Essential Questions

Essential questions require students to use the higher-order thinking skills. They change student research from topical research with little analysis, to meaningful research that “moves past description to synthesis, analysis, and evaluation” (McKenzie, 2005).  When students search for the answer to an essential question, it causes them to think of alternatives, evidence, and support for their ideas.  They must create and justify their answers based on the information found in their research.  Essential questions produce new understandings as well as generate more questions. They have the capability to spark curiosity, to motivate students to dig deeper, and to inspire a love of learning.

Jamie McKenzie, in Learning to Question to Wonder to Learn (2005), lists the traits of an essential question as:

• The question probes a matter of considerable importance.
• The question requires movement beyond understanding and studying - some kind of action or resolve - pointing toward the settlement of a challenge, the making of a choice or the forming of a decision.
• The question cannot be answered by a quick and simple “yes” or “no” answer.
• The question probably endures, shifts and evolves with time and changing conditions - offering a moving target in some respects.
• The question may be unanswerable in the ultimate sense.
• The question may frustrate the researcher, may prove arid rather than fertile.

Students often pick a topic that is too large for a research project. Essential questions help students to narrow the topic to one aspect of the subject while providing understandings of the topic as a whole.

Examples:

Rocks:

From: What are the rocks that make up the earth’s surface?

To: Which force has the most impact in reshaping the surface of the earth? (BCS, 2011 – 5th grade)

Laws Of Motion or Rocketry:

From: What are all of the Laws of Motion and how do they affect people on the earth?

To: How does building a model rocket help you understand the scientific process and Newton's Third Law? (BCS, 2011 – 5th grade)

The Revolutionary War:

From: What are the influences of Patriots and Loyalists during the Revolutionary War?

To: Which aspects of colonists’ personal lives had the greatest influence on the decision to become a Patriot or a Loyalist? (BCS, 2011–5th grade)

Music/Native Americans:

From: What types of music are found in the Native American Culture?

To: How does music relate to the values, beliefs, and daily lives of the Native American people? (BCS, 2011 – 8th grade)

Essential questions are an important part of the skills necessary to do effective research. The critical thinking skills inherent in developing essential questions form the basis of understandings regarding the specifics of the topics student engage in. Further, through building essential questions, students learn to analyze, synthesize and evaluate the information they are gathering so that the research they do is more meaningful to them.

Bibliography

Baltimore County Public Schools. (2011). Elementary school research models. Retrieved from http://www.bcps.org/offices/lis/models/elem.htm

Baltimore County Public Schools. (2011). Middle school research models. Retrieved from http://www.bcps.org/offices/lis/models/middle.html

McKenzie, J. (2005). Learning to question to wonder to learn. Bellingham, WA: FNO Press.

McKenzie, J. (1996). Using essential questions as the basis for student investigation. From Now On, 6(1), Retrieved from http://www.fno.org/sept96/questions.html

Wiggins, G. (2007, November 15). What is an essential question?. Retrieved from http://www.authenticeducation.org/bigideas/article.lasso?artld=53

More information and sample questions may be found at:

Grant Wiggins Big Ideas: http://www.authenticeducation.org/bigideas/article.lasso?artId=53

Elementary Research Models: http://www.bcps.org/offices/lis/models/elem.html

Middle School Research Models: http://www.bcps.org/offices/lis/models/middle.html

The Miniature Guide to the Art of Asking Essential Questions: http://www.criticalthinking.org/files/SAM-Questions2005.pdf

Essential Questions: http://mms.ccps.k12.fl.us/Teacher/essential%20question%20info%20sheet.pdf

Curriculum Design through Essential Questions: http://www.greenville.k12.sc.us/league/esques.html