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Help Create The 12 Killer Questions To Innovate US Education

I’ve been asked (more like challenged) to create a dozen or so killer questions that could be used by teachers, schools, districts, state education agencies, federal agencies, etc. to help  innovate the educational system in the US.  I took up the challenge as a “pay it forward” project to help the

Phil McKinney
Phil McKinney
2 min read
Killer Questions that lead to breakthrough innovations
Killer Questions logo with trademark

I've been asked (more like challenged) to create a dozen or so killer questions that could be used by teachers, schools, districts, state education agencies, federal agencies, etc. to help  innovate the educational system in the US.  I took up the challenge as a “pay it forward” project to help the officials think differently about the problem they are facing.

As a starting point, I've adjusted a few of the killer questions already in the killer question card deck such as …

Under what assumptions does my [classroom, school, district, state education agency, etc] operate?  Why?  How could we change each of the assumptions?

Using this question as an example, I brainstormed the following assumptions (keep in mind that I'm a technologist/innovator and not an expert in the education):

  • Students have to go to school a certain number of days per year
  • Teaching is done in classrooms of between 20 and 40 students
  • School hours are from 8:00am to 3:00pm Monday through Friday
  • Students are grouped in classes based on age
  • The percent of students who graduate from high school is “the” measure of a success for the educational system
  • etc.

Here is the ask:

What killer questions do you think should be used to help innovate the US education system?

Killer Questions For Education

The killer questions would be asked during brainstorming/ideation sessions/workshops with the different participants of the educational system [students, parents, teachers, administrators, politicians, etc]

Here are some of suggestions for creating great killer questions:

  • A given question should cause the team to look beyond the obvious and challenge their assumptions.  A weak example: What are the metrics to encourage better teaching?  A better example question would be: What do [students, parents, teachers, principals, etc] not like about [learning, teaching, administrating, etc] ? Why?
  • Wording of a question should be clear and avoid any confusion or inherent assumptions.  An example of an ambiguous question: What could we do to improve [what does ‘improve' mean?] classroom learning [how do you define learning]?
  • Test your question.  Ask the question to someone (spouse, friend, co-worker, etc) and get their reaction.  If they aren't challenged to look at the problem differently, then keep working on it.

How can you get involved?

  1. Submit a killer question (via the comments below) you think should be submitted as one of the 12.
  2. Review the questions proposed by others and make them better by suggesting improvements/enhancements (edit, challenge, etc).
  3. Vote for questions you like by replying to the comment.

I will choose 12 questions to forward on to the officials who made the request.  If your question is chosen, you will be added to the list of contributors.

Incentive:  If you are the first one to submit a question that I select, you will receive a free copy of the “Creating Killer Innovations” CD.  I will also award CD's to those individuals who contributed the best “improvements” of someone else's killer question.

Deadline:  Two to three weeks from the date of this post . . .

BlogKiller Questionsclassroom innovationeducationinnovate educationInnovationlearningPay It Forwardschoolteaching

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Phil McKinney is an innovator, podcaster, author, and speaker. He is the retired CTO of HP. Phil's book, Beyond The Obvious, shares his expertise and lessons learned on innovation and creativity.

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