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A Giant List Of Really Good Essential Questions

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Essential questions are ‘essential’ in the sense of signaling genuine, important and necessarily-ongoing inquiries.

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The homepage of Dr. James W. Loewen, author of Lies My Teacher Told Me, Lies Across America, and Sundown Towns.

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Using Primary Sources - Teachers | Teacher Resources - Library of Congress

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The Library of Congress > Teachers > Using Primary Sources

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The Doing of History

For Harry Potter and his compatriots, history lessons at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry took the form of brain-deadening encounters with a subject that appeared devoid of inquiry, imagination, interpretation, and personal meaning. This kind of history teaching, however, is not merely the 'stuff of fiction.' Lamentably, the teaching and learning of history as an officially sanctioned, neatly packaged chronicle of facts, people, and events, too often continues to be the experience of current students.

Easily the most boring class was History of Magic... Professor Binns droned on and on while [students] scribbled down names and dates, and got Emeric the Evil and Uric the Oddball mixed up.

J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sourcerer's Stone, p. 133

A Story Well Told

Traditionally, history in textbooks involves a series of names and dates integrated into a narrative designed to be easily consumed, with minimal effort, by students and adults alike.

Sources Well Scrutinized

The doing of history is where students "pose questions, collect and analyze sources, struggle with issues of significance, and ultimately build their own historical interpretations." (Levstik, 1996, p. 394)

Learning to Think Historically

Barton contends that it is important to see a student's abilities to comprehend history and think historically as "a set of skills educators can nurture, not an ability whose development they must wait for or whose absence they must lament" (1998, p. 80).

Central Questions of How

How can students be assisted in developing a deep understanding of history?

How do students develop the capacity to contextualize and corroborate historical sources such as texts, photographs, audio, video, and artifacts in the pursuit of establishing the evidence significance as part of the process of historical inquiry?

Understanding the Past

History is a way of organizing and explaining the past. One cannot come to know history by merely learning overviews of the past, nor by simply learning the skills of history in terms of analyzing historical sources. Learning history means learning how to engage in the process of historical inquiry.

Engaging in historical inquiry, in order to develop an understanding of the broad picture of the past, is a cyclical process that begins with the asking of guiding historical questions. These questions are investigated by locating and analyzing traces of the past - historical sources. It is vital to recognize that these records and relics, primary and secondary historical sources, are:

leftover remains and traces from the past, and that we do not have access to every single record, relic, or artifact from the past;

products of very different times and contexts from today, and we must make every effort to try to understand the people, places and times that produced these sources; and

not always developed to serve as intentional evidence of the past, but they can still be analyzed in an attempt to draw credible and worthwhile inferences and claims about the past to help answer historical questions (Lee, 2005, p. 58).

The systematic and sophisticated process of analyzing these historical sources in the light of guiding questions results in historical evidence. This historical evidence, which at times can often be complex and contradictory, is then used to construct credible claims/narratives about the past, or in other word, historical interpretations, that seek to provide answers to the guiding historical questions. These interpretations often open up new avenues for the development of further historical questions and mysteries to be explored.

What is Historical Inquiry?

A central goal of historical inquiry is the understanding of the broad picture of the past. This understanding is a cyclical process that begins with the asking of historical questions. These questions are then investigated by locating and analyzing relevant historical sources. This process of analyzing historical sources results in historical evidence. This historical evidence is then used to construct an historical interprestion relevant to the guiding historical questions.

Historical Inquiry Explanation (video)

SCIM-C: A Strategy for Interpreting History

Grounded within research on teaching and learning history and building upon Riley's (1999) layers of inference model to support teaching evidential understanding, the SCIM-C strategy was developed to provide teachers with a tool to help students develop the knowledge and skills necessary to interpret historical primary sources and reconcile various historical accounts, in order to investigate meaningful historical questions. The SCIM-C strategy focuses on five broad phases: Summarizing, Contextualizing, Inferring, Monitoring, and Corroborating. Further, when students examine an individual source, they move through the first four phases (i.e., summarizing, contextualizing, inferring, and monitoring) and then, after analyzing several individual sources, they compare the sources collectively in the fifth phase (i.e., corroborating).

