Understanding Essential and Guiding Questions

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Understanding Essential and Guiding Questions

• Information Literacy
• Kent-Meridian High School

2
Essential Questions

• Are big
• Are open-ended
• Have no right or wrong answers
• Are answered by the student
• Have answers based upon multiple viewpoints and
  sources of collected research
• Ask you to make a decisionanswers are created by
  student

3
Guiding Questions

• Are close-ended
• Are small
• Have specific answers and factual evidence
• Are answered by experts who have published their
  research
• Are answered based upon specific pieces of
  information
• Requires no decision-making processanswers are
  provided

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So which comes first . . .

• The essential question or the guiding questions?

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Answer

• The essential question is created first. It is
  the big, over-arching question.
• The guiding questions are created second. It
  contains many, specific questions to help you
  formulate an answer for the essential question.

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Bibliography

• Woodland Middle School. Civil War Project.
  http//www.wdms.kenton.k12.ky.us/Civil_War_Project
  .htm
• New Mexico State University. College of
  Education. Math Star. http//mathstar.nmsu.edu/exp
  loration1/unit/content_questions.html