1. Essential Questions: Keys to Meaningful Learning
Boise State University Edufest Special Topics
Susan Wolfe, MAT, Ed.S.
July 28, 2013

2. Self Assessment
novice
intermediate
advanced
expert

3. Workshop Content EQs and Backward Design
Essential Questions – Key Features
Different Types of EQs
Designing Essential Questions
Tips for Using Essential Questions
Web Site Resources

4. Three-Minute Pause Meet in groups of 3-5 to… summarize key points.
add your own thoughts.
pose clarifying questions.

5. Understanding and Transfer
Two Big Ideas of UbD
Teach and Assess for
Understanding
and Transfer
3 stages of
Backward Design

6. 3 Stages of Backward Design
Identify desired results.
Determine acceptable evidence.
Plan learning experiences and instruction.

7. UbD Unit Design Template
Embodies the 3 stages of backward design.
Offers a mental template for effective design.

9. Killing Creativity

11. What makes a question ESSENTIAL?

12. From the leading edge… “Why is music such a pleasure?”
Nicholas Humphrey
Psychologist, New School for Social Research
Author of Consciousness Regained and History of the Mind

13. From the leading edge…
“What do collapses of past societies teach us about our own future?”
Jared Diamond
Biologist, UCLA Medical School
Author of Guns, Germs and Steel
“Why don’t more of our unequal societies implode?”
Katherine Boo
Author of Behind the Beautiful Forevers
Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity

14. Sample Essential Questions
How does art reflect, as well as shape , culture?
What should we eat?
In what way do effective writers hook and hold their readers?
How do I know what to believe about a scientific claim?

16. Concept Attainment
Compare examples (+) and non-examples (-) of a concept.
Identify the distinguishing characteristics of each.
Test your theory against new examples.
Refine your concept definition.

17. Essential Questions Not Essential Questions
What do effective problem solvers do when they get stuck?
Is there ever a “just” war?
How can I sound more like a native speaker?
What steps did you follow to get your answer?
What key event sparked World War I?
What are some common Spanish colloquialisms?

18. Essential Questions Not Essential Questions
What should we eat?
Should it be an axiom if it is not obvious?
Who is a true friend?
What foods are in the DAIRY food group?
By what axioms are we able to prove Pythagorean theorem?
Who is Maggie’s best friend in the story?

19. YES NO
What is the relationship between popularity and greatness in literature? When was the Magna Carta signed? Crustaceans – what’s up with that?

20. YES NO
What is the relationship between popularity and greatness in literature? When was the Magna Carta signed? Crustaceans – what’s up with that?

21. YES NO
Which President of the U.S. has the most disappointing legacy? To what extent are science and common sense related? What’s the pattern?

22. YES NO
Which President of the U.S. has the most disappointing legacy? To what extent are science and common sense related? What’s the pattern?
It depends on intent!

23. Open-ended; not a “single” answer; requires support
Thought provoking;
intellectually
engaging
Open-ended; not a “single”
answer;
requires support
Recur: can (and should)
be revisited
Generative; spark inquiry
and
raise other questions

24. Pause

25. Four Types of Classroom Questions 1. Nutrition 2. Literature
Questions That Hook
Can what you eat help to prevent zits?
Do you know any teenagers that act crazy? Why do they act that way?
Questions That Lead
What types of food are in the food groups?
When (time period) and where (location) does the novel take place?
Questions That Guide
What is a balanced diet?
Is Holden normal?
(Note: main character is telling the story from a psychiatric hospital.)
Essential Questions
What should we eat?
What makes a story timeless?
2. What truths can we learn from fiction?

26. Criteria Juicy – is the prompt provocative? Shades of grey
In humanities are their multiple sides and answers?
In math/science are their multiple steps requiring collaborative solving?
Requires evidence do students have multiple and reliable sources to support their argument?
Rooted in rigorous academic content
Must students use rigorous content in order to solve or answer the essential questions?

27. How Do We Design Essential Questions?

28. Content Overload
Curriculum

30. Buyer Beware!
Common Core Standards converted into 1,540 Learning Objectives DataWORKS has converted the Common Core Standards into explicit, teachable Learning Objectives. Now teachers can rapidly comprehend, internalize, and implement new Common Core Vocabulary lists that define key words students need to be successful. Download free sample.

32. “Unpack” Content Standards
Consider: What “big ideas” are embedded within the standards?
Content Standards

33. A closer look

34. Next Generation Science Standards
Includes EIGHT Practices for K-12 Classrooms.
Example:
7. Engaging in argument from evidence
What makes a credible argument?
What constitutes effective evidence?

35. Next Generation Science Standards
6. Structure and Function. The way in which an object or living thing is shaped and it substructure determine many of its properties and functions.
How are structure and function related:
…in living things?
…in non-living things?

36. English/LA Anchor Standards, Reading – Key Ideas and Details
Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
EQs
What logical inferences can I draw, based on what is in the text?
What specific evidence in the text supports my ideas?

