Idea Transcript
onhand schools presents curriculum mapping essential questions guide
Definition of an Essential Question:
$JRRGHVVHQWLDOTXHVWLRQLVWKHÀUVWVWHSZKHQGHVLJQLQJLQTXLU\EDVHGOHDUQLQJ Questions that probe for deeper meaning and set the stage for further questioning foster the development of critical thinking skills and higher order capabilities such as; problem solving, and the understanding of complex systems. A good essential question is the principle component of designing inquiry-based learning – the typical 'Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How?' of a course of study.
What Constitutes A Good Essential Question?
Consider the following points when creating essential questions in order to maximize effectiveness. h
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In general, the best essential questions center on major issues, problems, concerns, interests, or themes relevant to students’ lives and to their communities. Good essential questions are open-ended, non-judgmental, meaningful and purposeful with emotive force and intellectual bite, and invite an exploration of ideas. They encourage collaboration amongst students, teachers, and the community. They integrate technology to support the learning process. Consider what transcendent questions might be embedded in a topic or unit of study. ‘Why?’ or ‘So What?’ are examples of over-arching questions that help students see critical connections or relationships within a topic area. Why exactly are we studying this? How can this be applied in the larger world? What couldn’t we do if we didn’t understand this? What’s the ‘moral of the story’? What is worth remembering, after time has passed, about this topic, unit, novel, or experiment? For example: Why should students read the novel, Lord of the Flies? Why this book and not another? What will they gain from this experience that will make a difference to them? What are the ‘big ideas’ in this work? What makes this book a classic?
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Questions like these help teachers focus on the ‘point’ of instruction. These questions are unlike leading questions, which could help students follow key events of the plot, spot the author’s use of symbolism, or clarify characterization. Over arching questions tap into larger ideas that can be accessed during a unit such as a novel study of Lord of the Flies. 'HFLGHRQ¶WRSLFDO·HVVHQWLDOTXHVWLRQVZKLFKGLUHFWO\UHODWHWRDVSHFLÀFWRSLFRUXQLWRIVWXG\)RUH[DPSOHHVVHQWLDO questions relevant to ‘Lord of the Flies’ might include: What does it mean to be civilized? Are modern civilizations more civilized than ancient ones? What is necessary to ensure civilized behavior? Do children need to be taught to be civilized? What causes us to lose civilized behavior? Essential questions are also recursive; that is, they naturally reoccur, often many times, during the study of a discipline. First graders as well as college students can offer valid aesthetic judgments about what makes a book a great book, for example. [cont’d...]
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Wiggins and McTighe argue that essential questions like those posed above have a number of critical attributes. First, they are arguable; there is no single obvious ‘right’ answer. Such questions ask students to ‘uncover’ ideas, problems, controversies, philosophical positions, or perspectives. Second, essential questions often reach across subject boundaries and provoke a series of ensuing and related questions that help us reach an understanding. Third, these questions often strike right at the heart of a discipline, such as: What can novels tell us? Whose version of history is being told? Can we ultimately prove anything in science? How do we know what we think we know? Essential questions can provide a focus for sifting through the information and details of a unit of study, and they especially encourage student inquiry, discussion, and research. They involve students in personalizing their learning and developing individual insights into a topic.
Essential Questions Are...
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core-focused h
An arguable, recurring, and thought-provoking question that will guide inquiry and point toward big ideas.
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The essence of what students should examine and know in a course of study. Goes to the heart of a discipline. The same question can be re-asked throughout a main subject (i.e. – Mathematics), but with increasing levels of sophistication.
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Probes what is important to teach, and thus emphasizes inquiry and investigation instead of objectives.
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Learning objectives posed as a question.
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Helps to organize by providing a backbone and reference points.
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Declares the intent or the focus of the learning.
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Serves as the scope and sequence—a logical pattern of investigation as the students progress through their educational journey.
Inquiry-based h
A creative choice that transforms the search for knowledge.
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Are open-ended and resist an obvious simple or single right answer. A quick and simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response cannot answer this type of question.
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Lead to other essential questions that are related, or to questions that are posed by students. Good questions provoke other good questions. Try to create families of related questions that can anchor a course or unit. Encourage students to create their own questions as they attempt to clarify the main Essential Question.
reinforce thinking skills h
Are deliberately thought provoking counter intuitive, and/or controversial.
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Require students to draw upon content knowledge, personal experience, and other information they have gathered to construct their own answers.
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Causes students to search for an answer using critical thinking (ultimately using Bloom’s higher order thinking—Analyze, Synthesize, Evaluate).
