Questions Formulation Technique

Research is question driven. One of the ways to develop questions is with the 4 steps of the Question Formulation Technique: Initial Forcus, Producing Questions, Improving Questions, and Prioritizing Questions.

1- Initial Focus -- this is the subject or topic about which the questions are being made
2- Producing Questions -- make as many questions as possible without judgement or discussion
3- Improving Questions -- categorize all the questions into groups; produce a question for each group that would include all the questions in that particular group
4- Prioritizing Questions -- rank questions from first to last

Initial Focus -- Figs

Producing Questions -- What are the parts of a fig? What is a fig? What soil requirements are there for figs? Why do I want to eat them? Why are figs worth growing? Are they worth taking up valuable garden space? What soil ph do they need? What kind of fertilizer is necessary to grow figs? How long have they been around? What is the origin of figs? Are there poisonous figs? Will figs become a common fruit? Can figs grow big as apples? What nutritional value do figs have? Are they seedy? How did Fig Newtons get started? Did Isaac Newton eat figs? What kinds of figs exist? What kinds grow in Virginia? What kinds of fig stories are told? Do storytellers have stories about figs? Is there mythology about figs? How to figs compare to other fruit, nutrition-wise?  Taste-wise? What folklore surrounding figs? How do people buy figs? How many middle school students have eaten fresh figs? How many adults have eaten fresh figs?

Improving Questions  -- I categorized by grouping questions above in the same color; the improved question color corresponds to the color group above.
4--What is the future for figs?
1--What is the agricultural description of figs?
3--What stories and symbolism surround figs?
2--What is the origin and history of figs?

Prioritizing the Questions  -- (see numbers above)

The Question Formulation Technique would be a good way to start the question process for research. It guides the researcher to producing beginning questions that can lead to other questions. Sometimes it is difficult to know where to begin with a big project....QFT helps get the ball rolling, or in this case gets the fig rolling.

Research vs. Retrieval

The word research has a couple meanings in the educational system. In most instances, it means retrieving existing information. In higher learning, such as colleges and universities, it means seeking information not yet in existence.

In this class, students will be researchers not retrievers. New information will be generated that builds upon existing information....building new understandings. In essence, research is putting together pieces of information for a new piece of information.

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Research is something new for many students. It involves critical thinking that does not come quickly or, many times, easily. However, research is exciting when the moment arrives when the pieces of information shape something new!

Back Purpose of A Figgy Day

Every semester I work on a research project along with my middle school gifted students. This blog acts as a guide to the lessons in case my students need to see examples of how strategies are applied to a topic. This semester's project, A Figgy Day, will walk through the lessons one by one, explaining and demonstrating what I expect to see in the students' blogs.

A thoughtful reflection about research and the questions that will drive my fig exploration.
Picture: commons.wikimedia.org

Day 1 of Fig Realization

I have been growing figs for 6 years. I love figs. I like eating them, I like setting them ablaze in a brandy sauce, I like making figgy pudding, I like selling them at the local farmer's market. This gardening year was  abnormally cool and rainy. By the end of August, it looked like the bazillion figs that presented themselves on my trees were going to fall to the ground, green and hard -- fodder for the squirrels and birds. However, last Friday in a blast of ripening energy, several dozen turned color and became the joy I knew they were, with hundreds to following. I can hardly wait to get my hands on buckets and buckets of lovely, sweet figs!

Then, this morning my loving husband of 26 years says he's told some co-workers they can come to the house and harvest our figs. WHAT?!!  I could not believe what I was hearing!  I understand where he's coming from -- he is working long days, seven days a week right now and has no time to harvest. He knows I'm working to finish my graduate degree and teaching with little time to garden. He's thinking the figs might as well go to a happy home...which won't be ours.

So, it's time I take charge of the fig garden and learn a LOT so even if I have to give up my figs this year, it won't happen again because I'll be ready. I need to investigate fig information that will help me 1) grow plants I can manage solo, 2) add plants to make the harvesting/selling of them worth the effort to care for them, and 3) generate local knowledge so I have a vibrant customer base at my local farmer's market (so when the harvest is happening, the customers are available).