Question Formulation Technique (QFT) 1-Day Training (Sunday afternoon July 22, 2018 and Monday morning, July 23, 2018) led by Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana, Co-Directors of the Right Question Institute - will include participation by teachers and students
The ability to ask one’s own questions, improve them, and strategize on how to use those questions may be the single most important thinking skill students can learn at any stage of their educational journey.
The skill of question formulation, however, is too rarely deliberately or rigorously taught. We can create more equitable learning opportunities for all students and enrich the educational experience of advanced as well as struggling learners, by prioritizing a commitment to teach this skill to all students.
What would it mean, then, if students began, just like researchers, innovators, or scientists, to drive their educational journey by learning not only to ask their own questions, but also how to work with those questions to learn even more? More than 250,000 educators around the world are showing just what happens when students learn to work with their own questions. They are deploying a deceptively simple method, the Question Formulation Technique (QFT), that allows students to produce their own questions, improve their questions and strategize on how to use them. It is purposefully called a “technique” to underscore its universal relevance and ease of use, but it is much more than a technique. It is the core of a learning model that provides opportunities for students to do divergent, convergent, and metacognitive thinking. As students learn to use the QFT, they become more curious and take ownership for their own learning. Their teachers, in turn, experience new joy as they see students driving their own learning. Both students and teachers also discover the profound power of question formulation as a democratic habit of mind.
In this hands-on, active learning experience, participants will work closely with Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana, co-creators of the Question Formulation Technique (QFT), as well as with educators experienced in using the QFT across age levels and disciplines.
Over the course of the two half-day sessions, participants will:
- Participate in an active learning experience with the QFT
- See classroom examples from pre-k through higher education
- Learn strategies for best practices in planning, facilitation, and professional development with the QFT
- Work with planning tools and classroom resources
- Form self-organized working groups around topics of interest
take advantage of opportunities to share work and collaborate with peers
hear from students who can speak to how the skill has made them more confident and excited learners
Workshop participants leave with a deep understanding of the strategy and the ability to immediately apply it with students and share with colleagues.
