Unlock Student Curiosity, Power Primary Source Learning

Sarah Westbrook

Director of Professional Learning

Sarah.westbrook@rightquestion.org

Katy Connolly

Education Program Coordinator

Katy.connolly@rightquestion.org

Imaan Yousuf

Education Program Associate

Imaan.yousuf@rightquestion.org

rightquestion.org

Who is in the room?

Please share:

• Your name
• Grade/subject

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Access RQI’s Free QFT Resources

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https://rightquestion.org/education/resources

Classroom Examples

Instructional Videos

Planning Tools & Templates

The Right Question Institute offers materials through a Creative Commons License. You are welcome to use, adapt, and share our materials for noncommercial use, as long as you include the following reference:

“Source: The Right Question Institute (RQI). The Question Formulation Technique (QFT) was created by RQI. Visit rightquestion.org for more information and free resources.”

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Access the full library of resources: http://rightquestion.org/education/resources

Use and Share These Resources

Today’s Agenda

1. Questions + Primary Source Learning: A Powerful Pairing
2. Why Spend Time on Teaching the Skill of Question Formulation?
3. Collaborative Learning with the Question Formulation Technique (QFT)
4. Explore Real Classroom Examples & Applications
5. Why is Question Formulation Important Now?
6. Q&A

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Asking Questions + Primary Source Learning: A Powerful Pairing

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The Library of Congress: loc.gov

https://www.loc.gov/item/2011646837/

https://www.loc.gov/item/2007684215/

Right Question Institute: rightquestion.org

30+ Years

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1 deceptively simple skill: asking your own questions

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Origin of the Right Question Institute: �Parents in Lawrence, Massachusetts, 1990

“We don’t go to the school because we don’t even know what to ask.”

Explore our free Resource Hub for Using the QFT with Primary Sources at rightquestion.org/primary-sources

3 Years, 2 Institutions, 1,000+ teachers

Today’s Agenda

1. Questions + Primary Source Learning: A Powerful Pairing
2. Why Spend Time on Teaching the Skill of Question Formulation?
3. Collaborative Learning with the Question Formulation Technique (QFT)
4. Explore Real Classroom Examples & Applications
5. Why is Question Formulation Important Now?
6. Q&A

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Why spend time teaching the skill of question formulation?

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"There is no learning without having to pose a question."

- Richard Feynman

Nobel Laureate, Physics, 1965

– Stuart Firestein

Former chair, Department of Biology,

Columbia University

“We must teach students how to think in questions, how to manage ignorance.”

College Presidents on�What College Students Should Learn

“The primary skills should be analytical skills of interpretation and inquiry. In other words, know how to frame a question.”

- Leon Botstein, President of Bard College

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“…the best we can do for students is have them ask the right questions.”

- Nancy Cantor, Former Chancellor of University of Illinois

The New York Times, August 4, 2002

Yet, Only 27% of Graduates Believe College Taught Them How to Ask Their Own Questions

Alison Head, Project Information Literacy at University of Washington, 2016

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But, the problem begins long before college…�

Question Asking Declines with Age

Tizard, B., Hughes, M., Carmichael, H., & Pinkerton, G. (1983).

Pearson, J.C. & West, R. (2009)

Which students ask questions?

Tizard, B., Hughes, M., Carmichael, H., & Pinkerton, G. (1983)

Carter, A., Croft, A., Lukas, D., Sandstrom, G. (2017).

We can work together on creating more opportunities for all students to ask their own questions�

We Are Not Alone

More than 1 million classrooms worldwide

What happens when students do learn to ask their own questions?�

Research Confirms �the Importance of Questioning

Self-questioning (metacognitive strategy):

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• Student formulation of their own questions is one of the most effective metacognitive strategies
• Engaging in pre-lesson self-questioning improved students rate of learning by nearly 50% (Hattie, p.193)

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John Hattie

Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800

meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement, 2008

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Student Reflection

“The way it made me feel was smart because I was asking good questions and giving good answers.”

