A great starting point for fostering any of the 15 capacities we've identified in Madison is Problem Identification. This is where student-centered inquiry begins. Once students identify a problem and some significant questions to investigate, the next logical steps will naturally be to collect information, analyze it, develop possible solutions, and share their findings with an authentic audience. This path will call on students to develop other capacities, such as Synthesizing, Imagining, Engaging in Global Issues, Presentation, and Reflection, just to name a few. The resources below are meant to help teachers develop strategies and activities to guide students down this path, and it all begins with teaching students how to ask the right questions.
The Right Question Institute
Leaders in inquiry-based learning, the people behind The Right Question Institute have developed an easy-to-implement classroom protocol called the Question Formulation Technique (QFT), designed to teach students how to ask their own significant questions for investigation. Make Just One Change is a comprehensive discussion and analysis of how to use the Question Formulation Technique written by The Right Question Institute's co-directors Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana. It's a great read and is available through Harvard Education Press.
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QFT in Action from RightQuestion on Vimeo.
The Right Question Institute offers many free resources to educators who join their network. Membership is free and comes with guides on how to best implement the Question Formulation Technique, as well as free videos, like the one above, that provide a glimpse of the QFT in action. Sign up below.
Warren BergerCreator of the website amorebeautifulquestion.com and author of the 2014 book A MORE BEAUTIFUL QUESTION: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas (Bloomsbury)—both focusing on the power of inquiry to spark breakthrough ideas. He also delivered a PD workshop to Madison teachers in October of 2015.
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4 Phases of InquiryA great inquiry-based learning guide for teachers from TeachThought. These 4 phases have a lot in common with The Right Question Institute's QFT but take things a step further with its focus on designing an accessible, relevant action or product to culminate and justify the student's inquiry.
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