Sourcing Questions from Within:

An Introduction to the Question Formulation Technique for Primary Source Analysis

Katy Connolly

Education Program Coordinator

The Right Question Institute

rightquestion.org

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Today’s materials: https://tinyurl.com/RQI-ADE

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Classroom Examples

Instructional Videos

Planning Tools & Templates

RQI’s full free resource library: https://rightquestion.org/education/resources

Use and Share These Free Resources

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 Question Formulation Technique was created by Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana, co-founders of the Right Question Institute. Visit rightquestion.org for more information and free resources.”

Please introduce yourself in the chat

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• Your name
• Where you are joining from
• What you teach

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Today’s Agenda

1. Questions + Primary Source Learning: A Powerful Pairing
2. QFT Experience with a Primary Source
3. Classroom examples and student work
4. Final Thoughts, Reflections, and Questions

Asking Questions + Primary Source Learning: A Powerful Pairing

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

6 Years, 2 Institutions, 2,000+ teachers

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��1 deceptively simple skill: asking your own questions

Questions and Agency: Honoring the Original Source of the QFT�

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

Parents in Lawrence, Massachusetts, 1990

Questions and History

- Hajo Holborn

Former president of the American Historical Association

“History gives answers only to those who know how to ask questions.”

Questions and Innovation

– Stuart Firestein

Former chair, Department of Biology,

Columbia University

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

Research Confirms the Importance of Questioning

Students who ask their own questions:

• become stronger readers ¹
• develop better memory and recall ²
• become more effective problem solvers ⁴
• have more productive discussions ⁵
• show deeper understanding of science subjects ⁶
• are more likely to become scientists ⁷

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1. Therrien and Hughes, 2008, Ebersbach et al., 2020

2. Therrien and Hughes, 2008; Ebersbach et al., 2020

4. Hofstein et al., 2005; Dori & Herscovitz, 2005; Chouinard et al., 2007; Martinho et al., 2012; Ruggeri et al., 2021

5. Chin & Brown, 2002

6. Chin & Osborne, 2008

7. The Fullerton Longitudinal Study

Question Asking Declines with Age

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

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

The Power Dynamics of Asking Questions

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

Our Vision: Sharing the Power Questions

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

Mini QFT Primary Source Experience

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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

Boulder Dam, between Arizona and Nevada,

Apr. 1938.

Image Record: https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3b07810/

Question Focus (pt. 2)

Power plant discharge from two 84-inch needle valves as seen from the high mountain downstream from the dam.

Image Record: https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3b07810/

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.”

Both Closed and Open Questions Are Good!

Open-Ended Questions

• encourage discussion & multiple perspectives
• have many possible “right” answers
• can build empathy and active listening

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Closed-Ended Questions

• clarify and build context
• can be effective follow up questions
• useful for data collection and testing hypotheses
• crucial for self-advocacy and holding decision makers accountable

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 at the bottom of your list.

Closed

Open

Closed

Open

Prioritize Questions

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

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Please share ONE of your priority questions in the chatbox.

Add and Improve Questions

Now, we will provide a little bit more context about the QFocus. As we do:

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• Add at least one new question to your list:
• 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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Original Source

https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3b07810/

Above Hoover Dam near Boulder City, Nevada https://www.loc.gov/item/2011630337/

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A view of Hoover Dam, which straddles the Arizona and Nevada borders on the Colorado River https://www.loc.gov/item/2018702438/

Two of four 338-foot-high intake towers that stand in the deep waters of Lake Mead behind massive Hoover Dam, which straddles the border between Arizona and Nevada in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River https://www.loc.gov/item/2018702482/

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[Penstock on trailer] https://www.loc.gov/item/2011648203/

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Buffalo Bill Dam, Shoshone River Canyon, Cody, Park County, WY https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.wy0046.photos/?

Owyhee Dam, Across Owyhee River, Nyssa, Malheur County, OR. https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.or0200.photos/?sp=2&st=image

[Three construction workers putting a coat of paint on a slanted wall of riveted-steel plates on the Hoover Dam spillway] https://www.loc.gov/item/2008676666/

[Three construction workers, suspended by ropes, with pneumatic hammers cutting into a wall or mountain, during construction of the Grand Coulee Dam, Columbia River, Washington] https://www.loc.gov/item/2008676664/

A memorial plaque, honoring the 96 workers known to have died constructing Hoover Dam https://www.loc.gov/item/2018702451/

See Boulder Dam. A PR poster by the Union Pacific Railroad Company (created between 1940 and 1949) https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/96511200/

Add and Improve Questions

Now, review your list of questions.