-Boston 9^th grade summer school student

Today’s Agenda

1. Questions + Primary Source Learning: A Powerful Pairing
2. Why Spend Time on Teaching the Skill of Question Formulation?
3. Collaborative Learning with the Question Formulation Technique (QFT)
4. Explore Real Classroom Examples & Applications
5. Why is Question Formulation Important Now?
6. Q&A

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Collaborative Learning with the Question Formulation Technique (QFT)

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The Question Formulation Technique (QFT)

Individuals learn to:

• Produce their own questions
• Improve their questions
• Strategize on how to use their questions
• Reflect on what they have learned and how they learned it

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Rules for Producing Questions

1. Ask as many questions as you can

2. Do not stop to answer, judge, or discuss

3. Write down every question exactly as stated

4. Change any statements into questions

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Produce Questions

1. Ask Questions
2. Follow the Rules
• Ask as many questions as you can.
• Do not stop to answer, judge, or discuss.
• Write down every question exactly as it was stated.
• Change any statements into questions.
3. Number the Questions

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Question Focus

Open air class--Public School #51--Manhattan, N.Y. City--Rest hour

1. Ask as many questions as you can

2. Do not stop to answer, judge, or discuss

3. Write down every question exactly as stated

4. Change any statements into questions

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Don’t Forget To Follow the 4 Rules!

 https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3c20419/

Open air class--Public School #51--Manhattan, N.Y. City--Rest hour

 https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3c20419/

Open-air schools were common in some cities as a response to an outbreak of tuberculosis in 1904-1905.

Open air class--Public School #51--Manhattan, N.Y. City--Rest hour

 https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3c20419/

Categorize Questions: Closed/Open

Definitions:

• Closed-ended questions can be answered with a “yes” or “no” or with a one-word answer.
• Open-ended questions require

more explanation.

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Directions: Identify your questions as closed-ended or open-ended by marking them with a “C” or an “O.”

Discuss

Discuss

Improve Questions

• Take one closed-ended question and change it into an open-ended question.

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• Take one open-ended question and change it into a closed-ended question.��

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• Add these as new questions to your list

Closed

Open

Closed

Open

Prioritize Questions

• Choose the three questions that you are most curious about.
• Think about why you chose those questions and where they fell in your original sequence of questions (EX: #1, 4, and 6 out of 10).

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Original Source

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https://www.loc.gov/item/2008675531/

Graham School [or Mosely School], Interior - children seated at desks, Chicago, IL [between 1900 and 1915]

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https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3a17792/

School children studying anatomy or health, Washington, D.C. [1899?]

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https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3c20427/

Children seated in classroom at a circular table, Sacramento, California

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https://www.loc.gov/resource/ppmsca.11778/

Franklin (Chicago) summer open air school, 1917, manual training class / Burke & Atwell, Chgo. 

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https://loc.gov/pictures/resource/ds.03647/?

Mathematics class at Tuskegee Institute, 1906

Add and Improve Questions

Now, review your list of questions.

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• Add at least one new question to your list. This could be:
• A question inspired by someone else’s
• An adaptation or wording change of an existing question to create a new question.
• Something that was sparked by seeing additional primary sources or building some context.

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Strategize on How to Use Questions

• How would you begin to find the answers (and more questions) to your questions?

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Reflect

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Go to PollEv.com/imaanyousuf888

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A Look Inside the Process

The QFT, on one slide…

1. Question Focus
2. Produce Your Questions
• Follow the rules
• Number your questions
3. Improve Your Questions
• Categorize questions as Closed or Open-ended
• Change questions from one type to another
4. Strategize
• Prioritize your questions
• Action plan or discuss next steps
• Share
5. Reflect

1. Ask as many questions as you can
2. Do not stop to discuss, judge or answer
3. Record exactly as stated
4. Change statements into questions

Closed-Ended:

Answered with “yes,” “no” or one word

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Open-Ended: Require longer explanation

Source: The Right Question Institute rightquestion.org

Three thinking abilities

with one process

Thinking in many different directions

Narrowing Down, Focusing

Thinking about Thinking

Metacognition

What we did today

1. Observe the QFocus
2. Produce Questions
• Follow the 4 rules
• Layer in a Caption
• Produce Questions (part 2)
3. Improve Questions
• Categorize questions as Closed or Open-ended
• Change questions from one type to another
4. Prioritize Questions
5. Basic context building
6. Add and Improve Questions
7. Strategize and share
• Discuss next steps
8. Reflect

Continue to add & Refine Questions

1. Ask as many questions as you can
2. Do not stop to discuss, judge or answer
3. Record exactly as stated
4. Change statements into questions

Closed-Ended:

Answered with “yes,” “no” or one word

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Open-Ended: Require longer explanation

Today’s Agenda

1. Questions + Primary Source Learning: A Powerful Pairing
2. Why Spend Time on Teaching the Skill of Question Formulation?
3. Collaborative Learning with the Question Formulation Technique (QFT)
4. Explore Real Classroom Examples & Applications
5. Why is Question Formulation Important Now?
6. Q&A

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Exploring Classroom Examples

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Virtual Classroom Example: 7^th Grade

Teacher: Melissa Lawson, Folsom, CA

Topic: Japanese American Internment during World War II

Purpose: To help students engage with primary sources to begin a research process.