Summarizing

Summarizing is the first phase of the SCIM-C strategy and begins with having students quickly examine the documentary aspects of the text, in order to find any information or evidence that is explicitly available from the source. Within this phase students should attempt to identify the source's subject, author, purpose, and audience, as well as the type of historical source (e.g., letter, photograph, cartoon). In addition, the student should look for key facts, dates, ideas, opinions, and perspectives that appear to be immediately apparent within the source. The four analyzing questions associated with the summarizing phase include:

A Letter from Bobby Murray to the Children's Bureau (1939)

The first phase of the SCIM strategy is summarizing. The purpose of summarizing is to locate any information or evidence that is explicitly available within the source. The first piece of evidence available from the source is the source type, that is, a letter. At this point it is necessary to read through the letter to get a broad understanding of the letter's author, subject, audience, and purpose.

What does the letter reveal, explicitly? The author of the letter is a 15-year-old boy, Bobby Murray, who is in the 10th grade. The purpose of the letter is to seek assistance to be able to continue school; specifically, he is writing to the government, to the Children's Bureau at the Department of Labor for some help. In addition, the author has a mother and obviously an older sister, who died fairly recently, 6 months earlier, and a niece from his now deceased older sister. The mother works, though not regularly, and pays the family's living expenses.

Contextualizing

Contextualizing begins the process of having students spend more time with the source in order to explore the authentic aspects of the source in terms of locating the source within time and space. The teacher needs to emphasize that it is important to recognize and understand that archaic words and/or images from the period may be in a source. These words and/or images may no longer be used today or they may be used differently, and these differences should be noted and defined. In addition, the meanings, values, habits, and/or customs of the period may be very different from those today. Ultimately, students and teachers must be careful to avoid treating the source as a product of today as they pursue their guiding historical question. The four analyzing questions associated with the contextualizing phase include:

A Letter from Bobby Murray to the Children's Bureau (1939)

The second phase of the SCIM strategy is contextualizing. The purpose of the contextualizing phase is to examine the source in more detail in terms of recognizing and locating the source in time and space. In this case, when and where the letter was written is fairly straightforward and was mentioned previously within the summarization phase. Specifically, the letter was written in 1939, in Malvern, Arkansas. Why the letter was written is also clearly stated. Bobby Murray, the author, is seeking financial assistance from the government to continue his schooling.

The question of what was happening within the immediate and broader context of when and where the letter was written is interesting. The date of 1939 is significant, in a broad context. Ten years earlier, in 1929, the Depression started in the United States. By 1939, however, the time of the writing of this letter, economic life was generally getting better. However, within the immediate context of Malvern, Arkansas, the letter indicates that life was still difficult, though not desperate. The author is not talking about starvation, about being thrown out of his home, or about his niece being taken away from them. Specifically, the letter reveals that unemployment was still a problem for boys under 18 years of age.

Inferring

Inferring is designed to provide students with the opportunity to revisit initial facts gleaned from the source and to begin to read subtexts and make inferences based upon a developing understanding of the context and continued examination of the source. In answering an historical question and working with the primary source, sometimes the evidence is not explicitly stated or obvious in the source, but rather, the evidence is hinted at within the source and needs to be drawn out. The inferring stage provides room for students to explore the source and examine the source's perspective in the light of the historical questions being asked. The four analyzing questions associated with the inferring phase include:

A Letter from Bobby Murray to the Children's Bureau (1939)

At this point, the letter's author, the letter's purpose, and the letter's context have been addressed. Within the SCIM strategy the next phase is inferring, that is, what information may be implied or concluded from the evidence within the source? For example, the letter suggests that the boy is mature for 15 years of age, as he seems to understand the family's dynamics. Specifically, he is concerned with furthering his education, but not allowing his education to adversely affect the family finances.

The author also seems sensitive to his mother's workload and her need to take care of his niece. Unfortunately, the author does not reveal much about his family; specifically, who was his father, how did his sister die, or who was the father of his sister's child? In addition, since the author is writing the Children's Bureau and referencing the Superintendent, it is likely the author already asked the Superintendent for financial assistance. Extending this financial focus, since the author is seeking financial assistance from the government, it can be concluded that the family was not an upper class family, but more likely, a middle or lower class family where finances would be difficult.

Finally, this letter reflects a change in individual's perspectives, that is, the letter reflects a perspective that the government is willing and able to get directly involved in citizen's lives - a perspective not common in the 1920s. Curiously, the author does not provide much explicit information regarding life in Malvern, Arkansas. The author paints a picture of a difficult time, but the author does not reference bleak details about the number of unemployed, the number of students out of school, or the number of people starving, which would suggest that life has improved since the depths of the Depression in early 1930s.

