Essential Questions “Know and understand are not synonyms.” Wiggins and McTighe, Understanding by Design

“Understanding is always fluid, transformable into a new theory.”  What we want students to be able to do is to take information and skills and apply them in new situations rather than “spewing back the particular fact, concepts, or problem sets that were taught.” Wiggins and McTighe Understanding by Design

“ How does one go about determining what is worth understanding amid a range of content standards and topics?” Wiggins and McTighe, 1989 p.10  BEFORE you do your lesson plans, ask yourself, “What do I really want these student to know? What is the core nugget of knowledge that, when they are 32 years old and have forgotten most of what they have learned, will allow them to function in real life situations?”

An essential question:  is a provocative question designed to engage student interest and guide inquiry into the important ideas in a field of study.  does not have one “right” answer  is intended to stimulate discussion and rethinking over time  When using more than one, essential questions can be differentiated to meet student needs.

Essential questions:  Are higher-order, in Bloom's sense: You must “go beyond” the information given.Bloom's  raise other important questions

Answers to essential questions cannot be found. They must be invented.

Two Types of essential questions:  Topical – can be answered by uncovering a unit’s content. They stay within the bounds of the topic. They can be answered as a result of in-depth inquiry. Ex: After reading Merchant of Venice, answer the question: Is Shakespeare prejudice?  Over-Arching – Point beyond a unit to a larger, transferable idea. May link a topic to other topics and subjects. Ex: What in Shakespeare’s plays make them “classic” literature?

Essential Questions  Essential questions often begin with..  Why?  How?  Which?  What if?  Why do things happen the way they do?  How could things be made better?  Which is best?  What if this happened?

Example:  Topic – Martin Luther King  What events and people influenced MLK to become a leader in Civil Rights?  How did MLK change the world today?  What techniques did MLK use to persuade the world that his ideas were important?  How did MLK’s leadership and philosophies influence the US position?

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.

Only a person who has questions can have knowledge.” Gadamker, 1994