How to create a great Question Jam topic

To create a great jam session, all you have to do is ask yourself:

What would I like my students to be curious about right now?

If you're using Question Jam to help your students tune in on a new topic, for example in social science, your topic could be:

Assumptions about circular economy.

If you want to use Question Jam after you finish introducing a new concept to see what questions your students are curious about, for example in a physics class, your jam topic might be:

Acids and Bases in our daily lives.

If you want to use Question Jam for social purposes, e.g. in the first week of class, for people to get to know each other, you can use a topic like:

Morning habits that get the day off to a great start.

And if you want to facilitate a workshop with your colleagues or other educators, you can use a topic like:

Using EdTech for active engagement.

A great jam session topic can be about anything - as long as it’s relevant and motivating for the players you want to join the jam.

Here are some examples of topics other educators have used:

• Living within environmental limits

• The role of social media in our lives

• Inspiring ways to use Chat GPT in teaching

• Things that made me curious in today’s lesson

• Innovation, Engagement and Technology

• Dreams and fears in the digital age

• Using Chat GPT to write and learn

• Transparency in AI

One last note: A Jam topic is not a question

Your jam topic should not be formulated as a question, because the moment you invite your students to explore a question, they think they should come up with answers; whereas if you ask them to explore a topic, you make room for them to ask their own questions - and be curious together.

So remember, a Jam topic is not a question.

But other than that, there are no rules.

Happy jamming!