Monitoring

Monitoring is the capstone stage in examining individual sources. Here students are expected to question and reflect upon their initial assumptions in terms of the overall focus on the historical questions being studied. This reflective monitoring is essential in making sure that students have asked the key questions from each of the previous phases. Such a process requires students to examine the credibility and usefulness or significance of the source in answering the historical questions at hand.

Ultimately, monitoring is about reflection, reflection upon the use of the SCIM-C strategy and reflection upon the source itself. The SCIM-C strategy is recursive in nature and thus revisiting phases and questions is essential as one begins to create an historical interpretation of a source in light of one's historical questions. The four analyzing questions associated with the monitoring phase include:

A Letter from Bobby Murray to the Children's Bureau (1939)

The progression from summarizing, through contextualizing, to inferring, always leads to questions. The fourth phase of the SCIM strategy is the monitoring phase, that is, what questions exist regarding initial assumptions and interpretations or current understandings? The author also seems very mature for a 15 year old boy, which raises the question: Was there something about the experience of the depression that would have increased the sense of responsibility of a 15-year-old boy? Also, what opportunities were available to a 15-year-old boy during 1939? The author seems to value an education, why? Did the author see an education as a way to better conditions for himself and his family?

As mentioned previously, the author does not indicate much about the conditions in Malvern, Arkansas. It may help to know more about Malvern to understand the author's environment and better contextualize the contents of the letter. Was Malvern a typical southern community? Similarly, questions remain regarding his family. Who was his father and did something happened to him? What happened to his sister? What happened to his niece's father? Were the conditions of the author's family common during the late 1930s?

Finally, questions remain as to what happened to Bobby Murray and his family. Unbeknownst to Bobby, he will be of a prime draft age when World War II begins for the United States in December 1941. Ultimately, there's a lot in this letter. It is short, but it's clear and it's objective is specific.

Corroborating

Corroborating only starts when students have analyzed a series of sources, and are ready to extend and deepen their analysis through comparing the evidence gleaned from each source in light of the guiding historical questions. What similarities and differences in ideas, information, and perspectives exist between the analyzed sources? Students should also look for gaps in their evidence that may hinder their interpretations and the answering of their guiding historical questions. When they find contradictions between sources, they must investigate further, including the checking of the credibility of the source. Once the sources have been compared the student then begins to draw conclusions based upon the synthesis of the evidence, and can begin to develop their own conclusions and historical interpretation. The four analyzing questions associated with the corroborating phase include:

A Letter from Bobby Murray to the Children's Bureau (1939)

With all four phases of the SCIM strategy complete (not including the Corroborating stage, since multiple sources have not been analyized yet), we are left to create an interpretation of the source relative to the guiding historical question: What was life like for a child during the great Depression? One such interpretation might look like this:

This letter, written in 1939 by Bobby Murray to the Children's Bureau, suggests how the effects of the Depression were felt by one boy and his family. The boy's difficulties were not caused directly by the Depression, but rather by the lack of resources available to the family. The one source of support, the sister, has passed away, leaving the mother to work part-time while also raising her grand-daughter. The Depression is thus a background cause, suggested in the statement that a boy under eighteen cannot find any work. The letter does show, however, how the government is perceived as a source of assistance. Bobby Murray is writing to the Children's Bureau because he is hopeful of receiving some of the assistance being offered to children who cannot pay their school expenses. He refers to the superintendent of the local school district as a reference who will testify to his attendance. The letter thus shows how the combined difficulties of home life and the Depression caused problems for a child, and how the child's response demonstrates both a sense of responsibility and a willingness to look for assistance from as far away as Washington, D.C.. The author is clearly hopeful that a change will come as soon as possible, because any further delays will keep him from school.

As can be seen from the interpretation above, utilizing the SCIM strategy results in a deep, thorough, and careful analysis of the primary source, as well as an insightful and well-grounded interpretation.

Show Me the SCIM-C Strategy

In addition to the aforementioned five phases, within each phase there exists a series of four spiraling analyzing questions that serve to scaffold a concerted level of engagement with each source in order to allow students time to linger and learn from the source in light of the historical question being asked.