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interdisciplinary h
Most essential questions are interdisciplinary in nature. They usually cut across lines created by schools and scholars to mark the terrain of departments and disciplines.
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Usually lend themselves well to multidisciplinary investigations, requiring for example, that students apply the skills and perspectives of math and language arts to social studies or science.
Engaging h
Can be revisited throughout the unit to engage students in evolving dialogue and debate.
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Should engage students by using real-life applied problem solving.
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Should be created to provoke and sustain student interest. Engaging questions are thought provoking, likely to produce interesting student questions, and take into consideration diverse interests and learning styles.
Writing An Essential Question
(VVHQWLDO4XHVWLRQVDUHSRZHUIXOGLUHFWLYHDQGFRPPLWVWXGHQWVWRFULWLFDOWKLQNLQJ Effective questioning strategy by teachers is required to promote thinking by students. The ability to ask great questions often separates great teachers from good ones. Essential questions are powerful, directive, and commit students to the process of critical thinking through inquiry. Ultimately, the answer to the essential question will require that students craft a response that involves knowledge construction. This new knowledge building occurs through the integration of discrete pieces of information obtained during the research process. Answers to essential questions are a direct measure of student understanding.
Avoiding the Simple Question Writing questions such as ‘What is cancer?’ simply asks students to move information from one point (the resource) to another (their paper). By asking this type of question, you license the student to plagiarize. Instead of the above question, we may ask students the essential question: ‘What plan could you develop that would reduce your likelihood of developing cancer?’ This is a more powerful question than ¶:KDWLVFDQFHU"·+RZHYHUWKHTXHVWLRQLVQRW\HWÀQLVKHG At this point, it is helpful to visualize the answer. In this case,
a student could answer this question by developing a list of strategies. They are still moving information. A much better question is: ‘What plan could you develop that would reduce your likelihood of developing cancer? Your plan can have only two strategies. Defend why you selected those two strategies.’ In this case, the question requires students to discriminate among the potential list of strategies, and then defend their choice.
The ability to ask GREAT QUESTIONS OFTEN IS WHAT SEPARATES GREAT TEACHERS FROM GOOD TEACHERS. ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS ARE POWERFUL.
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more examples h
Is it acceptable to clone human beings?
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What invention of the 20th Century has had the greatest impact? Justify your response.
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Who was the greatest home run hitter in baseball history?
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Which credit card is best for me?
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What plan could be developed to reduce the impact of zebra mussels on the Great Lakes ecosystem? Your plan can include three strategies.
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What is the best plan for losing 20 pounds? Your plan can include 3 strategies.
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What plan could I use to prepare for a 5K run? The plan can include 2 strategies.
Bibliography Buehl, D. “Essential Questions: Helping Readers Focus,” Wisconsin Literacy Education and Reading Network Source. http://wilearns.state.wi.us/apps/default.asp?cid=128 Elder, L. & Paul, R. (2002). The Miniature Guide to The Art of Asking Essential Questions. The Foundation for Critical Thinking. http://www.criticalthinking.org Jakes, D. “Writing Essential Questions.” MyProjectPages.com. http://www.myprojectpages.com/support/ess_questpopup.htm Lee, R. W. “Essential Questions,” Harding University. http://www.harding.edu/dlee/lessonplans.htm McKenzie, J. “Learning to Question, To Wonder, To Learn,” The Question Mark – Vol 1, No 5, March 2005. http://questioning.org/mar05/covmar.html McKenzie, J. “A Questioning Toolkit,” From Now On – The Educational Technology Journal – Vol 7, No 3, November/ December 1997. http://fno.org/nov97/toolkit.html Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2004). Understanding By Design Professional Development Workbook. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
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Essential Question Samples
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Generalized Questions h
From whose viewpoint are we seeing or reading or hearing? From what angle or perspective?
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How do we know when we know? What’s the evidence, and how reliable is it?
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How are things, events, or people connected to each other? What is the cause?
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Which credit card is best for me?
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What’s new and what’s old? Have we run across this idea before?
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So what? Why does it matter? What does it all mean?
History Questions
WORLD HISTORY | OVER-ARCHING COURSE LEVEL QUESTIONS
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What differentiates one nation’s identity from another?
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How do wars shape alliances and contribute to national identities?
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What role does technology play in the history of a people?
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+RZGRODQJXDJHVLQÁXHQFHSHRSOHVDQGWKHLUQDWLRQDOLWLHV" WORLD HISTORY | WW2 UNIT
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How did treaties, alliances, and political structure contribute to World War II?
