We are excited to present a great video demonstrating innovative use of the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) for summative assessment purposes. Joshua Beer’s students, in an eighth-grade class in rural New Hampshire, do brilliant work with the following Question Focus as they come to the end of a unit:
Questions that should be asked about American imperialism at the turn of the 20th century.
Their priority questions reflected a deep understanding of what they had learned and actually became nine of the ten questions Beer used for their final exam.
By the way, his class’ work is featured in our article, “Making Questions Flow,” that appears in the September 2015 issue of ASCD’s Educational Leadership — an issue that focuses on the theme of “Questioning for Learning.” The article also describes how Rob Evans uses the Question Formulation Technique to increase student engagement in his history classes at the Chadwick School in Palos Verdes, California. It describes how Megan Gretzinger, in Appleton City, Missouri, utilizes the QFT for formative assessment purposes in a high school math class. There are also examples from Jay Corrigan and Jennifer Shaffer, in Frederick County, Maryland, that show how the QFT can be used to accelerate learning and knowledge acquisition.