View SCIM-C Explanation (video)

Teaching History as Mystery

The whole idea of teaching history as mystery is to get students thinking... That is, we want to hear their ideas;we want to see evidence; and above all, we want to hear reasons, hypotheses, interpretations, and theories that analyze and explain events.
(Gerwin & Zevin, Teaching U.S. History as Mystery, p. 13)

View The Mystery of Sam Smiley

Learning Social Studies

Greg Giardina, 8th grade teacher at Sacred Heart Elementary School, Pittsburgh PA teaches an inquiry lesson about the Cherokee Removal Act of 1838. He uses primary sources from the Library of Congress and the inquiry process of SCIM-C for this historical investigation lesson. His guiding historical question is: "To what extent did the United States Government have a responsibility to serve the will of the majority even if it would violate the rights of the Cherokee?" Mr. Giardina developed this lesson while taking an online professional development class, National History Day Resources At the Library of Congress offered by the Eastern Region TPS Partner at Waynesburg University October, 2013. Co-Teachers for this class were Dr. David Hicks, VA Tech, Dr. John Lee, N.C. State, and Dr. Ann Canning, Waynesburg University.

Learning Social Studies: An Evidence-based Approach

The teaching and learning landscape of social studies is complex and challenging to navigate. This book chapter (Hicks, van Hover, Doolittle, & VanFossen, 2012) highlights eight priciples of learning and how they are applied within the social studies to create complete, student-centered instructional environments that foster deep and flexible learning.

View Learning Social Studies

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For Harry Potter and his compatriots, history lessons at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry took the form of brain-deadening encounters with a subject that appeared devoid of inquiry, imagination, interpretation, and personal meaning. This kind of history teaching, however, is not merely the 'stuff of fiction.'

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Questions to ask when evaluating sources through the GeSTE Windows

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Questions to ask when evaluating sources through the GeSTE Windows

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Evaluating sources – Generic window

Evaluating sources – Situated window (history, geography, science)

Evaluating sources – Transformative window

Evaluating sources – Expressive window

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P41-44 of this article by Mandy Lupton addresses Process Questions

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Do you have a difficult problem that needs to get solved, but just don't quite know where to begin? Well, how about using the six thinking hats? This problem solving model was first introduced by Edward de Bono in 1985. It uses the idea of six problem solving mindsets that we can utilize to help us work through our problems more effectively. These mindsets are tied to what de Bono describes as the Six Thinking Hats. Each hat plays a different role and brings to the table various perspectives that can help bring about a solution to the problem at hand. Here is a breakdown of the roles, objectives and purpose behind each of the six thinking hats.
1) THE MANAGERIAL BLUE HAT

The role of the Managerial Blue Hat is to act as a director. It essentially manages all the other hats and ensures that an adequate solution to the problem is found. Its other primary responsibilities involve defining the problem, gathering insights and information, encouraging the flow of ideas, managing time sensitive issues, and moving from an idea to the implementation of that idea in the most effective and efficient way possible. The Blue Hat's main objectives are therefore to organize ideas, plans and future actions, based on the input it gathers from the other thinking hats.

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2) THE NEUTRAL WHITE HAT

The role of the Neutral White Hat is to act as a detective. Its main objective is to explore the facts of the problem in an unbiased and neutral way. This essentially means collecting relevant information, stats and data surrounding the problem. This hat isn't interested in beliefs, assumptions or opinions. It's only interested in solid concrete information that can be proven and measured. However, in order to perform this role it must stay objective. It cannot allow itself to get emotionally involved because that would simply corrupt the data. Like a detective, it stays neutral and very open to the possibilities that may exist.

3) THE INTUITIVE RED HAT

The role of the Intuitive Red Hat is to act as the heart. Its main objective is to seek intuitive answers to the problem at hand. It does this by tuning into its internal feelings that can often lead to insights and hunches. Its purpose is to unlock ideas that come from the intuitive heart, rather than from the intellectual head. It therefore preferences using its instincts to formulate ideas that can help move the problem forward. Feelings of course don't always need to make intellectual sense. The Red Hat therefore never feels compelled to justify its feelings or to rationalize the contribution it makes toward solving the problem.

4) THE PESSIMISTIC BLACK HAT

The role of the Pessimistic Black Hat is to act as the reaper. Its main objective is to highlight possible flaws, weaknesses, dangers and risks that can come from implementing an idea. Its purpose is to critically examine and then question all the ideas brought forth by the other hats. The Black Hat therefore comes across as being extremely cautious, critical, and somewhat skeptical. It takes everything into consideration, then brings to light ill-thought-out plans that are potentially riddled with failure. Inadequate contingencies, a lack of resources, skills and support are typical issues that the Black Hat raises as concerns.

