A Deep Dive with the Question Formulation Technique (QFT)

1. A Deep Dive with the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) Katy Connolly Education Program Associate Sarah Westbrook Director of Professional Learning The Right Question Institute, Cambridge, MA

2. To Access Today’s Materials: https://rightquestion.org/events/ Join our Educator Network for: • Templates you can use tomorrow in class • Classroom Examples • Instructional Videos • Forums and Discussions with other Educators

3. We’re Tweeting… @RightQuestion @SarahRQI #QFT

4. Since August 28th… • What people still want to know: • 4 people want to know how to pick a quality QFocus • 4 people want to know what to do when student questions go off topic • 3 people want to know how to follow up with students’ questions • 3 want to know how to best conclude the QFT lesson • 2 people want to know how to encourage less vocal students to participate more • What went well: • 3 people said their students were more engaged than usual • 2 people said students were pleasantly surprised they could answer their own questions • 2 people said it led to a great discussion • 2 people said students collaborated well and listened to each other • People said the questions helped students “set the stage for learning”, “formulate a solving strategy”, and one person said, “it allowed them to experience a similar process that led astronomers to making these discoveries as well.”

5. Building a Shared Online Resource http://bit.ly/FBStemQFT

6. Today’s Agenda • Welcome • Debrief Classroom Experiences • The “Art & Science of the QFT”: Tailoring, Tweaking, and Troubleshooting the QFT • Reflection & Planning your Next Steps

7. Tuning Protocol • Presentation (4 minutes) • Presenter describes the context and shares materials related to the lesson, participants remain quiet and take notes • Presenter poses 1-2 key questions about what they’ve presented • Clarifying Questions (2 minutes) • Participants ask any nonevaluative clarifying questions they have, presenter responds • Discussion (6 minutes) • Participants discuss issues raised during the presentation, what they see in student work among themselves, other questions they have, etc. striving to deepen their understanding of the situation • Presenter is silent, taking notes • Reflection & Debrief (3 minutes) • Presenter reflects aloud about the discussion and any future plans or actions they might take

8. Share out from the Tuning Protocol

9. The Art & Science of the QFT: Design, Facilitation, and Troubleshooting

10. The Science: The QFT is a rigorous protocol, with specific steps and sequence, that produces consistent results QFT: An Art and a Science The QFT Present a Question Focus Produce questions following the 4 rules Improve questions Prioritize questions Discuss next steps Reflect

11. The Art: You should tailor the QFT process to the specific content and people you are working with. Tailor the QFT through: Planning how to use student questions Question Focus design Prioritization instructions Reflection questions Facilitation QFT: An Art and a Science

12. Facilitation Starting at the End QFocus Design Prioritization Instructions Reflection Questions Five Areas Related to the Art of the QFT

13. Monitor student adherence to the process Do not give examples Do not get pulled into group discussion Acknowledge all contributions equally Four Principles of Facilitation • Discuss: What could be challenging about each principle? What might be important about each?

14. Timing

15. The QFT, on one slide… Ask as many questions as you can Do not stop to discuss, judge or answer Record exactly as stated Change statements into questions • Question Focus • Produce Your Questions • Follow the rules • Number your questions • Improve Your Questions • Categorize questions as Closed or Open-ended • Change questions from one type to another • Prioritize Your Questions • Share & Discuss Next Steps • Reflect • Where could you save time, once students know the full process? • What steps could you cut or condense either to save time or keep it fresh for students? Closed-Ended: Answered with “yes,” “no” or one word Open-Ended: Require longer explanation

16. Facilitation Starting at the End QFocus Design Prioritization Instructions Reflection Questions Five Areas Related to the Art of the QFT

17. The QFT, Not a Detour but a Shortcut

18. Engagement Knowledge acquisition Formative assessment Summative assessment Peer review Skill development Various Teaching Purposes

19. Next Steps? Pop Quiz or Reading Check Debate Prep Lab work & Experiments Exit ticket or ”Do Now” Paper topic Projects Research Hang on walls, Check Off as Answered Test Prep And sometimes… Nothing! Homework Class discussion prompts Presentations Student Choice Projects Socratic Seminar Prompts Interview an Expert Make Your Own Final Test Guest speakers Journal Prompt Close Reading Protocol Blogging or Tweeting Year-long or Unit-long Essential Questions Tailoring Instruction Service Action Projects

20. Using the QFT for Skill Development (Students were assigned a complex molecular biology article) QFocus: Ask as many questions as you can about the reading

21. Next Steps with Student Questions: • Students lead themselves through the QFT as homework and bring in their questions • In class, students discuss key attributes of a good biological research question and compare to other types of questions • Students improve their questions • Lists of questions are discarded or kept in notebooks (up to the student) • Students apply this skill to designing their own research project later in the semester

22. Teacher: Nicole Bolduc, Ellington, CT Topic: “The Universe and Its Stars” Unit Purpose: To engage students in setting the learning agenda for the unit Classroom Example: 7th Grade Science

23. Students watched videos of dramatic tide change in Cape Cod, Alaska, and Canada https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAYXZzKUAX4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53EEDisloME Question Focus

24. Next Steps with Student Questions • The Driving Questions Board and the “Parking Lot” • Students draw initial models, give feedback, and make predictions. • Students experience a series of scientific investigations. • At the end of the unit, the Driving Question board is “published” in poster format.

25. Two new classroom examples…

26. Classroom Example:High School Physics Teacher: Rachel Riemer, Cambridge, MA Topic: Relationship between angle of incline and acceleration Purpose: For students to develop their own question to investigate in a lab

27. Question Focus Motion on an incline

28. Next Steps with Student Questions • Students categorized their questions into topics using color-coding • Within those categories, students’ identified a “lead question” and the questions they’d have to answer first to get at the lead question • Students then prioritized with the instructions, “If you were to design a lab, which question would you design a lab around, and why?” • Students wrote a “purpose statement” based on the lead question they chose. This became their hypothesis to test in the lab.

