How to Craft

Essential Questions
PPT

OBJECTIVES
What is an essential question?
How do I write effective ones?
AN ESSENTIAL QUESTION IS
One that lies at the heart of a subject or
a curriculum & promotes inquiry &
uncoverage of a subject.
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
Have no simple right answer
Provoke & sustain inquiry
Address conceptual or philosophical
foundations
Raise other important questions
Naturally & appropriately recur
Stimulate vital, ongoing rethinking
EQ EXAMPLES
What is a true friend?
How does art reflect culture or shape it?
How could everything be quantifiable?
To what extent is DNA destiny?
In what ways is algebra real and in what
ways is it unreal?
To what extent is US history a history of
progress?
MORE EQ EXAMPLES
Why must heroes be flawless? Or why
not?
Who is entitled to own what?
Is the subjunctive necessary?
What makes writing worth reading?
Explain why or why not practice makes
perfect?
What is healthy eating? Healthy living?
WHAT MAKES A QUESTION
ESSENTIAL?
Recurs throughout all our lives
Refers to core ideas & inquiries within a
discipline
Helps us make sense of important but
complex ideas, knowledge, know-how
Engages a specific & diverse set of
learners
INTENT, NOT LANGUAGE, IS THE
KEY:
Why we pose the question
How students are to tackle it
What learning activities & assessments
we expect
TYPES OF ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
Overarching: Frame courses and
programs of study around truly big ideas
Topical: Are unit specific but still
promote inquiry

GOOD TEACHING USES BOTH!
OVERARCHING ESSENTIAL
QUESTIONS
More general, broader
Point beyond specific topics or skills
Promote transfer of understanding
Can be used as pre & post writing
prompt
EXAMPLES OF OVERARCHING EQ
How can a fictional story be true?
How do a regions geography, climate,
and natural resources affect the way
people live and work?
How does technological change
influence peoples lives? Society?
How does what we measure influence
how we measure?
EXAMPLES OF OVERARCHING EQ
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?
TOPICAL ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
Unit specific - used to guide individual
units
Promote inquiry
Resist simple answers
Require explanation & justification
EXAMPLES OF TOPICAL EQ
What is the value of place value?
What is electricity?
How do we hit with greatest power
without losing control?
MORE TOPICAL EQ EXAMPLES
How might Congress have better
protected minority rights in the 1950s &
1960s?
Should we require DNA samples from
every convicted criminal?
How is Holden Caulfield a phony?
LEADING (GUIDING) QUESTIONS
Meant to culminate in a fact or
completely settled conclusion
No sustained inquiry or argument
intended or necessary
Underscores an important point we
want students to note
We need these, too, BUT...
THEY CANNOT BE THE FOUNDATION OF
OUR CURRICULAR DESIGN.
WHERE TO START?
Determine the big ideas
Standards
Course texts
WHAT ARE BIG IDEAS?
Core concepts, principles, theories, &
processes that should serve as the focal
point of curricula, instruction &
assessment.
BIG IDEAS
Are important and enduring
Are not obvious
May be prone to misunderstanding
Prioritize content
Are transferable
Are the building material of
understandings
Manifest in various ways within
disciplines
Act as conceptual velcro
FINDING BIG IDEAS
Clarify Content Priorities
Worth being familiar with
Important to know and do
Big ideas & Enduring Understandings
FINDING BIG IDEAS
Unpack the 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
BIG IDEAS CAN BE
Concepts
Themes
Issues/Debates
Problems/Challenges
Processes
Theories
Paradoxes
Assumptions/Perspectives
FROM BIG IDEA TO EQ
Start with Big Idea
Answer ?s related to Big Idea
Generate EQ & Desired Understandings
MAKING THE CONNECTION
Big Idea
Understanding Essential Question
Topic or Content
Standard
CRAFTING EQ EXAMPLE
Sample Standard
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 & Juliet teach us about
Shakespeares view of destiny? How does it
compare to yours?
How to Craft
Essential Questions PPT
Adapted from Traci Blanchard
North Cobb High School

Source: Understanding by Design
by Jay McTighe & Grant Wiggins, 2004