Course description
Asking questions is an essential — yet often overlooked — lifelong learning skill. When we teach our students to formulate effective questions, we open up powerful pathways for engaged, self-directed learning. Questioning helps students effectively pursue their interests, navigate complex situations, solve problems, and assess print and online media content with a critical eye. They grow more confident as they prepare to contribute to a robust democracy.
The Question Formulation Technique (QFT) is a deceptively simple, practical, adaptable method that helps students become more sophisticated thinkers and problem-solvers. In this three-week online workshop, you’ll learn to harness the power of QFT with its original developers, Luz Santana and Dan Rothstein, co-directors of the Right Question Institute and co-authors of Make Just One Change: Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions (Harvard Education Press).
This program expands on Santana and Rothstein’s original work by demonstrating how to adapt the QFT to a wide range of learning environments. Sarah Westbrook, the Right Question Institute’s director of professional learning, oversees this program. She draws on the wisdom of thousands of teachers to help you develop QFT strategies for your own classroom.
The program features a three-week asynchronous online workshop with an optional online webinar. Resources include videos, readings, online discussions, and peer collaboration. This is an asynchronous learning experience that is designed to be self-paced.
All materials are provided at the start of the program and can be completed at times that best fit your schedule. You should plan to devote a total of 10 to 12 hours of work. Participants who complete all individual assessments and contribute to group discussions prior to the end of the program period will receive a certificate indicating completion of 15 clock hours of instruction.
