Curriculum Framing Questions

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Curriculum Framing Questions

• Intel Teach to the Future
• ST Training
• February, 2005

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Goals

• Review Blooms Taxonomy and Curriculum Framing
  Questions
• Gain a deeper understanding of question
  development

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• When students leave from our school system, what
  is ESSENTIAL for them to know and be able to do?

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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 worldit can change their
  whole outlook on what education is about

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Blooms Taxonomy

• 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

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A useful structure basis for higher order
thinking skills
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A useful structure higher order thinking skills
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What are Curriculum-Framing Questions?

• Curriculum-Framing Questions guide a unit of
  study and include
• Essential
• Unit
• Content Questions

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Biggest
Essential
Concept is important Label doesnt always
matter
Bigger
Unit
Basic
Content
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What are some synonyms for the term Big Idea?
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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?

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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?
  

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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?

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Essential Questions

• Are engaging and will keep students 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

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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

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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

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Examples of Essential Questions
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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

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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 dont get to explore a topic in depth

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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?

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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 answersif
  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.

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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

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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

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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?
How does conflict produce change?
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How do Unit Questions Support Essential Questions?
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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?

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What is the difference between an Essential
Question and a Content Question?
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What Are Some Tips for Developing Essential and
Unit Questions?

• Just startdont 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
• Dont worry too much about whether to designate
  your question as Essential or Unitconcern
  yourself more with whether it requires higher
  order thinking skills

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Remember The Creation of Good Questions and
a Good Unit is an Iterative Process
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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.

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Activity 2

• Work with a partner to provide feedback on each
  others Essential Questions
• Note down the types of responses you make or
  questions you ask to clarify issues or draw out
  your partners ideas
• How would you deal with a difficult MT? eg.
  Hasnt quite understood the difference between
  and EQ and a Unit Question? Or one who refuses
  to make any changes to their questions?