Transcript Creating essential questions - Maywood Academy High School

CREATING ESSENTIAL
QUESTIONS
Essential Questions have no one answer.
Essential Questions
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enables all to learn.
involve thinking, not just answering.
makes you investigators.
are provocative- they hook you into wanting to learn.
offer a sense of adventure, are fun to explore and try
to answer.
requires you to connect learning from several
disciplines.
challenges you to demonstrate that you understand the
relationship between what you are learning and larger
world issues.
What is an essential question?
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A question that probe for deeper meaning and sets the
stage for further questioning.
Fosters the development of critical thinking skills and
higher order capabilities such as problem-solving and
understanding complex issues.
In general, the best essential questions center around
major issues, problems, concerns, interests, or themes
relevant to students' lives and to their communities.
Good essential questions are open-ended, nonjudgmental, meaningful and purposeful.
Bloom’s Taxonomy & Essential
Questions
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Essential questions reside at the top of Bloom's
Taxonomy (Bloom, 1954).
They require students to
EVALUATE (make a thoughtful choice between options, with
the choice based upon clearly stated criteria),
 SYNTHESIZE (invent a new or different version)
 ANALYZE (develop a thorough and complex understanding
through skillful questioning).
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Essential questions spark our curiosity and sense of
wonder. They derive from some deep wish to
understand some thing which matters to us.
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Evaluation
Synthesis
Analysis
Application
Comprehension
Knowledge
Do’s and Don’ts
What you want to do:
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Asked to be argued
Designed to “uncover”
new ideas, views, lines
of argument
Set up inquiry,
heading to new
understandings.
What you don’t want to do:
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Asked as a reminder,
to prompt recall
Point to a single,
straightforward fact
a rhetorical question
To start out with…
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Essential questions often begin with . .
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Why?
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Which?
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How could things be made better?
What if?
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Which is best?
How?
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Why do things happen the way they do?
What if this happened?
Finally, utilize the six typical queries that newspaper
articles address: Who? What? Where? When? Why? and
How? and add the word "good" in front of the theme or
concept.
Sample Essential Question Stems
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How was this similar to...?
What was the underlying theme of...?
What do you see as other possible outcomes?
Can you explain what must have happened when...?
How is ... similar to ...?
What are some of the problems of...?
Can you distinguish between...?
What were some of the motives behind...?
Some more stems….
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What is a possible solution to...?
What would happen if...?
Is there a better solution to..
How would ___ have handled...?
Do you think ... is a good or a bad thing?
How would you feel if...?
Works Cited
Stuart-Bayer, Sandy. “Essential Questions”. Lee’s
Summit High School. n.d. Web. 22 February 2010.
“Essential Question Model”. Sandborn Regional School
District. n.d. Web. 22 February 2010.