Essential Questions: Doorways to Inquiry and Understanding

presented by

Jay McTighe6581 River Run

Columbia, MD 21044-6066(410) 531-1610

e-mail: [email protected]

Essential Questions:Doorways to Inquiryand Understanding

templateresourcesStage 3 Stage 2 Understanding by Design Stage 1 Intro

Established Goal(s):

Understanding(s): Students will understand that...

Students will know... Students will be able to...

Performance Task(s): Other Evidence:

Stage 2 – Assessment Evidence

Stage 1 – Desired Results

Essential Question(s):

Stage 3 – Learning Plan

U Q

G

S

T OE

LLearning Activities:

K

©2004 Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe page 2

templateresourcesStage 3 Stage 2 Stage 1 Understanding by Design Intro

©2004 Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe page 3

:

•What are the “big ideas”?

• What learning experiences and instruction will enable students to achieve the desired results? How will the design –

• How will students reflect upon and self-assess their learning?

• What relevant goals (e.g., Content Standards, Course or Program Objectives, Learning Outcomes etc.) will this design address?

W = help the students know where the unit is going and what is expected? Help the teacher know where the students are coming from (prior knowledge, interests)?

H = hook all students and hold their interest?E = equip students, help them experience the key ideas, and explore the issues?R = provide opportunities to rethink and revise their understandings and work?E = allow students to evaluate their work and its implications?T = be tailored (personalized) to the different needs, interests, abilities of learnersO = be organized to maximize initial and sustained engagement as well as effective learning?

• What key knowledge and skills will students acquire as a result of this unit? • What should they eventually be able to do as a result of such knowledge and skill?

• What provocative questions will foster inquiry, understanding, and transfer of learning?

Understanding(s):

Students will know... Students will be able to...

Performance Task(s): Other Evidence:

Stage 2 – Assessment Evidence

Essential Question(s):

U Q

G

T OE

LLearning Activities:

•What specific understandings about them are desired? •What misunderstandings are predictable?

• Through what other evidence (e.g. quizzes, tests, academic prompts, observations, homework, journals, etc.) will students demonstrate achievement of the desired results?

• Through what authentic performance task(s) will students demonstrate the desired understandings?

• By what criteria will “performances of understanding” be judged?

Stage 3 – Learning Plan

SK

Established Goal(s):

Stage 1 – Desired Results

G

templateresourcesStage 3 Stage 2 Understanding by Design Intro

©2004 Jay McTighe & Grant Wiggins page 4

Stage 1

In Stage 1 we consider the desired results of the design according to the following four categories: 1. Established Goals – These typically include National, State, Local or Professional Standards; Course or Program Objectives, District Learner Outcomes, etc.2. Enduring Understandings – Stated as full-sentence statements, the Understandings specify what we want students to come to understand about the “big ideas.”3. Essential Questions – These open-ended, provocative questions are designed to guide student in-quiry and focus instruction for “uncovering” the important ideas of the content. 4. Knowledge (K) and Skills (S) – These are the more discrete objectives that we want students to know and be able to do.

Backward Design: Stage 1

Stage 1: Desired Results

Enduring Understandings

Knowledge and Skill

Established Goals

Essential Questions

U

K

G

Q

DESIGN STANDARDS for STAGE 1 – To what extent does the design:1. focus on the “big ideas” of targeted content?

Consider: Are…• the targeted understandings enduring, based on transferable, big ideas at the heart

of the discipline and in need of “uncoverage”?• the targeted understandings framed as specific generalizations?

• the “big ideas” framed by questions that spark meaningful connections, provoke genuine inquiry and deep thought, and encourage transfer? • appropriate goals (e.g., content standards, curriculum objectives) identified?• valid and unit-relevant knowledge and skills identified?

Stage 2: Evidence

Stage 3: Learning Plan

S



Stage 1

Stage 1: Identify Desired Results.

• A balanced diet contributes to physical and mental health.• The USDA Food Pyramid presents relative guidelines for nutrition.• Dietary requirements vary for individuals based on age, activity level, weight,

and overall health.• Healthful living requires an individual to act on available information about good

nutrition even if it means breaking comfortable habits.

