Questioning Strategies – Utilizing the Question Formulation Technique

From: Christine Miller

Learning about the Question Formulation Technique in my graduate studies at Texas Woman’s University has been one of the most valuable additions to my teaching toolkit. QFT is a simple process that provides students with a way to generate their own driving questions for their learning. There are lots of pertinent resources in this post, so please take a little time to check out the presentations and videos that are included! 

Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana developed this technique while using it in the classroom over 20 years. They refined and honed the process to its pure essence. Take a look at Dan Rothstein’s TED talk about the history behind QFT:

Their website, the Right Question Institute has additional background and support materials that make it easy to try it out in your own classroom. You might like to read the book they wrote, Make Just One Change by Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana, for a broader overview of QFT in various content areas. 

When I found out about QFT, I knew I wanted to try it out right away. The video below was shot the second week of school with my Sculpture 1 class. I did not prepare them for the QFT before we taped the video. What you will see is a real time experience with students who are working through the process of creating questions to help drive their decision making for their monster project. 

 ChristineMiller-QuestionFormuationTechnique from APS Arts on Vimeo.

After my experience with my students and their questioning for their art project, I made a presentation that I gave at my Texas Woman’s University Creative Arts and Research Symposium and posted it to SlideShare so people in the audience could access it. You can find out how I have the students return to the essential questions they generated for themselves throughout their creative process, from initial design to their end of project reflection.  

Qft presentation w o embedded video from Christine Miller

QFT is a powerful, easy and meaningful way to help our students be more engaged and in charge of their learning. Try it out this year and discover the power of students learning how to ask their own questions!

-CM