1. Programs of the Intel® Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation. Copyright © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel, the Intel logo, Intel Education Initiative, and Intel Teach Program are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Developing Essential Questions A Top-Down Model Illustration Activity Intel ® Teach Program

2. Programs of the Intel® Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation. Copyright © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel, the Intel logo, Intel Education Initiative, and Intel Teach Program are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. 2 Developing Essential Questions A Top-Down Model illustration Activity Preparation: Identify 3 thought-provoking images or illustrations, which could be interpreted in a variety of different ways, and print out each to A3 size. Step 1: Break into 3 groups Each group should be provided with one illustration or picture In your groups describe a range of possible meanings from the illustration Write these on sticky notes and put them around the picture

3. Programs of the Intel® Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation. Copyright © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel, the Intel logo, Intel Education Initiative, and Intel Teach Program are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. 3 Developing Essential Questions A Top-Down Model illustration Activity Step 2: Break out of your groups and move to any other illustration and add sticky notes to any/all illustrations

4. Programs of the Intel® Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation. Copyright © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel, the Intel logo, Intel Education Initiative, and Intel Teach Program are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. 4 Developing Essential Questions A Top-Down Model illustration Activity Step 3: Return to your group illustration and arrange all sticky notes into 3 or 4 main themes Brainstorm an over arching question that somehow has the biggest concept and includes all of your themes Discuss and modify this over arching question so it can become the Essential Question that focuses on the “big picture” idea of this illustration

5. Programs of the Intel® Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation. Copyright © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel, the Intel logo, Intel Education Initiative, and Intel Teach Program are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. 5 Step 4: Reflect: Is it a good Essential Question? How meaningful is this question? How interesting is this question? How well does this question serve one or more subject areas? Does this question pose a reasonable challenge? Developing Essential Questions A Top-Down Model illustration Activity

6. Programs of the Intel® Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation. Copyright © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel, the Intel logo, Intel Education Initiative, and Intel Teach Program are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. 6 Step 5: Create Unit & Content Questions Step 6: Share you questions with the class Developing Essential Questions A Top-Down Model illustration Activity

7. Programs of the Intel® Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation. Copyright © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel, the Intel logo, Intel Education Initiative, and Intel Teach Program are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. 7 What Are Some Tips for Developing Essential and Unit Questions? Just start…don’t worry about the mechanics and language. Focus on brainstorming. Determine what you want students to remember from this unit in five years. Write your question as a statement first, and then revise it into a question. Write the questions in adult language to capture the essential understandings, then rewrite in “student” language. Be sure that both the Essential and Unit Questions have more than one obvious “right” answer Don’t worry about whether your question is “Essential” or “Unit”— concern yourself more with whether it requires higher-order thinking skills

8. Programs of the Intel® Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation. Copyright © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel, the Intel logo, Intel Education Initiative, and Intel Teach Program are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. 8 Remember: The Creation of Good Questions and a Good Unit is an Iterative Process