• read and interpret nutrition information on food labels.

• analyze diets for nutritional value. • plan balanced diets for themselves

and others.

What enduring understandings are desired?

What key knowledge and skills will students acquire as a result of this unit?

Students will know: Students will be able to:

Established Goals:

• key terms - protein, fat, calorie, carbohydrate, cholesterol, etc.• types of foods in each food group &

their nutritional values.• the USDA Pyramid guidelines.• variables influencing nutritional needs.• general health problems caused by

poor nutrition.

Standard 6 - Students will understand essential concepts about nutrition and diet. 6, a -Students will use an understanding of nutrition to plan appropriate diets

for themselves and others. 6, c -Students will understand one’s own eating patterns and ways in which these patterns may be improved.

Students will understand that:

What essential questions will be considered?

• What is healthful eating? • Are you a heathful eater? How would you know?• How could a healthy diet for one person be unhealthy for another? • Why are there so many health problems caused by poor eating despite all of the available information?

G

U

Q

SK



Stage 1

S

MA Standard 8 - Understanding a Text: Students will identify the basic facts and main ideas in a text and use them as the basis for interpretation.

MA Standard 19 - Writing: Students will write with a clear focus, coherent orga-nization and sufficient detail.

MA Standard 20 - Writing: Students will write for different audiences and pur-poses.

• Novelists often provide insights about human experience and inner life through fictional means.

• Writers use a variety of stylistic techniques to engage and persuade their readers.

• Holden Caulfield reflects common adolescent experiences but masks deep-seat-ed personal problems about growing up and relating to others.

• the plot and characters of Catcher in the Rye.

• various stylistic techniques employed by J. D. Salinger.

• the steps in the writing process.• persuasive writing techniques.

Students will know: Students will be able to:

Students will understand that:

• What is the relationship between fiction and truth? What truths can best be rendered fictionally?• How do authors hook and hold readers? How does J.D. Salinger engage you?• How do writers persuade their readers?• What’s wrong with Holden?

Stage 1: Identify desired results.

What enduring understandings are desired?

What key knowledge and skills will students acquire as a result of this unit?

What essential questions will be considered?

U

Q

• apply strategies for interpretive reading.• develop a well-reasoned hypothesis

through a close reading of a text.• apply the writing process to produce

a draft and a revision of a persuasive written product.

• reflect on their comprehension of a text, and consider their own misunderstandings.

Established Goals: G

K



Stage 1

topic(s)/big idea(s):

Identifying Essential Questions & Understandings

Use one or more of the following questions to “filter” topics or big ideas in order to identify possible essential quetsions and desired understandings.

Uunderstanding(s):

What essential questions are raised by this idea/topic? What, specifically, about the idea/topic do you

want students to come to understand?

Why study _________? So what?

What makes the study of _________ “universal?”

If the unit on _________ is a story, what’s the “moral of the story?”

What’s the “big idea” implied in the skill /process of _________?

What larger concept, issue, or problem underlies _________?

What couldn’t we do if we didn’t understand _________?

How is _________ used/applied in the larger world?

What is a “real-world” insight about _________?

What is the value of studying _________?

essential question(s): Q

the scientific method

• Science involves the systematic isolation and control of relevant variables. (It is not simply a process of “trial and error.”)• A scientific theory is validated through replication.

• How is scientific knowledge generated and validated?• What is science? How do we know what to believe in science?



Stage 1

7. How many legs does a spider have? How does an elephant use its trunk?

8. What is “foreshadowing”? Can you find an example of “foreshadowing’” in the story?

9. What is the original meaning of the term, technology (from its Greek root, “techne”)?

10. By what axioms are we able to prove the Pythagorean theorem?

11. What are some French colloquialisms?

12. How many minutes are in an hour? How many hours are in a day?

13. What is the relationship between popularity and greatness in literature?

14. When was the Magna Carta signed?

15. Crustaceans – what’s up with that?

16. Which president of the U. S. has the most disappointing legacy?

17. What’s the pattern?

18. To what extent are common sense and science related?

Part 2 - Use your list of characteristics as criteria to determine which of the following are Essential Questions. Check “yes” or “no” after each example.

