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QHQ: Question-Hypothesis-Question
(20 November 2006)
At this time of the year, you are probably looking for ways to
encourage students to think about and actively consider the course
material from throughout the semester.
QHQ, or
Question-Hypothesis-Question, lends itself to synthesizing ideas and
critical thinking, valuable for end-of-the-semester discussions as
well as final examination review. QHQ is easily adaptable,
too, and can be used throughout the semester.
Process:
- Ask students to formulate an open-ended
question about a difficult concept, a lecture, an activity,
a reading, a lab, and so on. Encourage students to identify
questions for which they truly do not yet know the answer.
- Ask students to speculate on hypotheses,
or possible answers, to the question, brainstorming and developing as
many ideas as possible. Eventually, they should settle on the
"best" possibility, and think about why this hypothesis makes
the most sense.
- Ask students to reread what they have
written, thinking further about additional questions that
they have raised. This section can also be used as part of a
class discussion, giving the entire class an opportunity to
think about each other's hypotheses and responses.
Variations:
While the QHQ exercise is usually used as a low-stakes, un-graded
writing assignment, you can adapt it to be:
 | more formal, treating it, for instance, as a
weekly writing exercise, in which students would include a more
polished hypothesis section.
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| a small group exercise, emphasizing oral
communication skills, where students would raise questions in
their groups, and then present the information to the class as a
way to spark further discussion.
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| a daily part of the class, in which one
student, on a rotating basis, would spend 3-5 minutes raising
questions and discussing possible hypotheses to a reading
assignment or the day's discussion topic. |
Benefits:
By using QHQ, students will:
| see questions as the starting point for
inquiry.
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| synthesize information not only from the
immediate class or activity but also from throughout the
semester.
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| grow more accustomed to complicating what
they already know, as a way to extend their knowledge. |
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