Essential Questions: Doorways of Understanding By Jorge Hirmas, Sati Aviles, and Salwa Hoss

Abstract  The Essential Questions are used in UbD to elicit and guide the learner to the understanding of the main/key/primary ideas of a subject. It challenges the learner to generate more questions and delves into deeper understanding of the subject. Through combining the essential topical and overarching questions about a subject, learning becomes a process without limits or boundaries. By gleaming every insight, and nuance of a topic, transferring of this knowledge to other avenues of learning becomes possible. For understanding to truly occur, one has to be able to transfer this to other areas of learning. “Essential” questions create interest, establish understanding and allow for the transferring of this new knowledge to other subject areas.

Questions: Signposts to big ideas  The best questions point and highlight big ideas.  Good questions elicit interesting and alternative views and suggest the need to focus on the reasoning we use in arriving at and defending an answer, not just whether our answer is “right” or “wrong.”  Questions can be used to effectively frame our content goal.  The best questions spark connections and promote transfer of ideas from one setting to others.

What makes a question essential?  The best questions push us to the heart of things.  They go to the heart of a particular topic.  Best questions are really alive.

What makes a question essential ? Four Connotations  Important questions that recur throughout all our lives.  Questions that lead to core ideas and inquiries within a discipline.  Questions needed for learning core content.  Questions that will engage learners. The importance of Intent  Consideration: What is the purpose, audience, and impact of the questions? More than format  Consideration: Large context, assignment, assessments, and a follow up question we envision.

Essential questions in skill areas  Big ideas underlie all skill mastery – mathematics, chemistry, reading, physical education and world languages.  Key concepts.  Purpose and Value.  Strategy and tactics.  Content of use.

Topical versus overarching essential questions  Essential questions differ in SCOPE.  The more general essential questions take us beyond any particular topic or skill: they point toward the more general, transferable understandings.  The more specific essential questions are “topical”  The more general essential questions are “overarching”  The best units are built from a set of related “topical” and “overarching” essential questions – this is the SCOPE of the questions.

A finer-grained look at essential questions  The Essential Questions intersection of INTENT and SCOPE: yield: Framing a unit with only topical questions does not ensure transfer Framing a unit with only topical questions does not ensure transfer Framing the unit with only overarching questions may cause a drift into aimless discussion. Framing the unit with only overarching questions may cause a drift into aimless discussion. Framing units with only guiding questions makes it unlikely that students will have the intellectual freedom and invitation to ask questions. Framing units with only guiding questions makes it unlikely that students will have the intellectual freedom and invitation to ask questions.  The best topical questions depend for their essentialness on being explicitly matched with related overarching questions

Essential questions: Emphasis on the plural  A single questions does cannot accomplish everything.  The most useful way to think about essential questions is in terms of sets of interrelated questions.  The best units are built around essential questions that, in their variety and balance, are most effective.

Tips for generating essential questions  Brainstorm a list of good questions that anchor the unit  After identifying one or more good topical essential questions – consider the broader questions.  Derive essential questions from national or state content standards.  Use question starters based on the six facets of understanding: Explanation: Who?, What?, When?, How?, Why? Explanation: Who?, What?, When?, How?, Why? Interpretation: What is the meaning of? So what? Why does it matter? Interpretation: What is the meaning of? So what? Why does it matter? Application: How and when can we use this? Application: How and when can we use this? Perspective: What are different points of view about…? What are other possible reactions to…? Perspective: What are different points of view about…? What are other possible reactions to…? Empathy: What would it be like to walk in…? Empathy: What would it be like to walk in…? Self Knowledge: How do I know…? Self Knowledge: How do I know…?

Tips for using essential questions  Organize programs, courses, units of study, and lessons around the questions.  Select or design assessment tasks that are explicitly linked to the questions.  Use a reasonable number of questions.  Frame the questions in “kid language.”  Ensure that every child understands the questions and sees their value.  Sequence the questions so they naturally lead from one to another.  Post the essential questions in the classroom and encourage students to organize notebooks around them.  Help students to personalize the questions.  Allot sufficient time for “unpacking” the questions.  Share your questions with other faculty to make planning and teaching for coherence across subjects more likely.

The importance of framing work around open questions  Students need to see how penetrating questions and arguments produce knowledge and understanding. If transfer is the key to teaching for understanding our designs must make clear that questions are not only the cause of greater understanding in the students, but also the means by which all content accrues.

Essential Questions: Sharing our Experiences Language Arts: Teaching a unit on propaganda  We can ask students topical questions such as: Name the types of propaganda? Why is there propaganda? Who is the consumer the company is targeting? Or we can ask overarching questions such as: Without advertising and propaganda, would capitalism thrive? What would be the effect of no commercials on our society? Would American teenagers be the way they are without the effects of mass media? The best lesson would be one that targets the answers to all of these questions combined. When creating a unit, the goal should be for students to: create their own product, justify the need for the product, identify their target audience, write their own commercials using at least three types of propaganda, and use their peer group as actors in the commercial. The commercials are filmed and then edited as a group using technology. When this unit is finished students feel very comfortable with propaganda. They understand about the manipulation of words to sell you a product. Discussions abound using the overarching questions, now that the students have submerged themselves in the process. Asking students to go home and analyze commercials and report back how they (the consumer) were being manipulated is a hugely successful moment as a teacher.

Essential Questions: Sharing our Experiences Independent skills/On Your Own/Economics: Teaching a unit about budgeting as an adult  Key topical questions might be: Here is how much each of your bills will be, how much do you need to make to survive? You want to save 15% each month, how much more do you need to make each month? What career would you like to have as an adult?  Overarching questions might be: What would you have to change about your life to have more career options? What long term goals would you have ten years down the road? What changes in society will affect your goals? Lesson Plan  Students will be given a list of expenses and essentials and told to make a budget to meet these expenses. This is the bare minimum that they will need to bring home each month. Students will then take a career inventory assessment to determine what areas their strengths lie in. Once the strengths and weaknesses are determined, students are asked to job hunt in the newspaper for at least five jobs. Students are asked to write a script that they will then read over the phone, asking about the job, what the pay is and what qualifications are needed. This can be a very frustrating process and students begin to realize that this will not be as easy as they thought. They will have to keep going back to the Want Ads for new jobs and may have to look for several days. Once the job has been chosen, the class beings the process of writing resumes cover letters and interview questions. The teacher asks several colleagues to assist in helping be the interview board. Students are given random assigned times and told to “dress” for the interview. Students are given clear expectations on what is expected during an interview. These expectations are accurate to what real employers would be looking for in a new hire. Students practice interviewing each other. On the day of interview, students show up dressed for interviews. They are not reminded of times or how to behave or dress, that would not be accurate of ‘real life”. Students are interviewed and assessed on how well they have presented themselves as a package. At the end of the process, we really do decide if we would hire this student or not. A huge debriefing session begins at that point with the students. All of the overarching questions are easily blended into discussions as students cannot wait to give their opinions. Leaps and bounds in discussions happen with/out too much prompting. This is a very dynamic project and covers many topics.