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What are possibilities for the European outcome (and thus world outcome) had the United States not entered the war and why?
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What are indicators that a war has ended? For example, in World War II, how did everyone know the war was over?
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Could a war such as World War II occur again? How and why?
Contemporary American Literature Questions
http://shs.westport.k12.ct.us/chia/ContemporaryAmerican/syll_unstudy.htm h
How do contemporary American authors create an overall sense of identity for their characters and speakers in an increasingly complex society?
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What are the emergent forms of Postmodern American identity?
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How do we understand this identity?
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How has the media industry complicated and ‘manufactured’ a stereotyped American identity?
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CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN LITERATURE: MAKING CONNECTIONS h
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How do contemporary American authors attempt to produce meaning in the Information Age?
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How do contemporary literary works crisscross boundaries, move between ‘low’ and ‘high’ culture, and blur genres?
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What are the connections between contemporary literature and contemporary American Visual Art?
IS THE AMERICAN ANTI-HERO STILL A HERO? h
In the contemporary era, how do we tell the good guys from the bad guys?
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What dictates our actions and reactions? WHAT IS THE CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN VOICE?
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Must individuals of mixed ancestry select one portion of their inheritance with which to identify—and if so—does this automatically imply a rejection of the remainder of their inheritance
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How do gender, race, and class function in contemporary American society?
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How do these texts rely upon or break with certain cultural assumptions? HOW DO WE READ CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN TEXTS?
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What is the role of the reader in these contemporary texts?
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How does the nature of hypertext change the relationship between the reader and the text?
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How does context shape content? WHAT IMAGE OF AMERICAN LIFE IN THE LATE 20TH-EARLY 21ST CENTURIES IS ENSHRINED IN RECENT LITERATURE?
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What might future generations learn about us (accurately or otherwise) from contemporary writing?
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What might we learn about ourselves today?
Literary Analysis Questions
http://www.maitespace.com/englishodyssey/HE9/litpersss/essentialquestions.htm RHETORICAL | THE ANALYSIS OF TECHNIQUE AND AUTHOR INTENT h
What did the author want me to get out of this piece?
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What techniques did the author use to get his/her point across?
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How were those techniques used to develop theme? How were they used to develop character? etc..
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How were those techniques used to manipulate the reader?
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CULTURAL | THE ANALYSIS OF A PIECE OF LITERATURE IN TERMS OF ITS CULTURAL CONTEXT h
Why do you either identify or resist the cultural values of the piece?
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Are you an insider or an outsider to the culture in this book?
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DECONSTRUCTION | THE REVELATION OF A SECONDARY MEANING h
Is there any evidence in the text indicating a possible secondary meaning?
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Can you then adequately extend your secondary meanings throughout the work?
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Do you really understand primary and secondary meanings? FEMINIST | THE ANALYSIS OF A WORK’S PERCEPTION BY AND PORTRAYAL OF FEMALES
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How are female (and male) roles played out in the work? What stereotypes—overt or subtle—are portrayed? What messages about gender roles are being sent?
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How would the story change if gender roles were shifted?
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How would the piece differ if the author were of the other gender?
FREUDIAN | THE ANALYSIS OF A PIECE OF LITERATURE AS AN INSIGHT INTO THE AUTHOR’S MIND h
Do you understand that to look at a text from a Freudian point of view is to see it as symbolic rather than literal?
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Do you understand that suppressed wants, needs, and even memories force their way through symbolically in dreams and—of course—writing?
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What text—words, phrases, or passages—represents a symbolic expression of the author’s sublimated wants and needs?
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What conclusions can you draw about the author and his/her work based on your Freudian analysis of the text?
LACANIAN | INSIGHT INTO OURSELVES BASED ON OUR RESPONSE TO LITERATURE’S LANGUAGE h
Do you understand that my reactions to the text are symbolic rather than literal? Do I also understand that literal is still a good place to start?
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Since I do realize that the text I respond to is symbolic of my reactions to aspects in my personality, I also realize that Lacan gave us categories for those symbols: the mother and the father. Which of these types of symbols are you responding to? Your need for security or safety (the mother)? Or your need for acceptance by others (the father).
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For all of this, do you understand the mirror principle—the idea that we form images of ourselves based on how we think we are perceived by others?
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What text—exact words, phrases, or passages—causes a strong emotional response? What exactly about that text is affecting your mirror image?
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CULTURAL | THE ANALYSIS OF A PIECE OF LITERATURE IN TERMS OF ITS CULTURAL CONTEXT h
How do you feel about what you read?