Refine your list of key characteristics of Essential Questions:

Concept Attainment – Essential QuestionsPart 1 - Examine the following examples and non-examples to determine the common characteristics of Essential Questions. List these in the box below.

List common characteristics of the Essential Questions:

Not Essential QuestionsEssential Questions

Q

YES NO___ ___

___ ___

___ ___

___ ___

___ ___

___ ___

1. How are “form” and “function” related in biology?

2. How do effective writers hook and hold their readers?

3. Who “wins” and who “loses” when technologies change?

4. Should it be an axiom if it is not obvious?

5. What distinguishes fluent foreign-ers from native speakers?

6. How would life be different if we couldn’t measure time?



Stage 1

Arithmetic (numeration)• What is a number? Why do we have numbers? What if we didn’t have numbers?• Can everything be quantified?

Arts (visual and performing)• Where do artists get their ideas?• How does art reflect, as well as shape, culture?

Culinary Arts• When is it o.k. to deviate from the recipe?• What makes a “safe” kitchen?

Dance• How and what can we communicate through the “language” of dance?• In what ways can motion evoke emotion?

Economics• What determines value?• Can macro-economics inform micro-economics (and vice-versa)?

Foreign Language• What distinguishes a fluent foreigner from a native speaker?• What can we learn about our own language and culture from studying another?

Geography• What makes places unique and different? • How does where we live influence how we live?

Government• Who should decide?• How should we balance the rights of individuals with the common good?

Health• What is “healthful” living?• How can a diet be healthy for one person and not another?

Essential Questions (examples)

Q



Stage 1

History• Whose “story” is it? Is history the story told by the “winners?”• What can we learn from the past?

Literature• What makes a “great” book?• Can fiction reveal “truth”? Should a story teach you something?

Mathematics• When is the “correct” answer not the best solution?• What are the limits of mathematical representation/modeling?

Music• How are sounds and silence organized in various musical forms?• If practice makes perfect, what makes “perfect” practice?

Physical Education/Athletics• Who is a “winner?”• Is pain necessary for progress in athletics? (“No pain, no gain” – agree?)

Reading/Language Arts• What makes a great story? • How do you read “between the lines?”• Why do we punctuate? What if we didn’t have punctuation marks?

Science • To what extent are science and common sense related?• How are “form” and “function” related in biology?

Technology• In what ways can technology enhance expression/communication? In what ways might technology hinder it? • What are the pros and cons of technological progress?

Writing• Why write?• How do effective writers hook and hold their readers?• What is a “complete” thought?

Essential Questions (more examples)

Q



Stage 1

QEssential Questions...

can be overarching or topical, convergent or divergent.

Essential questions yield inquiry and argument -- a variety of plausible (and arguable) responses, not straightforward facts that end the matter. They serve as doorways into focused yet lively inquiry and research. They should uncover rather than cover (up) the subject’s controversies, puzzles, and perspectives. They are intended to result in conclusions drawn by the learner, not recited facts. Does art reflect culture or help shape it? Can we look but not see? Why do “seers” see what the rest of us don’t? Does the artist see more clearly or look elsewhere?

have no simple “right” answer - they are meant to be argued.

Essential Questions work best when they are designed and edited to be thought-provoking to students, engaging them in sustained, focused inquiries which culminate in important performance. Such questions often involve the counter-intuitive, the visceral, the whimsical, the controversial, the provocative. Is the Internet dangerous for kids? Are censorship and democracy compatible? Does food that is good for you have to taste bad? Why write? Students develop and deepen their understanding of important ideas as they explore these questions.

are designed to provoke and sustain student inquiry, while also focusing learning and final performance(s).

Thought-provoking essential questions are naturally generative. They lead to other important ques-tions within, and sometimes across, subject boundaries. For example: In nature, do only the strong survive? leads to other questions and inquiries into human biology and the physics of physiology. What do we mean by “strong?”, Are insects strong (since they are survivors)?, What does it mean to be psychologically strong?

raise other important questions.

