Questions By DonReita Nelson MEd Goals To understand what an essential question is To be able to write effective essential questions An Essential Question is A question that lies at the heart of a subject or a curriculum ID: 932637
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Slide1
Writing EffectiveEssential Questions
By: DonReita Nelson, M.Ed.
Slide2Goals
To understand what an essential question is
To be able to write effective essential questions
Slide3An Essential Question is:
A question
that lies at the heart of a subject or a curriculum
and one that
promotes
inquiry and the discovery of
a subject.
Slide4Essential Questions are critical drivers for teaching and learning…
They can help students discover patterns in knowledge and solve problems.
They support inductive teaching—guiding students to discover meaning, which increases motivation to learn.
They are one of the most powerful tools for helping students think at more complex levels.
They engage the personal intellect—something that traditional objectives usually fail to do.
Slide5Essential Questions
Have no
obvious
“right” answer
Raise other important questions, often across subject-area boundaries
Address
a concept
Raise other important questions
Naturally
and
appropriately recur
Stimulate
critical,
ongoing
rethinking
Are framed to provoke and sustain student interest
Slide6Examples
What is a true friend?
What makes an artist amazing?
In what sense is the body a system?
What is the law of nature, and how is it like or unlike social laws?
To what extent is US history a history of progress
?
In what ways do diet and exercise affect health?
Slide7Examples
Must heroes be flawless?
How do effective writers hook and hold their readers?
How do cultures affect one another?
Does practice
make
perfect?
What is healthy eating? Healthy living
?
How and when do we use mathematics?
How does something acquire value?
Slide8What makes a question “Essential”?
Continues
throughout all our lives
Refers to core ideas
and
inquiries within a discipline
Helps students effectively
ask questions and
make sense of important
and
complex ideas, knowledge,
and know-how
Engages a specific
and
diverse set of learners
Slide9Intent, not language, is the key:
Purpose for asking the question
How students are to
undertake the assignment
What learning activities
and
assessments we expect
Slide10Types of Essential Questions
Overarching: The overall “Big Idea”
Topical:
Unit or lesson specific
but still
promotes
inquiry
GOOD TEACHING USES BOTH!
Slide11Overarching Essential Questions
More general, broader
Point beyond specific topics or skills
Promote
the transfer
of
understanding
Slide12Examples of Overarching
E.Q.
How
do a region’s geography, climate, and natural resources affect the way people live and work?
How does technological change influence people’s lives? Society?
How does
what
we measure influence
how
we measure?
Slide13Examples of Overarching E.Q.
How do we classify the things around us?
Do artists have a responsibility to their audience? To society?
How does language shape culture?
Is pain necessary for progress in athletics?
Slide14Topical Essential Questions
Unit
or lesson specific
- used to guide individual
units or lessons
Promote inquiry
Resist
obvious
answers
Require explanation
and justification
Slide15Examples of Topical EQ
How might Congress have better protected minority rights in the 1950s & 1960s?
Should we require DNA samples from every convicted criminal?
Is Holden Caulfield a “phony
”?
Slide16Examples of Topical EQ
What is the value of place value?
What is electricity?
How do we hit with greatest power without losing control?
Slide17Finding Big Ideas
Unpack the
Course of Study Standards
Circle key nouns, adjectives, & verbs
Draft implied or stated big ideas based on those key words.
Critically analyze the course text
Work “backward” to determine what big ideas and/or EQ the text addresses
Slide18Making the Connection
Big Idea
Understanding
Essential Question
Topic or Content Standard
Slide19Example
Objective:
The learner will be able to read, respond to, and critique historically and culturally significant works of literature in order to understand their importance and relationship to past and present cultures.
Overarching EQ:
Does literature primarily reflect culture or shape it?
Topical EQ:
What does
Romeo
and
Juliet
teach us about Shakespeare’s view of destiny? How does it compare to yours?
Slide20Tips for Brainstorming Essential Questions
Essential questions combine specific “what” questions related to a particular theme with open-ended “why” and “how” questions to develop conceptual thinking and deep understanding.
The purpose for essential questioning is to send students on a search for knowledge toward essential understandings.
Essential questions can apply to specific subject areas or topics.
Add other questions
that you
feel are important.
Use a combination of specific and open-ended questions to include the how and why.
Stop covering curriculum and let students uncover essential understanding.