1. Let’s peek inside the black box

2. Three thinking abilities with one process
Curiosity and Rigor
Three thinking abilities with one process

3. The QFT, on one slide… 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
Ask as many questions as you can
Do not stop to discuss, judge or answer
Record exactly as stated
Change statements into questions
Closed-Ended:
Answered with “yes,” “no” or one word
Open-Ended: Require longer explanation

4. Thinking in many different directions
DIVERGENT THINKING

5. Narrowing Down, Focusing
CONVERGENT
THINKING

6. From Divergent to Convergent
"Questions are the engines of intellect, the cerebral machines which convert energy to motion, and curiosity to controlled inquiry."
David Hackett Fischer
Historians' fallacies: Toward a logic of historical thought, 1971

7. From Divergent to Convergent
“[The QFT] helps me by getting me to think about questions on my own…it gets my mind in motion to think about the questions other people make."
8th grade student in James Brewster’s U.S. history class Gus Garcia Young Men’s Leadership Academy, Austin, TX, 2015

8. Thinking about Thinking
METACOGNITIVE
THINKING

9. Student Reflection
“The way it made me feel was smart because I was asking good questions and giving good answers.”
-Boston 9th grade remedial summer school student

10. Exploring Classroom Examples

11. Educators use the QFT for many purposes, including:
Engagement
Knowledge Acquisition
Formative Assessment
Summative Assessment
And more…
Making Questions Flow by Rothstein, Santana, & Minigan, 2015

12. The Question FOCUS (QFocus)
The QFocus is what students are asking questions about related to the content you are teaching.
The QFocus can be:
A statement or phrase
A picture
A simple math problem or equation

13. Question Focus Design Basics
Just one requirement for the QFocus:
It should not be a question
*Key Tip for Designing an Effective QFocus:
The simpler, the better.

14. Classroom Example: Kindergarten
Teacher: Jennifer Shaffer, Walkersville, MD
Topic: Non-fiction literacy
Purpose: To engage students prior to reading a nonfiction text about alligators

15. Question Focus

16. Student Questions Is the alligator camouflaged?
Why do the babies have stripes?
Are those baby crocodiles?
Is it a mom or dad crocodile?
What is the green stuff?
Why are they in the water so low?
Where are they going?
Why are the baby alligator’s eyes white and the mom’s black?
Why are baby alligators on top of the momma alligator?
Why does momma or daddy have bumps on them?

17. Classroom Example: 4th Grade
Teacher: Deirdre Brotherson, Hooksett, NH
Topic: Math unit on variables
Purpose: To engage students at the start of a unit on variables

18. Question Focus
24 =  +  + 

19. Student Questions Why is the 24 first? What do the smiley faces mean?
Why are there 3 smiley faces?
How am I suppose to figure this out?
Is the answer 12?
Can I put any number for a smiley face?
Do three faces mean something?
Do the numbers have to be the same because the smiley faces are the same?
What numbers will work here?
Does it mean 24 is a really happy number?
Can we replace each smiley face with an 8?
Do any other numbers work?
Can we do this for any number?
Does it always have to be smiley faces?
Do we always have to use three things?
Students’ questions were posted on classroom walls.
Students crossed off questions they answered during subsequent lessons in the unit.
Teacher returned to student questions at the end of the unit to discuss with students what they learned and what they still wanted to know.

20. Classroom Example: High School
Teacher: Daniel Fouts, Des Plaines, IL Topic: 12th Grade Government unit on the American presidency at moments of crisis Purpose: To engage students at the start of the unit and to help students select a topic for an independent project

21. Question Focus
“Nearly all men can handle adversity; but if you really want to test a man’s character, give him power.”

22. Student Questions How does power challenge one’s morality?
What kind of man can handle adversity?
Should everyone have some type of power?
What can power tell us about a man’s character?
Does power make people corrupt?
How can power be obtained by adversity?
What if the person who is qualified for power doesn’t attain it?
Why are some people affected by power differently?
How is a man’s power tested?
If adversity supposedly makes you stronger, does that mean that power makes you weaker?
What is considered power?
What defines good character?
How can we ensure that the good men get the power?

23. Next Steps:
In groups, students prioritized by choosing their consensus favorite question to add to the class list
Each student selected l question from the class list to work to answer as the class moved through the unit
Students answered their question using research and knowledge from the unit in a two-page reflection paper
Students shared their reflections in a class discussion on the final day of the unit

24. Classroom Example: College Biology
Professor: Emily Westover, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Biochemistry, Brandeis University
Topic: Lecture Course (~140 students)
Purpose:
Assess student content knowledge and conceptual understanding
Encourage deeper learning

25. QFocus
Students performed poorly on Exam question X Ask as many questions as you can about Exam question X

26. Classroom Example: College Biology
Students were thinking more deeply about the exam question
Professor Westover was able to gather insight into why they may have had difficulty with the exam question

27. Classroom Example: College Biology
Professor: Rachel Woodruff, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Biology, Brandeis University
Topic: Molecular Biology
Purpose:
To build students’ research skills and prepare them to develop their own research proposal later in the semester

28. Question Focus
Students are assigned a molecular biology article Ask as many questions as you can about the reading

29. Classroom Example: College Biology
Students generate questions on their own as a part of their homework and submit them before class
During class, students form groups to categorize and improve their questions
Students discuss the key attributes of a good biological research question and compare it to other types of questions

30. Classroom Example: Professor: Sun Ezzell Topic: Grades Purpose:
Students use their questions to spark discussion on the article & write a response to article.
Students consider whether they should switch from letter grade to pass/ no pass.

31. Question Focus: “the case against grades” (for students who read the article) or “grades” (for students who did not read)
Why are students intimidated against grades?
Is the grading process needed?
How does the grading system affect students?
Why do we have a grading system?
Does the grading system need improvement?
Why is it challenging to get good grades?
Why do students think school is challenging?
Why do students focus more on grading than learning?
Does the grading system help students in life?
What are your thoughts on our grading system?
Do students focus more on grading than learning?

32. Sun gained insight into student thinking
Next steps
After the activity, some students decided to switch from letter grades to pass/no pass
Led to discussion about feedback and how they can use/ share feedback for learning.
Sun gained insight into student thinking

33. What do Students Say?

34. Student Reflections
“Just when you think you know all you need to know, you ask another question and discover how much more there is to learn.”
~ Sixth-grade student, Palo Alto, CA
“When you ask the question, you feel like it’s your job to get the answer.”
~ High School student, Boston, MA

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

36. Students’ New Understanding of Question Asking
“The QFT helped me think more critically and deeply about the topics presented to us and about how to utilize different ideas to think about each one.”
“The QFT really teaches a way of thinking so students can be thinking critically every time they read, trying to connect the concepts and deciding whether to take facts and information at face value or to dig a little deeper.”
~ Students at Brandeis University

37. Students’ New Understanding of Question Asking
“I discovered that by asking questions about the article it was easier to understand the article and the meaning behind it.”
“I learned that by doing the question exploration it can help you not be stuck when you do not understand the material.”
“The [QFT] was an amazing group activity... I loved that no one was excluded...”
“I learned I can come up with questions very quickly which is good because it means thinking and creativity is improving and growing.”
“When we come up with our own questions, we think more deeply.”
~ Students at Mt. San Antonio College