions by Andrew Minigan
In his piece for Education Week, Andrew Minigan, RQI Education Project and Research Coordinator, writes, “Question formulation is fundamental to cognitive development and how we learn from others, and yet it is a skill that is rarely developed in classrooms.” Read his post on the importance of deliberately teaching students how to ask questions. […]
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 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 […]
January 5, 2016
@RightQuestion Digest: The QFT for Sustained Inquiry, for Students Learning English as an Additional Language, & More!
John Larmer (@johnlBIE), Editor in Chief at the Buck Institute for Education, mentions the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) in his blog, “Gold Standard PBL: Sustained Inquiry.” This blog eloquently describes sustained inquiry through providing classroom examples from different grade levels. Read the blog here. New! Sustained Inquiry in Project Based Learning – http://t.co/wa84A8HesE via @johnlBIE #EdChat […]
November 17, 2015
@RightQuestion Digest: The Question Formulation Technique (QFT) in Middle School
The Question Formulation Technique (QFT) in Middle School “How was space even created? O -> C Was space created by a gas nebula?” Monica Reilly (@DrMReilly1), an educator at Independence Middle School, Virginia Beach, VA, used the QFT in an eighth grade earth science class. Students developed their own questions about space exploration. The Question Focus […]
October 1, 2015
@RightQuestion Digest: Connections with Project-Based Learning, Information Fluency, & Danielson’s Framework
Improving Student Inquiry In his blog post, Improving Student Inquiry with the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) and PBL, Drew Perkins (@dperkinsed) discusses the value of implementing the QFT in a project-based learning (PBL) classroom. Perkins advocates for the use of the QFT because it can elevate student autonomy and collaboration while also creating a classroom culture of exploration and […]
September 24, 2015
@RightQuestion Digest: ASCD Publication Features Question Formulation Technique
Dan Rothstein’s Blog & Interview with Educational Leadership Right Question Institute Co-Director Dan Rothstein wrote a blog post and was interviewed by ASCD for their publication Educational Leadership. As a part of their September issue, “Questioning for Learning,” Dan discusses the power of asking questions within the classroom, and its benefits for both teachers and […]
August 28, 2015
Video: The QFT and “Summative Assessment”
We are excited to present a great video demonstrating innovative use of the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) for summative assessment purposes. Joshua Beer’s students in his 8th grade class in a rural New Hampshire community do brilliant work working with this Question Focus as they come to the end of a unit of study: Questions […]
March 3, 2015
Student Questions, Shifting Classrooms
by Erica DeVoe The past three books I’ve read changed me. Actually, they defined me. No wait, they articulated what I’ve always known myself to be, but I had yet to articulate it for myself… and that, that is what saved me. Grant Lichtman’s The Falconer, Warren Berger’s A More Beautiful Question, and Santana and Rothstein’s […]
