December Newsletter: Webinars in January, Harvard Course in March, and more

Free legal empowerment webinar on Jan. 28

Join us on January 28, at 1 p.m. Eastern time, for a free interactive webinar that will introduce you to our educational strategy for legal empowerment.

This webinar is especially relevant for those of you who work in legal settings, social services, adult education, community organizations, or other frontline services.

Join us if you are interested in building people’s capacity to advocate for themselves, navigate systems, and take action on their own behalf — in the legal system and beyond.

Harvard course in March

Our online course about using the Question Formulation Technique in schools takes place from March 4 to 24, and the deadline to register is February 24.

Teaching Students to Ask Their Own Questions: Best Practices in the Question Formulation Technique is offered through the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and it covers how to apply the QFT across multiple grade levels and academic subjects, from early learner classrooms through higher education.

It’s ideal for people who want to help make questioning, inquiry, curiosity, and critical thinking a central part of students’ learning experience.

Learn more and register by February 24.

Free webinar on Jan. 30: the QFT and the rural experience

Join us for an afternoon with two of our partners in the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Consortium. Regina Holland, from the Rural Experience in America program, and Jaime Beal, from the Maine Department of Education, will talk about impactful place-based community projects that use primary source documents and student questions to dig into local history and the rural experience. You’ll walk away with ideas and tools for replicating similar projects in your classroom, course, or organization.

Learn more and join us on January 30

Community Co-Creation and Climate Change in Kenya’s Rift Valley

Jenga Future, a nonprofit organization in Kenya’s Rift Valley, was founded to play a part in the climate change fight. Jackson Kiptanui, the innovations director at Jenga Future, spoke to us about Jenga Future’s community-led approach, its focus on inclusive economic development, and their use of RQI’s Question Formulation Technique to help rural youth advocate for change.

What we’re reading

Here are a few stories that caught our attention recently.

Editor’s Notebook — The Geography Teacher

‘Easy to Just Write Us off’: Rural Students’ Options Shrink as Colleges Slash Majors — Open Campus

Taking Exams in Blue Books? They’re Back to Help Curb AI Use and Rampant Cheating — KQED MindShift

Boys & the Crisis of Connection — Harvard EdCast

Falling Behind in School Hurts. Belonging Can Help Students Trust and Learn — KQED MindShift

Upcoming events

Here are some upcoming ways to learn with us.

December 2024 to March 2025: Celebrating Rural Maine: Community Civics and Place-Based Inquiry. If you’re an educator in Maine, this professional learning series from the National Council for History Education and the Maine Department of Education is free. It incorporates the QFT.

Jan. 27: The Power of Question Formulation for Scientific Innovation, Agency, and Identity. Keynote talk at the Science Education Council of Ohio Symposium.

January 28: Foster client agency through building self-advocacy skills: A practical strategy for lawyers, advocates, and service provider

January 30: Weaving the QFT into a professional development program for rural teachers in Maine and beyond.

March 4-24: Teaching Students to Ask Their Own Questions: Best Practices in the Question Formulation Technique. Register by Feb. 24.

April 8-28: Questions at the Core: Extending the Question Formulation Technique to Sustain an Inquiry-Based Culture in Schools. Register by March 31.

The difference you make for the price of a coffee

The Right Question Institute is a small, independent nonprofit organization. When you make a recurring monthly gift of any size — the price of a cup of coffee, perhaps — you help bring free resources to teachers and schools. Plus, you help equip people in low-income communities with skills and strategies for solving problems, participating in decisions, and making their voices heard — contributing to a more inclusive educational system, society, and democracy. Recurring monthly donations help provide stability and predictability that make this work possible. Thank you for your support.

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