5) THE OPTIMISTIC YELLOW HAT

The role of the Optimistic Yellow Hat is to act as a sun, or a beacon of light that symbolizes faith and hope. It's main objective is to take every idea on board and build a case as to why it will succeed, and how it can potentially be implemented. It therefore always looks for the opportunities that may arise from the implementation of an idea. The Yellow Hat of course takes into account the risks, while also assessing the feasibility of getting an idea off the ground. It always however favors possibilities. If there is a will, then the Yellow Hat will always find a way to make things work, irrelevant of the drawbacks that may come to light.

6) THE CREATIVE GREEN HAT

The role of the Creative Green Hat is to act as a seedling. Its main objective is to explore new perspectives and creative ideas that can lead to interesting insights and breakthroughs in thinking. The Green Hat consistently challenges itself to expand possibilities by searching for unique and different ways of doing things. This of course means that they don't follow traditional rules of thinking, or adhere to standard practices of how things should be done. There are in fact no rules where they're concerned. The Green Hat will therefore bring many crazy and wacky ideas to the table. Most ideas probably won't be viable, but some certainly will.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

Using the six thinking hats to solve your life problems can provide you with the insights you need to take an idea from conception to implementation.

The six thinking hats are most often used within team environments for group brainstorming purposes, however they can also be used by individuals who are trying to work through a problem.

Working through the six thinking hats would simply involve mentally switching between each of the hats as you explore your problem. This will of course take practice. Each hat brings with it a very different approach to problem solving. Clearly understanding the role and objectives of each of the six thinking hats in advance, can help you to utilize them in more optimal ways as you work through your problem.

Imagine for a moment you could develop new habits and methods of thinking where you naturally and effortlessly adopt these ideas into your life. How would that make you feel? Would you feel more fulfilled, empowered and in control?

Yes, there is such simplicity within this IQ Doodle, but of course there is a reason for that. Making positive change doesn't need to be a complicated process. It just needs to be a consistent process where we progressively develop new habits-of-mind through repeated exposure and implementation. And that's what these IQ Doodles are for.

We have prepared for you an IQ Doodle pack that includes several variations of this IQ Doodle that you can use for guidance and inspiration throughout the day. Use it consistently and you will begin making positive changes in the way you live, work and interact with others.

Visit the IQ Doodle Store to learn more about how to use this IQ Doodle and begin optimizing the way you live your life today.

Learn More About this Topic

Want to know more about this topic? Here are some helpful links to articles that you may find of value:

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Solve Problems Using the Six Thinking Hats | IQ Doodle

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Do you have a difficult problem that needs to get solved, but just don't quite know where to begin? Well, how about using the six thinking hats? This problem solving model was first introduced by Edward de Bono in 1985.

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In 2011, I wrote a blog post, titled Upgrade your KWL Chart to the 21st Century. It described how I learned about a new version of the traditional KWL (What do I Know, What do I Want to know and what have I Learned) via Chic Foote as it snuck in an " H"(How will I find out). That "H" seemed to make the increased importance of the information literacy visible. I ended up on Maggie Hos-McGrane's blog, which, according to John Barell's book Why are School Buses always Yellow?, added yet two other abbreviations (" A"- What action will I take and " Q"-What further Questions do I have?) to make up a KWHLAQ acronym.

Interested in learning even more about Upgrading the KWL chart to the 21st Century? I created a course that walks you step-by -step through applications in the classroom.

The blog post included the visual chart below, which seemed to have made it the most popular blog post searched for and shared on Langwitches of all times. That seemed to demand an update to the visual after 4 years. 🙂 I have used the chart consistently over the last few years as a framework to upgrade FOR the 21st century in lesson planning, professional development workshops, coaching and working directly with students and teachers. An essential component of sharing, as a teacher, is the knowledge that one's work has an impact on other teachers and students, who most likely one will never meet. It is even more gratifying reading of the excellent work others have done:

I have also used the KWHLAQ chart as one framework to promote Reflection as Part of the Learning Process, Not as an Add-on. In the following visual below I share ideas of how to embed the KWHLAQ framework in analog and digital activities. I am continuing to be intrigued by John Barell's original inquiry strategy, how to use to bring awareness and experience opportunities for modern learning skills and literacies. Since Project Zero's Visible Thinking Routines have been playing an integral part of my continuous work of Documenting4Learning, is was an easy connection to bring in the routines as a strategy in the KWHLAQ flow.

