Math Department Uses Grant to Boost Remote Learning Engagement

Math teachers Anna Works-McKinney and Cassie Levesque recently used a summer grant to design lesson plans that incorporate methods that allow students to continue to assess each other throughout remote learning experiences. One of the methods they studied is the QFT (question formulation technique) that Levesque learned while taking an online Harvard University class over the summer. The QFT method encourages students to come up with several questions about a particular subject, share their questions with their classmates, and answer a portion of the questions, based on their interests. Works-McKinney said the method served as a refresher course for her algebra I and II students, who recently used statistics from elections that took place between 1980 and 2016, to formulate questions using the method. “The exercise encourages students to work more independently and engage with the learning materials through asking questions,” said Works-McKinney. “It’s about getting them to do some critical thinking on their own.” Works-McKinney said the Harvard-influenced model asked students to immerse themselves in each other’s questions, and not simply answer, “How do we solve a quadratic equation?” She said math students across Upper School grades will continue to participate in the QFT learning model throughout the school year.