Transcript PowerPoint Presentation - Understanding by Design

Essential
Questions
Lee’s Summit High School
Library Media Center
Essential Questions
• Like to argue? Good!
– Essential questions are
important to “argue” about!
Essential Questions
• Are at the heart of the subject
– They deal with what’s important,
what’s worth thinking about.
– Which one(s) are EQs?
• What were the names of the
battles fought in the Civil
War?
• Why was the Civil War
fought?
• What would be different today
if the South had won?
Essential Questions
• Raise more questions—”parent”
questions that produce more
questions.
The “Parent”:
Does media violence make our society
more violent?
The kids:
•If it does, are producers of violent
movies responsible for real crimes?
•Would kids grow up to be better
people if we didn’t let them watch
violent TV?
•Can you really blame the media for
all the violence going on? Who else
is responsible?
•Isn’t it really up to each individual to
control their actions, no matter what
they see on TV?. . . and so on.
Essential Questions
• Recur –and should recurmany times through your
lifetime.
(Hmmm. I thought I had it all
figured out, but now that I see
some new evidence, I’m not
so sure.)
Essential Questions
• Are:
– Provocative
• They challenge you/make
you want to argue/make you
question.
– Enticing
• Ooooh. That’s interesting-let me think about that!
– Engagingly framed
• Not boring
• Make people want to discuss
the question.
Essential Questions
• Can’t be answered with
simple, “right there” answers.
They make you THINK!
Which is an EQ?
• Who was the 35th president?
• What was the best thing
President Kennedy did when
he was president? Why do
you think so?
Essential Questions
• Answers can’t be “found”.
– (JFK was the 35th president)
• They must be invented!
– But you must find evidence to
support what you invent!
– (It’s not just guessing!)
• The best thing JFK did as
president was . . .
• Because. . .(cite evidence)
Essential Questions
• Essential questions often begin with
–
–
–
–
Why?
Which?
How?
What if?
• Why do things happen the way
they do?
• Which do I select?
• How could things be made
better?
• Which is best?
• What if this happened?
Essential Questions
• Should require one of the
following thought
processes:
– Requires developing a
plan or course of action
OR
– Requires making a
decision/coming to a
conclusion
Essential Questions
Examples:
• Must a story have a moral? A
beginning, middle, and end?
Heroes and villains?
• Is Russia becoming more or less
democratic since Putin came into
power?
• Is geometry more like map-making
and using a map, or inventing and
playing games like chess? Were
theorems invented or discovered?
• Is prejudice more a view of race or
class?
• What makes a family a community?
• Do statistics always lie?
Essential Questions
•
•
•
•
•
Examples continued
Are some aspects of another
language and culture not
understandable by people from
other cultures?
Is gravity a fact or a theory? Is
evolution a scientific law or a
theory?
In what ways are animals human,
and in what way are humans
animals?
Do mathematical models conceal
as much as they reveal?
(From Understanding by Design:
Curriculum and Assessment, pp.
Related or Supporting
Questions
• These are the smaller
questions that must be
answered in order to answer
the big, essential question.
• They provide background and
guide the work.
• They tend to be more topic
and subject-specific.
Questioning
• For additional information on the
importance of questioning and the
different types of questions see:
– Jamie McKenzie’s Questioning Toolbox
• http://fno.org/nov97/toolkit.html
or
– The Question IS the Answer
• http://fno.org/oct97/question.html
or
– UnderstandingbyDesign Powerpoint
But my teacher wants a thesis
statement. . .
• If your research assignment is
required to have a thesis
statement, essential questions
will help you develop it.
• Take a look at this
presentation on thesis
statements from essential
questions.
To Learn More about
Thesis Statements
• Purdue OWL’s Thesis or
Question
• Joyce Valenza’s “What is a
Thesis?”
• Indiana University’s “How to
Write a Thesis Statement”
Return to LSHS Research
and Problem-Solving Model