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What does it make you think of?
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How do you evaluate the text as a reader?
Science Questions
http://www.maitespace.com/englishodyssey/HE9/litpersss/essentialquestions.htm ENERGY IN ECOSYSTEMS
GLOBAL WARMING
What is the price of being alive?
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How can the possibility of global warming affect you?
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What ecosystems are you a part of?
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Can/should anything be done about global warming?
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If the earth absorbs energy from the sun, why doesn’t it keep getting hotter?
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How has pollution occurred throughout history?
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What local changes might occur if global temperatures rise to (x)º?
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Does global warming really happen?
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Is the world one big ecosystem?
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Who makes all of the food on earth?
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Why do larger animals have less to eat?
BOTANY UNIT
MOTION
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What is life, growth, and “natural” development?
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Where does the energy harnessed from dams come from?
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Why are there laws for the wearing of seat belts?
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What would your life be like without gravity?
PLATE TECTONICS h
What are the predictive powers and limits for tectonic events?
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How does the local geology affect your life?
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Will your house survive an earthquake?
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:K\GR6RXWK$PHULFDDQG$IULFDORRNOLNHWKH\ÀWWRJHWKHU" WATER QUALITY
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How can a historical look at human treatment of water be transferred to other areas of the environment?
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Why or why not is bottled water worth the money?
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What can you do to increase the likelihood that we will have clean water in the future?
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Is it a good idea to have the river be our primary water source?
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How does water quality affect living things?
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What is the possibility that we are running out of water?
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Is new water created?
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WEATHER h
Considering our latitude, why don’t we have more snow days?
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Why can’t we predict when they will occur?
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How can changes in density become so destructive?
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How is weather related to human activities?
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How does weather control human behavior?
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Is weather related to photosynthesis?
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How does weather affect construction?
Other Examples h
Must a story have a moral? A beginning, middle, and end? Heroes and villains?
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Is geometry more like map-making and using a map, or inventing and playing games like chess? Were theorems invented or discovered?
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Is history a history of progress?
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What makes a family a community?
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Do statistics always lie?
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Are some aspects of another language and culture not understandable by people from other cultures?
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In what ways are animals human, and in what way are humans animals?
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Do mathematical models conceal as much as they reveal? (These other examples are from Understanding by Design: Curriculum and Assessment, pp. 34-35.)
Essential Question Resources
3OHDVHXWLOL]HDQ\RIWKHIROORZLQJUHVRXUFHVWROHDUQPRUHDERXWHVVHQWLDOTXHVWLRQVRUDWWDLQPRUHH[DPSOHV MORE ABOUT ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS Chapter Ten of "Learning to Question to Wonder to Learn" by Jamie McKenzie. From Now On | The Educational Technology Journal FILLING THE TOOL BOX | Classroom Strategies to Engender Student Questioning by Jamieson A. McKenzie, Ed.D. and Hilarie Bryce Davis, Ed.D. Multiple Links | Essential Questions and Inquiry-based Learning Multiple links | Essential Questions in Teaching and Learning Kentucky Department of Education
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LINKS FOR ALL SUBJECTS Olentangy School District | Ohio
Baltimore County Public Schools | High School
Round Rock Independent SD | Westwood High School
Baltimore County Public Schools | Middle School
Quakertown Community School District | Pennsylvania
Baltimore County Public Schools | Elementary
Nanuet Public School District | New York
Loudon County School District | Tennessee
Eau Claire Area School District | Middle School
Gooding Joint School District | 6 to 12 Curriculum
Eau Claire Area School District | High School
Oregon Episcopal School
MATHEMATICS Montgomery County Public Schools | Rockville Maryland
TECHNOLOGY http://www.ct4me.net/technology_integr.htm
SOCIAL STUDIES http://worldhistoryforusall.sdsu.edu/dev/shared/themes.htm
RECOMMENDED READING Costa, A. L. (Ed.) & Kallick, B (Ed.). 4 book series Habits of Mind. Alexandria. VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Tomlinson, C. A. (1999). The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners. VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2004). Understanding by Design Professional Development Workbook. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
ON HAND Schools
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his detailed Essential Questions guide is to be used in conjunction with the EdInsight Curriculum Mapper.™ This guide assists your
dedicated educators as they focus curriculum, lessons and resources on the most pressing academic needs of each group of students entrusted to their care. Thank you for taking the time to look over this material. We hope that you continue to let OnHand Schools help your team prepare answers to the most important questions faced by your district.
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