July Newsletter | Math, Wellbeing, Journalism | & More

4 QFocus Ideas to Use in Math

When using the Question Formulation Technique in math, coming up with a Question Focus, or QFocus, can be a fun and creative activity. As you’ll see below, the right QFocus can spark surprising and thoughtful student questions and get students thinking like mathematicians. If you’re looking for inspiration, here are some ideas.

New online course: sustaining a culture of inquiry in schools

If you have experience facilitating the Question Formulation Technique multiple times, we invite you to join us for a new online course. It explores how to scale up and expand your use of the QFT to create a deeper culture of inquiry — in your classroom, school, district, or organization. The course, Questions at the Core, is offered through the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and we are piloting it this September. As part of the inaugural class, you’ll be helping us hone this new offering for future courses. If you know other experienced QFT users, let them know, too.

Achieving wellbeing for all

As part of their ongoing efforts to spotlight organizations fostering wellbeing, the Wellbeing Blueprint, part of the Full Frame Initiative, recently interviewed RQI’s Legal Empowerment Program team. They discussed strategies to develop people’s ability to ask questions, advocate for themselves, and actively participate in decisions, all of which play crucial roles in cultivating wellbeing and building a healthy democracy.

RQI is also joining the Blueprint’s Wellbeing Design Challenge this August. The challenge is an opportunity to practice designing projects, initiatives, and policy recommendations that create equitable access to wellbeing.

Watch the interview

Teaching the next generation of journalists

Democracy needs journalism, and journalism is fueled by questions. Amanda Becker, a journalist and recent Harvard Nieman Fellow, led a session for a group of high-school journalists at Boston University’s Summer Journalism Academy. The students learned about using the Question Formulation Technique as reporters. They also discussed emerging ideas for how the QFT could be used to strengthen relationships between newsrooms and the communities they serve.

‘We don’t have to stay quiet’

How do people cultivate hope in the face of overwhelming challenges? RQI’s Legal Empowerment Program recently visited New Bedford, Massachusetts, the country’s highest-revenue fishing port, to train service providers — people working in immigration law, domestic violence shelters, social work, and mental health services — on how to build clients’ skills for self-advocacy.

Upcoming events

Here are some upcoming opportunities to learn with us:

Sept. 12-Oct. 2: Questions at the Core: Extending the Question Formulation Technique to Sustain an Inquiry-based Culture in Schools. Registration deadline: September 1.

Oct. 17-Nov. 6: Teaching Students to Ask Their Own Questions: Best Practices in the Question Formulation Technique. Registration deadline: October 9.

What we’re reading

Here are some recent stories that caught our attention:

ChatGPT goes to Harvard (And does better than you might think!) — Slow Boring

In|Dignity — California State University, San Bernardino (The QFT is featured in lesson plans 1C and 2C)

Kids can’t all be star athletes. Here’s how schools can welcome more students to play — KQED MindShift

Schools are teaching digital literacy and citizenship. But are they doing it right? — Education Week

What your gifts mean

When you make a gift to the Right Question Institute, 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. Thank you for your support.

Read our 2022 annual impact Report

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