The same important questions get asked and re-asked throughout one’s learning and in the history of the field. For example: What makes a great book great? Are the Harry Potter novels great books? can be productively examined and re-examined by first graders as well as college students.Over time, student responses become more sophisticated, nuanced, well-reasoned and supported as their understandings deepen.

naturally and appropriately recur.

Essential questions reflect the most historically important issues, problems and debates in a field of study. Is history inevitably biased? What is a proof? Nature or nurture? By examining such ques-tions, students are engaged in thinking like an expert (i.e., “doing” the subject).

often address the conceptual or philosophical foundations of a discipline.



Stage 1

unit on masks• What do masks and their use reveal

about the culture? What tools, tech-niques, and materials are used in cre-ating masks from different cultures?

unit on insects• How do the structure and behavior of

insects enable them to survive?• How do insects survive when their en-

vironment changes?

unit on mysteries• What is unique about the mystery genre?• How do great mystery writers hook and

hold their readers?

unit on the parallel postulate• Why is this an axiom if it’s so complex?• What no longer holds true if we deny it?

unit on the U.S. Constitution• In what ways does the Constitution

attempt to limit abuse of government powers ?

• Does separation of powers (3 branches of governement) create a deadlock?

are subject- and topic-specific. Topical questions frame a unit of study. They guide the exploration of “big ideas” and processes within particular subjects. For example:What aspects of Stranger in a Strange Land are plausible? guide inquiry within a specific literature unit. This unit question links to the overarching question, How “true” is a fictional story? addressed within other English/Language Arts units.

These questions point beyond the particulars of a unit to the larger, transferable “big ideas” and enduring understandings. Practically speaking, the specific topics, events, or texts of the unit are typically not mentioned in the framing of overarching questions. For example: Is science fiction great literature? is an overarching question for any unit on a specific text such as Stranger in a Strange Land.

Types of Essential Questions – Part 1 Q

examples

Topical Questions -Overarching Questions -

Art• In what ways does art reflect culture as

well as shape it? • How do artists choose tools, techniques,

and materials to express their ideas?

Literature• What makes a great story?• How do effective writers hook and hold

their readers?

Science• How does an organism’s structure

enable it to survive in its environment?• How do organisms survive in harsh or

changing environments?

Mathematics• If axioms are like the rules of the

game, when should we change the rules?

History/Government• How do governments balance the rights

of individuals with the common good?• How and why do we provide checks and

balances on government power?



Stage 1

strategy, tactics context

purpose, valueunderlying concepts

Essential Questions in Skill AreasThere is a common misunderstanding among many educators that teaching for understanding of “big ideas” are not really central to the teaching of skill-focused areas, such as beginning literacy, physi-cal education, and mathematics. On the contrary: everything we know about learning tells us that that teaching for conceptual understanding is essential to more accurate and efficient skill performance.Essential questions in skill areas may be considered in terms of the following categories:  •  key concept(s) – What are the “big ideas” underlying effective skill performance?  •  purpose, value – Why is the skill important?  •  strategy, tactics– What strategies do skilled performers employ? How can skill performance

become more efficient and effective?   •  context – When should you use the skill?

Use the space below to brainstorm possible essential questions for important skills.

• When and how should we sample? • What do good readers do when

they don’t understand the text? • How can you hit with greatest

power without losing control?

• When is sampling sometimes better than counting?

• When should you use the various “fix-up” reading strategies?• Why does follow-through matter?

• What makes an appropriate sample? • How do you know that you com-

prehend what you are reading?• How is torque applied in sports?

• Why would we want to sample in-stead of counting everything?

• Why should readers regularly monitor their comprehension?

• How does torque affect power?

Q

examples from:- mathematics

- reading- physical education



Stage 1

There is a common misunderstanding among many educators that teaching for understanding of “big ideas” are not really central to the teaching of skill-focused areas, such as begining literacy, physical education, and mathematics. On the contrary: everything we know about learning tells us that that teaching for conceptual understanding is essential to more accurate and efficient skill performance.Essential questions in skill areas may be considered in terms of the following categories:  •  key concept(s) – What are the “big ideas” underlying effective skill performance?  •  purpose, value – Why is the skill important?  •  strategy, tactics– What strategies do skilled performers employ? How can skill performance

become more efficient and effective? • context – When should you use the skill?

