1. © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation Curriculum Framing Questions Intel ® Teach Program

2. 2 © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation Goals Review Bloom’s Taxonomy and Curriculum Framing Questions Gain a deeper understanding of question development

3. 3 © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation When students leave from our school system, what is ESSENTIAL for them to know and be able to do?

4. 4 © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation Questions Different types of questions accomplish different tasks Asking questions is contagious It promotes authentic learning, which encourages students to ask more questions Students are more likely to become self-directed learners because they are interested in the answers Students see the connections between the subject being taught and their world—it can change their whole outlook on what education is about

5. 5 © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation A useful structure in which to categorise questions Progresses from simplest to the most complex Must have the knowledge and be able to build on that Bloom’s Taxonomy Evaluation Synthesis Analysis Application Comprehension Knowledge

6. 6 © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation A useful structure – basis for higher order thinking skills LevelSkill KnowledgeRecall or recognition of information Cues: list, define, tell, show, label ComprehensionGrasping (understanding) the meaning of informational materials Cues: describe, explain, identify, restate ApplicationTransfer from one setting to another Cues: apply, classify, illustrate, solve

7. 7 © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation A useful structure – higher order thinking skills LevelSkill AnalysisIdentify parts and see patterns Cues: analyse, examine, experiment, organise, compare, contrast SynthesisPut parts together to form a new whole Cues: create, design, develop, plan, support EvaluationJudge value or use based on criteria Cues: argue, defend, justify, predict, support

8. 8 © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation What are Curriculum-Framing Questions? Curriculum-Framing Questions guide a unit of study and include: Essential Unit Content Questions

9. 9 © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation Basic Bigger Biggest Essential Unit Content Concept is important Label doesn’t always matter

10. 10 © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation What are some synonyms for the term “Big Idea”? Big Significant Important Gigantic Vast Great Major Idea Concept Understanding Awareness Knowledge Thought Brainwave

11. 11 © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation Essential Question = Biggest Question = Big Idea An essential question is the highest order, most abstract, open-ended question in a chain of questions An essential question serves as an overarching conceptual framework for a group of curricula or even all curricula Example: Why do we need others?

12. 12 © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation Unit Question = Big Question A unit question is also open-ended, but tied to a specific topic or unit of study These support and continue the study of an Essential Question Example: EQ: Why do we need others? UQ: Which of our community helpers is the most important? Which community helper would you most like to be?

13. 13 © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation Content Question = Basic Question Content questions directly support curriculum/syllabus outcomes Have specific “right” answers Examples: EQ: Why do we need others? UQ: Which of our community helpers is the most important? Which community helper would you most like to be? CQ: Who are some community helpers? What do they do?

14. 14 © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation Essential Questions … Are engaging and will keep student’s attention Are meaningful Spark curiosity, perhaps provocative Pose a reasonable challenge Require higher-order thinking skills Have answers that cannot be found Create cognitive conflict Age appropriate

15. 15 © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation Attributes of an Essential Question Good Essential Questions are: Open-ended Meaningful and purposeful Invite an exploration of ideas And require students to: Construct their own answers and their own meaning from the information they have gathered Evaluate Synthesise Analyse

16. 16 © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation What Essential Questions are NOT: They do not require a Yes or No answer They do not have answers that can be copied or paraphrased from a document They do not list facts without requiring new connections to be made

17. 17 © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation Examples of Essential Questions EssentialNot Essential How are we like animals? What do animals need to live? Are we that different?How is life different in other countries? Just because we can, should we? What are the implications of genetics engineering?

18. 18 © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation Why use Essential Questions in the classroom? 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

19. 19 © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation Without Essential Questions Students are asked to find out about a topic Leads to information gathering Little thought or analysis is involved Students are limited to trivial pursuit – they really don’t get to explore a topic in depth

20. 20 © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation Writing Essential Questions Think about why that topic is important to teach. Think about the compelling questions that scholars have asked throughout time. How have human beings acquired the knowledge that we now want to impart to our students? Why is the universe the way it is? How does this subject fit into the “real world”? What connections can you make to the students’ lives? What does it mean to be human?

21. 21 © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation Hints for Writing Essential Questions There tend to be more How and Why Essential Questions than those beginning with What, Who, or When. Stay away from questions asking for definitions or an understanding of a “simple” process If the same key word is in both the Unit and Essential Questions, then the Essential Question is probably not broad enough to cover other units. Ask yourself if the question has basically only one, or one narrow group, of correct answers—if it does, it is not an Essential Question. What is the life cycle of a frog? Who was Einstein? Will it take time to fully understand and answer the question? Is the question still being studied by scientists, philosophers, or poets? If yes, then you probably have a great question.

22. 22 © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation What Unit Questions are: Good Unit Questions are: Open-ended Invite an exploration of ideas And require students to: Construct their own answers and their own meaning from the information they have gathered Evaluate Synthesise Analyse

23. 23 © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation Unit Questions Unit Questions asked in one course of study can explore different facets of a single Essential Question Teams of teachers from different disciplines can use their own unique Unit Questions to support one common, unifying Essential Question

24. 24 © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation SOSE Unit Question: How does war create change in the economy? 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? Science Unit Question: How do animals adapt to a changing environment?

25. 25 © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation How do Unit Questions Support Essential Questions? Essential QuestionUnit Questions Why have stories always been important throughout history? Why do we still read Shakespeare? How is Shakespeare’s work relevant to my life? How can history predict our future? How do wars start and can they be prevented? Who benefits from war? What can we learn from the arts?What does the music of today tell about us? What does the music from the 60’s say about its time period and culture?

26. 26 © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation 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?

27. 27 © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation What is the difference between an Essential Question and a Content Question? Essential QuestionsvsFact-based, “One”Answer Content Questions How does art reflect culture or change it? What is renaissance art? Why do laws change?How are laws made? How does an organism succeed in its environment? What is the life cycle of a frog? Is history a history of progress? Who is an important inventor and what did he/she invent?

28. 28 © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation 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. 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 “student” language. Be sure that both the Essential and Unit Questions have more than one obvious “right” answer Don’t worry too much about whether to designate your question as “Essential” or “Unit”—concern yourself more with whether it requires higher order thinking skills

29. 29 © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation Remember: The Creation of Good Questions and a Good Unit is an Iterative Process What learning experiences, activities, and teaching will promote that learning? How will you engage your students? Are your questions still relevant? Can they be revised to better promote and enhance student learning? What is your Unit about? What is the topic? What is the end product, the learning outcomes, that you want them to achieve? What will students be able to know and do as a result of this experience? What big-picture/global “Essential Question” could be asked to promote higher order thinking skills? How will students provide evidence that they are achieving understanding? How will you evaluate that evidence? What learning outcomes are you targeting? What fact-focused questions do you expect your students to be able to answer? What definitions should they know? What open-ended “Unit Question” could be asked to promote higher order thinking skills?

30. 30 © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation Activity 1 Re-assess the Essential, Unit and Content questions in the sample Unit Plan you have brought along, using the Curriculum-Framing Questions Guide provided. Modify or re-write if required, using Handout 1 If no modifications are required, explain your decision.

31. 31 © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation Activity 2 Work with a partner to provide feedback on each other’s Essential Questions Note down the types of responses you make or questions you ask to clarify issues or draw out your partner’s ideas How would you deal with a ‘difficult MT’? – eg. Hasn’t quite understood the difference between and EQ and a Unit Question? Or one who refuses to make any changes to their questions?

32. 32 © 2007 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Programs of the Intel Education Initiative are funded by the Intel Foundation and Intel Corporation