January Newsletter: Harvard Courses in March and April | Upcoming Events & More

Register by Feb. 24 for March course with Harvard

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. No prior experience is needed.

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 at 4 p.m. EST

Date change: free legal empowerment webinar on Feb 18

Join us on February 18, at 1 p.m. Eastern time, for a free interactive webinar that will introduce you to our educational strategy for legal empowerment. (This webinar was previously scheduled for January 28, but we needed to reschedule.)

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.

Take the QFT to the next level

Would you like to jumpstart and sustain a deeper culture of inquiry in your school, district, classroom, or organization?

Questions at the Core: Extending the Question Formulation Technique to Sustain an Inquiry-based Culture in Schools explores how to take your use of the Question Formulation Technique to the next level.

Offered through the Harvard Graduate School of Education, this online course is for educators who already have experience using the QFT and want to employ it on a bigger scale. It runs from April 8 to 28, and this is the only opportunity to take this course in 2025.

Learn more and register by March 31.

What we’re reading

Here are a few stories that caught our attention recently.

Community Co-Creation and Climate Change in Kenya’s Rift Valley — The Right Question Institute

The Unlikely Friendship Between a Pre-Med Student and a Man Serving Life Without Parole — Open Campus

Boys Face Unique Challenges. Here’s How to Help Them Thrive —KQED MindShift

Parents Have Way More Influence Than They Realize in Shaping Their Children’s Success — The Hechinger Report

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

February 18: Foster client agency through building self-advocacy skills: A practical strategy for lawyers, advocates, and service provider

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

March 21-22: National Council for History Education annual conference.

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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