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Teaching + Learning
See the Question Formulation Technique facilitated step-by-step in different grades and subjects
Watch QFT for primary source learning in action
This video shows a 12th-grade humanities teacher, Ling-Se Chesnakas, using the QFT with her class in Boston. Ling-Se used the QFT to prepare students for a Socratic seminar and help them with a writing assignment about the book "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao," by Junot Diaz.
Lucy Canotas, a 4th grade teacher in Manchester, NH, used the QFT to learn more about what her students knew or did not know about fractions. This video shows Lucy using a visual Question Focus to stimulate students’ questions. She leads her class through each step of the Question Formulation Technique, all the way through their reflections at the end on what they learned and liked about the process.
Towards the end of a unit on electricity, David Meshoulam presents his students with the Question Focus, “Powerlines from a power plant carry electricity at voltages of 345,000 volts or more! Transformers, like the one shown reduce that voltage to 120V for home use.” Watch as a high school physics class in Newton, MA goes through each step of the QFT.
In this video Joshua Beer, an educator who teaches 8th grade in rural New Hampshire, uses the QFT for summative assessment purposes. Watch the QFT unfold as students address the Question Focus (QFocus), “Questions that should be asked about American imperialism at the turn of the 20th century.”