37. Mathematics Practice Standards
Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
Use appropriate tools strategically.
EQs
What do effective problem solvers do?
What should I do when I am stuck?
What is the most appropriate method and/or tool to use here, if efficiency and effectiveness is the goals?

38. Next Generation Science Standards
Plan and carry out investigations to identify the effect forces have on an object’s shape and orientation.
EQs
Why did this move that way?
Why is this shaped that way?
What distinct forces caused that effect?

39. 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!

40. Examples:
Understanding – Living organisms adapt to survive harsh or changing environments.
Overarching – “In nature, do only the “strong” survive? What is survival strength?
Topical – “How do insects survive so well?”

41. Overarching vs. Topical EQs
Whose story (perspective) is this?
How do authors use story
elements to establish mood?
What are common factors in the rise and fall of powerful nations?
How did Native Idahoans view the “settlement” of their land?
How does Neil Gaiman use setting to establish mood?
Why did the Soviet Union collapse?

42. Consider EQs in Two Strands
Content
Process

43. Consider EQs in Two Strands
Mathematical Concepts
Mathematical Practices

44. EQs in Two Tracks – Social Studies
Content EQs
Process EQs
How should we balance individual rights with the common good?
Does capitalism insure economic inequality?
How do we know what to believe about historical claims?
Whose “story” is this?

45. EQs in Two Tracks – Language Arts
Content EQs
Process EQs
What truths can we learn from fiction?
Can anyone be a hero?
How does what I read influence how I should read it?
How do you read “between the lines”?

46. EQs in Two Tracks – Math Content EQs Process EQs What do numbers show?
What are the limits of this mathematical model (e.g., a linear equation)?
What do good problem solvers do?
What makes an answer reasonable?

47. EQs in Two Tracks – Arts Content EQs Process EQs
How do the arts reflect and shape culture?
How and why do artists break with tradition?
How do tools and materials influence artistic expression?
How can/should we “read” a work of art?

48. EQs in Two Tracks – P.E./Sports
Content EQs
Process EQs
When and why should we change the rules??
Why and how do we “create space” when on offense?
No pain, no gain – agree?
If practice makes perfect, what makes “perfect” practice?

49. Your Task Draft ONE overarching EQ for your subject or course.
Draft TWO topical EQs for your subject or course

50. Pause

51. Share Out
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

52. Establishing a Culture of Inquiry

53. Make Just One Change
All students should and can learn to formulate their own questions
All educators can easily teach the skill as part of their regular practice

54. Benefits Greater ownership of their learning Deepens comprehension
Make new connections and discoveries on their own.

55. The Question Formulation Technique
Teacher Designs EQ for New Unit.
Students Produce Questions.
Students Improve Their Questions.
Students Prioritize Their Questions.
Students and Teacher Decide on Next Steps.
Students Reflect on What They Have Learned.

56. 2. Students Produce Questions
The four rules are:
Ask as many questions as you can.
Do not stop to discuss, judge, or answer any of the questions.
Write down every question exactly as it was stated.
Change any statements into questions.

57. 3. Students Improve Their Questions
By:
Analyzing the differences between open- and closed-ended questions and by practicing changing one type to the other.
FAT Question
Skinny Question

58. 4. Students Prioritize Their Questions
The teacher:
Can offer criteria or guidelines for the selection of priority questions. In an introduction to a unit, the instruction may be, “Choose the three questions you most want to explore further.”

59. Question Board

60. 5. Students and Teacher Decide on Next Steps.
At this stage:
Students and teacher work together to decide how to use the questions.
Example: After prioritizing questions, students and the teacher agreed on this question for their Socratic Seminar discussion: “How do poverty and injustice lead to violence in A Tale of Two Cities?”

61. 6. Students Reflect on What They Have Learned
Review the steps and provide students with an opportunity to reflect and refine.
QFT process is transparent, helping students see what they have done and how it contributed to their thinking and learning. They can internalize the process and then apply it in many other settings. 

62. “ A key long-term goal of education is for students to become better questioners because in the end – with much knowledge made quickly obsolete in the modern world – the ability to question is central to meaningful learning and intellectual achievement at high levels.”
Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins

64. Wishing you all the best as you charge into the new school year!

65. Resources Print Media:
Essential Questions: Opening Doors to Student Understanding Wiggins, G. and McTighe, J. (2013). Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) 
Understanding by Design Guide to Creating High Quality Units Wiggins, G. and McTighe, J. (2011). Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)

66. Resources Websites: www.livebinders.com
LiveBinders is your 3-ring binder for the web, has an online binder for content curation on Essential Questions
Unpacking The Common Core Standards Using The UbD Framework (DVD) Wiggins, G. and McTighe, J. (2012). Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)
- Great EQ resource to get started
- Common Core source
- Common Core source
- Common Core source
- Question Formula Technique