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• Add at least one new question to your list:
• 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.
• Change your priority questions if you want to at this point

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Strategize on How to Use Questions

• How would you find the answers (and more questions) to your questions?
• What could you have students in a classroom do with these questions?

Reflect

• What did you learn?
• How did you learn it?
• How might you apply what you learned?

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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

A look behind the curtain

Typical QFT

Produce ?s

Improve ?s

Prioritize

Reflect

divergent

convergent

Produce ?s

Improve ?s

Prioritize

Build Context

Add questions

Action plan

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Reflect

What we did today

Action Plan

Three thinking abilities with one process

Metacognition

Exploring Classroom Applications & Student Work

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Virtual Classroom Example: �4^th Grade Social Studies

Teacher: Alyssa Park, Gardnerville, NV

Topic: The Hoover Dam

Purpose: To analyze a primary source and launch a mini-inquiry – using Google Forms

Question Focus

Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3b07810/

Question Focus…using Prezi

Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3b07810/

Student Questions

1.Where is this?

2.Why is there a river?

3. Is it a desert?

4. Is it near the grand canyon?

5.When was this picture taken?

6.How did they take the picture?

7.Was it in the 1900's?

8.Where does the road lead to?

9.What is the road called?

10. Is the sculpture (or whatever it is) in the middle of the road a rock?

11.Where is the building located?

12.Do people live in that building?

13. Is it a work place?

14.Is there water at the bottom of the building?

15.Is the road from the last picture lead to the building?

16.How did they build that building?

17.How do people get to the top to the bottom?

18.Is the water falling from the rocks a waterfall?

19.Can people visit the building?

20.How does the water get there?

Timeline - Hoover Dam QFT and Next Steps

• Days 1-3 - ask and improve questions
• Day 4 - gather basic information
• Day 5 - prioritize questions (again)
• Days 6-7 - further research
• 2 weeks - writing projects

Student Research (Part 1) -

Answer 3 Closed-Ended Questions

Student Research (Part 2) -

Answer 3 Open-Ended Questions

Historical Fiction Story

Informational Article

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.”

Classroom Example:

10th Grade Honors English

Teacher: Lauren Carlton, Foxborough, MA

Topic: The Crucible

Purpose: To build students’ background knowledge about the Salem Witch Trials and build empathy for the real victims who inform this work of fiction.

Question Focus

Petition for Bail from Accused Witches. 1692. Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://www.loc.gov/item/mcc.003/.

“To the honorable governor and council and general assembly now sitting at Boston:

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The humble petition of us whose names are subscribed here unto now prisoners at Ipswich humbly share, that some of us have lain in the prison many months, and some of us many weeks, who are charged with witchcraft, and not being conscious to ourselves of any guilt of that nature lying upon our consciences…”

Selected Student Questions

1. Did they write it themselves or did someone write it for them?
2. Did they ever get released?
3. Why were they allowed to write a letter?
4. If the women who were pregnant died, would the governor or the court get in trouble?
5. Did the guards at the prison try to stop them from writing this?
6. How long is four scores?
7. Were the prisoners allowed to interact with each other in jail? If so, how did they communicate?
8. Were the prisoners just trying to manipulate the governor into letting them out?
9. Will the fact that so many women signed the document impact the assembly’s willingness to take it into consideration? Do those in charge want the accused to suffer?

9. (cont’d) Why else would the prisoners be kept in such conditions?
10. Where was the baby that was born kept?
11. Why have they not been tried yet?
12. Is this their first attempt to be released?
13. Why are there a lot of widows?
14. Are they really unafraid?
15. Who else is in support of this request whose names were not listed?
16. Who are the men and why can’t they sign their names?
17. Why did they have to write their marriage status when signing their name?
18. Why are the names of the women phrased differently from person to person?
19. Could they have been punished for writing this?

Next Steps with Student Questions

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Student questions about the letter itself served as a jumping-off point for rhetorical analysis

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• Student questions about perspective informed an assignment in which students assumed a role and wrote a response letter, demonstrating their understanding of rhetorical appeals and empathy.

Why is the skill of question formulation so important now?

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In the Age of AI

– 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.”

Questions and Democracy

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

“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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Resources for Further Learning

Using the QFT with Primary Sources

Classroom videos

Lesson plans/examples

4 PD modules

And more!

rightquestion.org/primary-sources

Upcoming October Online Course

Teaching Students to Ask Their Own Questions is RQI’s most comprehensive introduction to the QFT and attracts a diverse, engaged group of 300+ K-12 educators around the world.

Learn More & Register Here

Find Today’s Slides & Free Resources

Today’s materials: https://tinyurl.com/RQI-ADE

​

Classroom Examples

Instructional Videos

Planning Tools & Templates

RQI’s full free resource library: https://rightquestion.org/education/resources

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