Use the space below to brainstorm possible essential questions for important skills.

QEssential Questions in Skill Areas

Skill(s):

strategy, tactics context

purpose, valueunderlying concepts



Stage 1

Tips for Using Essential Questions

1. Organize programs, courses, units of study, and lessons around the questions. Make the “content” answers to questions.

2. Select or design assessment tasks (up front) that are explicitly linked to the questions. The task(s) and performance standards should clarify what acceptable pursuit of, and answers to, the ques-tions actually look like.

3. Use a reasonable number of questions per unit (2-5). Make less be more. Prioritize ‘content’ for students to make the work clearly focus on a few key questions.

4. Frame the questions in “kid language” as needed to make them more accessible. Edit the ques-tions to make them as engaging and provocative as possible for the age-group.

5. Ensure that every child understands the questions and sees their value. Conduct a survey or in-formal check, as necessary, to ensure this.

6. Derive and design specific concrete exploratory activities and inquiries for each question.

7. Sequence the questions so they “naturally” lead from one to another.

8. Post the essential questions in classroom(s), and encourage students to organize notebooks around them to make clear their importance for study and note-taking.

9. Help students to personalize the questions. Have them share examples, personal stories, and hunches. Encourage them to bring in clippings and artifacts to help make the questions come alive.

10. Allot sufficient time for “unpacking” the questions — examining sub-questions and probing implications — mindful of student age, experience, and other instructional obligations. Use question/concept maps to show relatedness of questions.

11. Share your questions with other faculty to make planning and teaching for cross-subject matter coherence more likely. Ideas to promote overarching questions school-wide — ask teachers to post their questions in the faculty room and/or in department meeting/planning areas. Type and circulate questions in the faculty bulletin. Present and discuss at faculty and P.T.S.A. meetings.

Other tips: _______________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

Q



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District Goals

Content Standards

Understanding by Design offers a 3-stage “backward design” framework for devel-oping units of study (micro level). The same process guides larger-scale curriculum development for courses and programs (macro level). The following visual represents a UbD curriculum structure for building a coherent curriculum, spiraling around “big ideas,” essential questions, and core assessments.

Overarching Understandings

Course 6

Course 1Course 2Course 3

Course 4Course 5

Course 12

Course 7Course 8Course 9

Course 10Course 11

Unit 1 Unit 2 Unit 3 Unit 4 Unit 5 Unit 6

A UbD Curriculum Framework: Macro and Micro

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Essential Questions

CoreAssessments

OverarchingEssential Questions



Stage 1

Sample Content Map – 3rd grade mathematics

Source: Montgomery County, MD Public Schools



Stage 1

Overarching Understandings and Essential Questions for Writing

Enduring Understandings: 1. Audience and purpose (e.g., to inform, persuade, entertain) influence the use of lit-erary techniques (e.g., style, tone, word choice). 2. Writers do not always say what they mean. Indirect forms of expression (e.g., satire, irony) require readers to read between the lines to find the intended meaning. 3. Punctuation marks and grammar rules are like highway signs and traffic signals. They guide readers through the text to help avoid confusion. 4. A writer selects a form based on his purpose. 5. A writer’s point of view is influenced by his experience. 6. Conventions of language help readers understand what is being communicated. 7. The purposeful use and non-use of language conventions help readers understand. 8. A writer’s word choice and syntax are characteristics of voice which help to personalize text.

Essential Questions: 1. Why write? What if writing didn’t exist? Why share personal experiences in writing? 2. How is written language different from spoken language? What makes writing worth reading? 3. How do writers express their thoughts and feelings? Where do ideas for writing come from? What makes writing flow? 4. How do effective writers hook and hold their readers? What makes writing easy to follow? What is the best beginning? What is the best ending? What is the best order (sequence)? What is a complete thought? 5. Why am I writing? For whom? What am I trying to achieve through my writing? Who will read my writing? What will work best for my audience? 6. Why does a writer choose the form of writing he/she does? 7. What is the relationship between reader and writer? 8. How do writers communicate clearly? 9. To what extent do conventions of language impact communication? 10. What makes writing worth reading? 11. Why do we need grammar? 12. To what extent is the pen mightier than the sword?

