Course | Questions at the Core: Extending the Question Formulation Technique to Sustain an Inquiry-Based Culture in Schools

Upcoming Sessions

Jan 27, 2026 - Feb 16, 2026
Application Deadline: Jan 20, 2026
Tuition: $375.00

Additional Details

• Prerequisite: Completion of Teaching Students to Ask Their Own Questions: Best Practices in the Question Formulation Technique or the equivalent.
• Groups of 10+: 25% off final invoice. Contact us for your discount code.
• In accordance with Harvard University policy, Professional Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education affirms the right of all individuals to equal treatment in education without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, gender identity, sexual orientation, pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Meaningful engagement begins to take root when all stakeholders can ask questions, participate in decision-making, and feel a genuine sense of agency, whether as policymakers, teachers, or those devising professional learning. The program welcomes interest and registrations from all practitioners in the field.

Questions at the Core: Extending the Question Formulation Technique to Sustain an Inquiry-based Culture in Schools picks up where our popular course Teaching Students to Ask Their Own Questions: Best Practices in the Question Formulation Technique leaves off. In this three-week course, you will learn how to scale up and expand your expertise with the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) to jumpstart and create a deeper culture of inquiry: in your classroom, school, district, and/or organization. The program will prepare you to:
• Strengthen and refine your QFT skills.
• Make Question Formulation a core element of teaching and professional learning, with learners, community members, and others.
• Develop an action plan to expand the use of the QFT in your classroom or school culture.

Program Details

Overseen by the Right Question Institute's Director of Professional Learning, Sarah Westbrook, this course is designed for those who wish to boost their expertise with the QFT. Administrators, superintendents, department heads, curriculum leaders, classroom teachers, and other educators are encouraged to join this course.

Using insights from classroom teaching, this course serves as a launch point for more expansive use of the QFT. In it, you will explore how to imbue educational efforts with inquiry, curiosity, question formulation, and agency in learners.

During three weeks of virtual learning, you will delve into practice and theory, engage in discussions, and reflect on how the course enhances your specific context. And while a district leader may have a different set of responsibilities than a classroom teacher, both are in powerful positions to help build a culture of inquiry through question-asking in their school community.

During week one, you will explore how to expand the use of the QFT from a one-off activity to a fully integrated and sustained inquiry-driven practice. You will begin by analyzing how the QFT can engender a new way of learning. You will examine your own relationships to question formulation and explore the connections between questions, power, and agency — connections that are relevant well beyond classroom settings.
In weeks two and three, you will explore how the QFT can help create an inquiry-driven professional learning culture — one that prioritizes voice, choice, and expertise. Along the way, you will examine models for introducing, mentoring, supporting, and sustaining the QFT with adults. At the end of week three, you will design a plan for catalyzing a culture of inquiry and Question Formulation in your own unique school setting based on your specific objectives.

All materials are provided at the start of the program. You should plan to devote a total of 15 hours of work or approximately five hours per week. There will be one live webinar plus an optional office hour led by the teaching team. Participants completing all individual assessments and contributing to group discussions prior to the end of the program period will receive a certificate indicating completion of 15 clock hours of instruction.

Learning Goals

This program is a professional growth opportunity for classroom teachers, instructional leaders, and school and district administrators. All participants will explore how to extend question formulation beyond a single use of the QFT to a deliberate, integrated approach to teaching and professional learning.

During the three weeks, teachers will:
• Reflect on the role of curiosity and questioning in your teaching practice, professional learning, and daily life, and extend your understanding of the relationship between question formulation, power, and agency.
• Examine models for building greater complexity into the QFT without undermining the deliberate simplicity of the process or the judgment-free learning environment it promotes.
• Evaluate and begin to apply a range of approaches for introducing, supporting, mentoring, and sustaining question formulation with adult learners.

During the three weeks, school and district administrators will:
• Build bridges from classroom facilitation of the QFT (with student work samples) to expand, more systemic use of the QFT throughout school communities.
• Identify how QFT facilitation principles and practices align with adult learning theory.

During the three weeks, everyone will:
• Design a plan to scale up and sustain a culture of question formulation in your classroom, school, organization, or system.
• Collaborate, reflect, and share ideas with other learners from around the country and the world.

Faculty Chairs

Nonie K. Lesaux
Dean of the Faculty of Education
Dean's Office
Roy Edward Larsen Professor of Education and Human Development
Nonie Lesaux focuses on promoting the language and literacy skills of children from diverse linguistic, cultural and economic backgrounds.

Daniel Rothstein
Adjunct Lecturer on Education, HGSE; Co-Director, Democracy-Building Programs, Right Question Institute
Dan Rothstein is the co-director of the
Right Question Institute and the co-author of Make Just One Change: Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions.

Luz M. Santana
Adjunct Lecturer on Education, HGSE; Co-Director, Democracy-Building Programs, Right Question Institute
Luz Santana is the co-director of the
Right Question Institute and the co-author of Make Just One Change: Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions.

Who Should Attend

• K-16 educators from all disciplines and subject areas
• Administrators, instructional coaches, teacher-leaders, librarians, and curriculum specialists
• School and district leaders

Required to enroll: Completion of Teaching Students to Ask Their Own Questions: Best Practices in the Question Formulation Technique or the equivalent. This course is designed for educators who have applied the QFT at least twice (and ideally more) in their setting and are well-versed in the steps of the process and the rationale behind it.

How to Register

This program welcomes registrations from both individuals and teams. First-time registrants need to create a Professional Education account to register.

Individuals: Click the "Register" button at the top of the page to log into your Professional Education account and access the registration page. Proceed with the individual form until submission. Invoices will be immediately available upon the submission of the form.

Teams:
Step 1: Designate one participant or an administrative staff member as the Coordinator.
• The Coordinator should click the "Register" button at the top of the page to log into their Professional Education account and access the registration page.
• Proceed with the team form, including providing the name, email address, and job title of each participant in your team.
• The Coordinator can choose to receive a team invoice.
• The invoice will be immediately available upon the submission of the form. Contact us if you are eligible for the group discount.
• Contact us if you need to make any changes to your team after submitting the form.

Step 2: Upon the submission of the team application, all team members will receive an email notification with a link to their personal registration form. Team members should complete their forms promptly to access the program’s Community Group for updates and Canvas course access.

Instructional Design Philosophy

All RQI courses use participation and active engagement to reinforce learning. RQI uses a constructivist learning approach, meaning participants come to the program with different experiences, backgrounds, and expertise. They build upon that foundation of knowledge to engage with course content and walk away with a learning experience unique to their circumstances. The program design prioritizes active, peer-to-peer learning and metacognition. Participants are encouraged to make their own meaning, ask their own questions, seek out their own answers (and further questions), solve problems, and draw on the diverse perspectives of other individuals in the course.

Tuition Assistance

Tuition assistance is available for this program on a need and application basis. Tuition assistance is granted based on participant and institutional needs. Requests for tuition assistance do not affect an applicant's prospects for admission. You may access the tuition assistance application after you have submitted your program application. Tuition assistance applications should be submitted at least one month prior to the final application deadline.