Question Focus

Lange, Dorothea. (1942) Oakland, CA, Mar. 1942.

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A large sign reading "I am an American" placed in the window of a store on December 8, the day after Pearl Harbor. The store was closed following orders to persons of Japanese descent to evacuate from certain West Coast areas.

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[Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cph.3a24566/.

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Selected Questions

1. Why is the car there?
2. Who was the owner of the car?
3. Is that a BMW or something?
4. Where is this?
5. Who took the photograph?
6. Why is there a sign that says, I am an American?
7. Who is “I”?
8. What does "Wanto Co.," mean?
9. Who wrote the "I Am an American" sign?
10. Was the 'I am American' because the owner was of Japanese heritage and defending him/herself from prosecution? (after Pearl Harbor)

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11) When the picture was taken, was the store open or closed?

12) Why was this picture taken?

13) What year is this from?

14) Who decided to close the store?

15) What happened to the store after this?

16) What happened to the Japanese Americans?

17) Did they ever get full fledged justice?

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Asking and Answering via Padlet

Student Reflections

• “I learned that we cannot draw conclusions just by looking at a picture once. You can look at it and ask questions to learn more. I am wondering if we can use this technique on other things.”
• “Not only did I learn about the picture we were analyzing, but I learned that asking questions makes me want to think more and it makes me curious. Once I started asking questions and reading other peoples responses, I was very interested and curious about the questions that were posted.”
• “I learned that I should have been using this for my History Day paper.”

Make Your Own Padlet

Access the QFT Padlet Template Here:

https://padlet.com/sarahwestbrook1/QFT2

Access all of RQI’s Virtual Learning Resources:

https://rightquestion.org/remote-learning-resources/

Classroom Example: 11-12th Grade Women’s and Gender Studies

Teacher: Caroline Berz, Cambridge, MA

Topic: Intersectionality & the women’s suffrage movement

Purpose: Prompt student research and discussion on the role of BIPOC women activists in fighting for the right to vote in the early 1900s.

Question Focus

Text at the bottom reads: THE INDIAN WOMEN: We whom you pity as drudges reached centuries ago the goal that you are now nearing

https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3b49089/

Selected Student Questions

• Why are the indigenous women shown with children but the white women are not?
• Is it a coincidence that the women in front styled their hair like the founding fathers?
• What is the meaning of “savagery” in this image?
• Are the indigenous women supposed to be the “savage” while the other group of women is the “civilized”? Would that explain why the indigenous women are hiding?
• Why does the text about the Native women show them in a more positive light, but the drawing shows them in a more negative light?

• Is this image related to how white women didn’t include women of color in their feminist movement?
• I understand the line about adoption, but in what context do Iroqouis women have jurisdiction over life and death? Crime/punishment? Reproductive rights?
• Why are the indigenous women separated from the other women marching?
• Does the fact that the indigenous women are standing at a higher elevation watching the other women have any significance?

Next Steps with Student Questions

• Students searched for answers to their questions in the LoC collections Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote and More to the Movement.
• Students gathered research and shared their findings during class discussion.

Today’s Agenda

1. Questions + Primary Source Learning: A Powerful Pairing
2. Why Spend Time on Teaching the Skill of Question Formulation?
3. Collaborative Learning with the Question Formulation Technique (QFT)
4. Explore Real Classroom Examples & Applications
5. Why is Question Formulation Important Now?
6. Q&A

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Why is the skill of question formulation so important now?

– Clive Thompson

Journalist and Technology Blogger

“How should you respond when you get powerful new tools for finding answers?

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Think of harder questions.”

In the Age of Google

Questions and Democracy

“We need to be taught to study rather than to believe, to inquire rather than to affirm.”

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– Septima Clark

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Chapter 6 on Septima Clark in Freedom Road: Adult Education of African Americans (Peterson, 1996)

Explore our free Resource Hub for Using the QFT with Primary Sources at rightquestion.org/primary-sources

Continue Your Learning

Thank you!

What are your questions?

rightquestion.org

The Right Question Institute offers materials through a Creative Commons License. You are welcome to use, adapt, and share our materials for noncommercial use, as long as you include the following reference: 

“Source: The Right Question Institute (RQI). The Question Formulation Technique (QFT) was created by RQI. Visit rightquestion.org for more information and free resources.”

​

Access the full library of resources: http://rightquestion.org/education/resources

Use and Share These Resources