Source: Delaware Department of Education – ELA Design Team



Stage 1

Overarching Essential Questions for Reading

Essential Questions: 1. What makes a book or story great? What is the relationship between popularity and greatness in literature? Is a “good read” always a great book? 2. Why read fiction? Can a fictional story be “true”? 3. What is the relationship between “fiction” and “truth”? Is historical fiction a contradiction? 4. What is a story? How are stories from other places and times about me? Must a story have a moral? Must a story have heroes and villains? Should a story or fairy tale teach you something? 5. Why read? What can we learn from print? Can all of our experiences be put into words? Does literature primarily reflect culture or shape it? To what extent is written text conservative and to what extent dangerous? 6. What do good readers do? What do they do when do not understand? 7. What is the author saying? What is the gist? What is the main idea? How do I know? 8. How do I read between the lines? How do I know I am getting the point and not merely imposing my views and experience? 9. From whose viewpoint are we reading? What is the author’s angle or perspective? What should we do when texts or authors disagree? 10. What’s new and what’s old here? Have we run across this idea before? So what? Does it matter? 11. What lies beneath the surface of this text? (In fiction: symbol and theme; in nonfiction texts: assumptions, biases, preconceptions) How can I uncover it? 12. What is the relationship between reader and writer?13. How do texts differ? How should I read different types of texts? 14. How can a reader recognize truth in text? 15. What does a reader gain from re-visiting or re-reading a text? 16. How do you know a piece of text is worth reading more than once? 17. What do you do when you do not understand everything in the text? 18. To what extent does it matter that you do not understand the whole text? 19. Under what conditions is an interpretation of text valid? 20. How does literature reveal us to ourselves?

Source: Delaware Department of Education – ELA Design Team



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es.

-- T

he c

ultu

re o

f a

soci

ety

is th

e be

liefs

, cus

tom

s, tr

aditi

ons,

art

. and

ach

ieve

men

ts

that

are

pas

sed

from

one

gen

erat

ion

to a

noth

er.

-- C

ivili

zatio

ns e

mer

ge a

s a

resu

lt of

5 b

asic

cha

ract

eris

tics:

a s

tabl

e fo

od s

uppl

y,

a fo

rm o

f go

vern

men

t, sp

ecia

lizat

ion

of la

bor,

soci

al le

vels

, and

a h

ighl

y de

vel-

oped

cul

ture

whi

ch in

clud

es a

rt, a

rchi

tect

ure,

rel

igio

n, m

usic

, law

, and

a s

yste

m o

f w

ritin

g.

-- A

chie

vem

ents

fro

m a

ncie

nt c

ivili

zatio

ns h

ave

affe

cted

the

mod

ern

wor

ld.

-- T

he g

over

nmen

ts o

f an

cien

t Gre

ece

and

Rom

e ha

ve in

fluen

ced

the

gove

rnm

ent

of th

e U

nite

d St

ates

.

Ess

enti

al Q

uest

ions

:

1. H

ow h

ave

hist

oria

ns a

nd a

rcha

eolo

gist

s le

arne

d ab

out t

he

anci

ent p

ast?

2. H

ow d

o ge

ogra

phic

fact

ors

influ

ence

the

rise

of c

ivil

izat

ions

?3.

Wha

t rol

e ha

s te

chno

logy

pla

yed

in th

e ri

se o

f anc

ient

civ

iliz

a-ti

ons?

4. H

ow d

id c

itie

s em

erge

?5.

How

did

ear

ly p

eopl

e ev

entu

ally

cre

ate

a st

able

food

sup

ply?

6. W

hat a

re th

e va

riou

s fo

rms

of g

over

nmen

t and

how

did

they

af

fect

anc

ient

civ

iliz

atio

ns?

7. W

hat c

ause

d sp

ecia

liza

tion

of l

abor

?8.

How

did

soc

ial l

evel

s ev

olve

?9.

