By Jim Bentley When I started teaching, my primary concerns were fairly straightforward: engage students personally, plan clear instruction, and…
Teaching + Learning
The Question Formulation Technique (QFT) is being used in schools and districts across the United States. Educators use the QFT to promote student-centered…
By Daniel Fouts Where was the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) 23 years ago? When I began teaching social studies in…
This video shows how the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) may be used to formatively assess students’ understanding of a concept…
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.
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.