Rev. 9/13/01 © 2004 Intel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Curriculum-Framing Questions What Are Curriculum-Framing Questions? How Do They Help Teachers? How Do They Help Students?

2 © 2004 Intel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. What are Curriculum- Framing Questions? Curriculum-Framing Questions guide a unit of study and include Essential, Unit, and Content Questions Essential and Unit Questions: Reflect conceptual priorities Go to the heart of the discipline Raise important questions across content areas Have no single, obvious “right” answer Are framed to provoke student interest Content Questions Directly support content standards and learning objectives Have specific “right” answers

3 © 2004 Intel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. What is the difference between Essential and Unit Questions? Essential Questions: Are broad in scope Provide bridges between disciplines and units of study Example: How does conflict produce change? Unit Questions: Are tied to a specific topic or unit of study Support and continue the study of an Essential Question Examples: How does stress on the environment impact evolution? In the story, Charlotte’s Web, how do the animals’ different abilities help Wilbur survive and succeed?

4 © 2004 Intel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Why Use Curriculum-Framing Questions? To target higher order thinking skills To require comparison, synthesis, interpretation, evaluation, etc. To ensure student projects are compelling and engaging To require more than a simple restatement of facts To focus on important topics To connect learning to other disciplines and other topics of study To ask questions that have been asked throughout human history To address compelling questions that students ask

5 © 2004 Intel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. What are Content Questions? Content Questions differ from Unit and Essential Questions: Content Questions deal mostly with facts, rather than the interpretation of those facts They typically have clear-cut answers Examples: How are volcanoes made? What is photosynthesis? Why is it cold in the winter when the sun is shining? How do you find the values of unknowns in equations? What is a fable?

6 © 2004 Intel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. They help teachers focus on important topics in their year-long curriculum and bring meaning across subject areas: How Do Essential Questions Help Teachers? They raise important questions across content areas (Maths, Science, Literature, History, etc.). They centre around major issues, problems, concerns, interests, or themes that also occur in other units. Click here to see a video clip

7 © 2004 Intel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. How Do Essential Questions Help Teachers? Linda Chamley Johnson 8 th Grade Social Studies Teacher

8 © 2004 Intel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. They help to engage students: Essential Questions bring meaning and focus to the study of events and topics throughout a project or course, which otherwise may seem arbitrary or unrelated. How Do Essential Questions Help Students? They help students compare, contrast, and make analogies. Questions are relevant, compelling, interesting, and are written in age-appropriate, student language.

9 © 2004 Intel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. They engage students’ imagination and connect the subject with their own experiences and ideas. How Do Essential Questions Help Students? They help to engage students: There is no one, obvious “right” answer, so students are challenged to explore many possibilities. They encourage in-depth discussion and research, and set the stage for further questioning. Click here to see a video clip

10 © 2004 Intel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. How Do Essential Questions Help Students? Paula, 8th Grader

11 © 2004 Intel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. What is the difference between an Essential Question and a Content Question? Essential Questions vs Fact-based, “One” Answer Content Questions How does art reflect culture or change it? What is renaissance art? How does an organism succeed in its environment? What is the life cycle of a frog? How does conflict produce change? What is the conflict in the story…? Why do laws change?How are laws made? Is history a history of progress?Who is an important inventor and what did he/she invent? Click here to see how a team of teachers can use one Essential Question

12 © 2004 Intel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. How can Different Unit Questions Support a Single Essential Question? Unit Questions asked in one course of study can explore different facets of an Essential Question. Unit Questions Teams of teachers from different disciplines can use their own unique Unit Questions to support one common, unifying Essential Question.

13 © 2004 Intel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. How can Different Unit Questions Support a Single Essential Question? SOSE/HSIE Unit Question: How does war create change in the economy? Science Unit Question: How do animals adapt to a changing environment? Language Arts Unit Questions: In literature, how do the characters in [book title] respond to conflict? Why do humans often react to conflict with violence? How does [book title] help us to understand our complex human nature?

14 © 2004 Intel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. How do Unit Questions Support Essential Questions? Essential Question&Unit Questions How can maths help me understand the world around me? What are fractals good for? Why have stories always been important throughout history? Why do we still read Shakespeare? How is Shakespeare’s work relevant to my life? How does art reflect or change society? How does impressionist art reflect life in the late 1800’s? How does your own art reflect your life and culture? What does it take to change the world? How did Federation affect Australia in the early 1900s? How does Federation affect the lives of Australians today?

15 © 2004 Intel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. How are Essential and Unit Questions Related to Curriculum Frameworks? Upper Primary – Lower Secondary Students will know features of Earth’s surface and major geologic events. Sample outcome Students will demonstrate and explain how volcanoes and different types of mountains result from plate motions. Essential Question How does the earth change? Unit QuestionCould a volcano erupt in my backyard? Content Question How are mountains made? What are the different layers of the earth? How do igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks form? Click here to see another sample

16 © 2004 Intel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Senior Secondary Students Students will understand how literature records, reflects, communicates, and influences human events. …Students will identify themes in literary works and provide support for interpretations from the text. Sample outcome Students will identify a common theme in one of Shakespeare’s plays and in a contemporary work, comparing and contrasting the theme’s development. Essential Question Why have stories always been important throughout human history? Unit QuestionWhy do we still read Shakespeare? How do Shakespeare’s poems and plays impact and accurately reflect modern life? Content Question What is the conflict and resolution of the play? What is iambic pentameter? How are Essential and Unit Questions Related to Curriculum Frameworks?

17 © 2004 Intel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Practicing with Questions Open the "Brainstorming Questions" document from the Module 1, Activity 4 folder on the Program CD-ROM. Brainstorm with one or two people to complete the first set of Essential, Unit, and Content Questions. Share and discuss the questions with the whole group. In your small group, pick any other two to three sets of questions and fill in the blanks with your own questions. Share your ideas with one other group.

18 © 2004 Intel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Brainstorming Your Own Questions – Hints & Tips When brainstorming Essential Questions: Just start…don’t worry about the mechanics and language. Focus on brainstorming. Determine what you want your students to remember from this Unit in five years. You may want to write your question as a statement first, and then revise it into a question. If needed, write the questions in adult language to capture the essential understandings, then rewrite in “kid” language. When brainstorming Unit Questions: Think about the questions your students ask each time you teach this unit, and focus on what they find most fascinating. Be sure that even your Unit Questions have more than one obvious “right” answer — to target higher order thinking skills Keep asking the question students ask: “So what?”

19 © 2004 Intel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. After your brainstorming, share your questions with several colleagues and gather other ideas for revising your questions. Continue to revisit and improve questions throughout the creation of your Unit Portfolio. Brainstorming Your Own Questions – Hints & Tips

20 © 2004 Intel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. The Essential Question for the Intel ® Teach to the Future Program How can ICT be used as a tool for learning and not an end in itself? Click here to return to “Tips”

21 © 2004 Intel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Brainstorming Your Own Questions – Hints & Tips When brainstorming Essential Questions: Just start…don’t worry about the mechanics and language. Focus on brainstorming. Determine what you want your students to remember from this Unit in five years. You may want to write your question as a statement first, and then revise it into a question. If needed, write the questions in adult language to capture the essential understandings, then rewrite in “kid” language. When brainstorming Unit Questions: Think about the questions your students ask each time you teach this unit, and focus on what they find most fascinating. Be sure that even your Unit Questions have more than one obvious “right” answer — to target higher order thinking skills Keep asking the question students ask: “So what?”