How

doe

s a

cult

ure

beco

me

high

ly d

evel

oped

?10

. How

are

the

5 ch

arac

teri

stic

s of

a c

ivil

izat

ion

foun

d in

anc

ient

Mes

opot

amia

, Egy

pt, I

ndia

, Chi

na, G

reec

e, a

nd R

ome?



Stage 1

Framing a Course Using Essential Questions

Fr

ench

IK

ey T

opic

s

Esse

ntia

l Que

stio

ns

1.1 Use oral and written lan-guage to provide information, exchange ideas, and explain concepts in formal and informal communications.

1.2 Comprehend the main ideas and significant details in oral and written presentation in the target language.

1.3 Use accurate pronuncia-tion and culturally appropriate gestures to clarify meaning and intent in formal and informal situations.

1.4 Determine when the com-prehension of language surpass-es the ability to produce it, and use circumlocution to success-fully communicate messages.

3.1 Analyze how linguistic elements are used to convey meaning in the home and target languages.

3.2 Analyze how grammatical structures of the target lan-guage correlate to the home language.

Wha

t ar

e th

e si

mila

riti

es a

nd d

iffe

renc

es b

e-tw

een

Fren

ch a

nd E

nglis

h? H

ow c

an E

nglis

h he

lp

me

lear

n Fr

ench

? H

ow c

an it

hol

d m

e ba

ck?

Wha

t st

rate

gies

can

hel

p m

e to

ret

ain

as

muc

h as

pos

sibl

e in

long

-ter

m m

emor

y?

How

can

I u

se c

onte

xt t

o un

ders

tand

wor

ds

I do

not

kno

w? W

hat

cues

do

I lis

ten

and

watc

h fo

r be

fore

I r

espo

nd?

Wha

t ar

e ke

y ru

les

for

mak

ing

sens

e of

the

gen

-de

r of

nou

ns, p

ronu

ncia

tion

, syn

tax?

Wha

t do

I d

o wh

en I

am

stu

ck?

How

can

I

keep

the

con

vers

atio

n go

ing?

How

can

bod

y la

ngua

ge h

elp

or h

inde

r m

y ab

ility

to

com

mun

icat

e or

und

erst

and?

How

can

I s

ound

mor

e lik

e a

nati

ve?

Wha

t do

i wa

nt t

o av

oid

as m

uch

as p

ossi

ble?

Wha

t is

it li

ke t

o be

a “f

orei

gner

”? W

hat

are

its

bene

fits,

giv

en t

he d

isco

mfo

rts?

How

can

I d

escr

ibe

the

peop

le a

nd c

ultu

re

with

out

ster

eoty

ping

the

m?



Stage 1

Framing a Course Using Essential Questions

Key Topics

The

Cel

l

Her

edity

Evol

utio

n

Taxo

nom

y

Virus

es,

Prot

ists

, Fu

ngi &

Bac

teria

Plan

ts

Inve

rteb

rate

s &

Ve

rteb

rate

s

Ecol

ogy

and

In-

tera

ctio

n

Hum

an B

ody

Sys

-te

ms

Ethi

cs o

f Bio

logy

What are we made of? What is everything made of? What makes any living thing what it is? What is “alive”?

How are structure and function related in living things? Why does this creature do this and look like that?

How are characteristics of living things passed on through generations? What is inherited and how does it happen? What is ‘nature’ and what is ‘nurture’? What’s deter-mined and what’s an accident? How and in what ways are accidents beneficial?

What is that creature? How do we know? What’s in a name?How should we classify the things around us?

How do living things obtain and use energy? Coordinate the actions of cells and organs? Move nutrients? Breathe? Manage water, salts, and wastes?

How much interaction, stress, growth, and change (to individuals and species) is pos-sible, even desirable, biologically?

What is the evidence for evolution? How much of the controversy is science-based and how much is cultural?

How do diseases and medicines work? What can biology teach us about human health?

What analogies have been most helpful in understanding life? How and when do the analogies permit and how and when do they inhibit further understanding?

Biology

Essential Questions

Essential Questions: Doorways to Inquiry and Understanding

Documents

Transcript of Essential Questions: Doorways to Inquiry and Understanding