29. Teacher Reflections • “At first, they weren’t buying in. They would say, ‘Just tell us what you want us to do.’ It took them awhile to trust each other too. Now, most of the students will say they really like the flexibility in the labs, that because not everyone is doing the same thing they learn more, and being in the lab is their favorite part.” • For quiet groups: • “Give them time to sit quietly, come up with their own questions individually, then go around in a group and record, and give some time to keep adding questions as a group after their initial questions.” • “One group sat there with 5 questions, other groups went a lot further, so we did a quick gallery walk so they could look at the other groups, and then gave them another 2-3 min to add a few more questions.”

30. Classroom Example:High School Algebra I Teacher: Claire Yablong, Phoenix, AZ Topic: Methods for solving quadratic functions Purpose: • To reveal what students did not know or understand about the topic after students overall performed poorly on a quiz, and to prepare them for the upcoming test • For students to think critically about the best approach to solving different quadratic functions

31. Before the Question Focus • Part 1: • Students tried solving an equation, individually: • 3x2-5x=12 • Part 2: • Students solved the same equation with a partner, using a method not used by them or their partner on part 1.

32. Question Focus: (Now in groups of 4) Solving 3x2-5x=12

33. Through Asking Questions, Students… • Identified gaps in their prior knowledge • How do you factor with two X’s? • What is completing the square? • Made connections to prior knowledge • What does rate of change have to do with this lesson? • Which way has the smallest margin of error? • Used mathematical reasoning • Would it change the answer if you converted to a decimal in the middle of solving? • Thought metacognitively about approach and tools for solving • How would one know what is the best method to use on a question by question basis? • How do you know if the equations is solvable? • Do certain formulas work better for certain problems? • Is it safe to use mental math? • Is using the calculator smart for this problem? • Sought a conceptual understanding • Why do we set the equation to zero? • Why are there two answers? • Why don’t you have to find the square root for factoring? • Sought to extend their knowledge • What if there is no y intercept? What if it’s just 3x^2 for example? • What are the types of equations in which it will cross the y axis? • Had a place to begin • What step do you start with?

34. Next Steps with Student Questions • Students copied their 3 priority questions into Padlet, and made a comment to questions they could answer as a team • Before the test, they reviewed as a class the answers to the questions no one could answer • Students made a noticeable improvement in their scores from when they took the quiz • The teacher noted: “I think our QFT day forced some of them to stop saying ‘I don't get this’ and instead get specific about what they didn't understand.”

35. Facilitation Starting at the End QFocus Design Prioritization Instructions Reflection Questions Five Areas Related to the Art of the QFT

36. Directly tied to lesson’s main idea Simple…but not too simple Interesting or provocative to students…but not biased or leading Designing a Question Focus An effective QFocus is:

37. InitialQuestionFocus: High School Spanish Objective: To assess students’ vocabulary for food and party words

38. InitialQuestionFocus: Middle School ELA

39. Student Questions 9. What is the big tower at the top? 10. Why are we being fit into one building? 11. When was the school made? 12. How much money did it cost to build it? 13. Why does it look like so many parts put together? 14. What is that white thing on top? 15. Why does it have 2 chimneys? 16. What is the point of lockers? 17. Who was the first principal? 18. Who is the boss of the superintendents? 1. Why does it look so old? 2. Why does the school have a Fallout Zone? 3. Why is there a flag hanging upside down? 4. How old is the building? 5. Why are the classrooms numbered? 6. How many acres does it take up? 7. Why are there so many windows? 8. Why is there 4 big pillars at the front?

40. Facilitation Starting at the End QFocus Design Prioritization Instructions Reflection Questions Five Areas Related to the Art of the QFT

41. Choose three questions… General Instructions: that you consider most important that you are most curious about Specific Purposes: that you need to research further to help you solve the problem that you need to answer first that a scientist studying the earth might ask that will help you understand the text that require analyzing data that are not “Googleable” and may be difficult to answer that you think will best open up dialogue that you consider “outside the box” that would best help us learn about (topic or QFocus) that best align with today’s objective Tailoring the Prioritization Instructions

42. “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.” – Maya Angelou QFocus: High School • Troubleshooting Tips: • “Spend the next 2 minutes asking about just this word/phrase” • Change the prioritization instructions on the fly

43. Facilitation Starting at the End QFocus Design Prioritization Instructions Reflection Questions Five Areas Related to the Art of the QFT

44. What did you learn about asking questions? How did you learn it? What did you notice about the order/sequence of questions? How can you use what you learned about asking questions? How do you feel about asking questions? How has your thinking changed since last time we did the QFT? What did you learn about the (content)? How did your questions help you think about… key concept specific assignment overarching topic theme in the unit your teaching practice a challenge in our school QFT Process Content Specific Tailoring Reflection Questions

45. “Reflection is the piece that keeps me coming back the next day… The most profound reflections are almost always from the students who perhaps seemed disengaged in class.Quiet students often do a great deal of their thinking in the written reflection.” -Ling-Se Chesnakas, Boston Public Schools One Last Thought about Reflection

46. The Science of the QFT: a protocol The Art of the QFT: You

47. The one quality all excellent QFT designers share? Thick Skin.

48. Today’s Agenda • Welcome • Debrief Classroom Experiences • The “Art & Science of the QFT”: Tailoring, Tweaking, and Troubleshooting the QFT • Reflection & Planning your Next Steps

49. Pair and Share • One new takeaway you have after today’s session • A question that you have • Plans or ideas for your next steps with the QFT in math and science

50. Building a Shared Online Resource http://bit.ly/FBStemQFT