The new visual below is intended to give teachers and students more choices of make their thinking and learning visible using the following platforms, activities, tools, Visible Thinking Routines as an option or starting off point. The suggestions include tools and platforms that are specifically suited to connect, collaborate, communicate and create, 21st century style, one's process and make it easier to amplify and to document4learning. The framework is based on

REFLECTION being an integral part of the learning process

the understanding that through technology tools our access to INFORMATION has exponentially expanded as well

our ability to take ACTION beyond affecting people we are able to reach face to face

that technology tools allow us to express and communicate in OTHER FORMS of media beyond words and text

What do you think? What other platforms, tools and activities would you include and organize according to the KWHLAQ chart? Let's crowdsource more resources for the use of KWHLAQ for the 21st Century!
Interested in learning even more about Upgrading the KWL chart to the 21st Century? I created a course that walks you step-by -step through applications in the classroom. Head on over to amplifiEDucation to check it out.

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An Update to the Upgraded KWL for the 21st Century

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In 2011, I wrote a blog post, titled Upgrade your KWL Chart to the 21st Century. It described how I learned about a new version of the traditional KWL (What do I Know, What do I Want to know and wh...

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Kath Murdoch: Walking the World with Questions in our Heads

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Kath Murdoch: Walking the World with Questions in our Heads

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"There are never complete answers. Or rather, if there is an answer, it is to remind myself that there is uncertainty in everything."" - Amy Tan

Over the last few years, a small but significant shift has occurred in many teachers' practice in relation to "naming" a journey of inquiry for or with their students. For a long time, we delighted in coming up with fun, snappy titles for units of inquiry: "May the force be with you" (for an inquiry into force and motion); "Getting around" (an inquiry into transport); "Skin, scales, feathers and fur" (an inquiry into animals) and so on. While these titles were engaging in their own way, they were problematic. The classroom discourse was more about "doing" a topic rather than investigating. On asking students what they were actually inquiring into, it became clear that there was a divide between the perceived focus of the unit and the learning intentions the teacher had in mind. These units were most often thematic rather than deeply integrative; topic rather than concept based; narrow rather than broad and driven by activities rather than inquiry and understanding.

There are a number of strategies we can use to reframe a journey of inquiry so that the focus is conceptual and investigative. Identifying a powerful, overarching "big idea" is now more commonly used to identify the broader territory in which the inquiry exists. A big idea runs 'through' the learning journey and helps students (and teachers) see the connection between the specific tasks they are undertaking and a more substantial, enduring concept. Like the shades on a paint sample strip, student understanding gradually deepens over the journey. Clarifying the 'big idea' (or ideas) that drive an inquiry is a critical element in the planning process. In its development, teachers themselves become inquirers - thoughtfully identifying what lies beyond the "topic" - what significant, unifying and transferable ideas makes this learning journey worthwhile.

Another strategy I have found very useful over the last decade, is to devise (and display) a compelling or rich QUESTION to drive the inquiry. This doesn't take the place of the big idea or understanding goal but can serve a similar function. The thing I most like about driving inquiry through a compelling question is the way it immediately positions that learning as an investigation. We are not "doing" - we are investigating. The journey of inquiry is about exploring this question and thinking about/responding to it in new ways. We know that the question will live on beyond our temporary findings. A compelling, overarching question invites many more questions to support it. This is where the thrill of inquiry teaching lies - we start out driven by an interesting and compelling question - but we don't really know where that journey will take us.

Sharing or constructing a compelling question with students is a great way to activate prior thinking and experience before further investigation. The question travels the arc of the inquiry - being returned to again and again with new thinking, new perspectives. As students embark on the journey, I encourage them to walk the world with that question in their head - not trying to answer it as such but to use it as a kind of filter through which the information they gather and the experiences they have can be sifted, sorted and reflected upon. My ultimate aim, of course, is that this disposition - walking the world with questions in our heads - is something my students will embrace as a way of being. By framing teaching and learning through questions, I elevate the status of curiosity, I value the unknown and I emphasise learning AS inquiry.

This way of thinking about a driving question was really crystallized for me a few years ago when I listened to Amy Tan's amazing 2008 TED talk on creativity:
"When I have the question, it is a focus and all these things that seem to be flotsam and jetsam in life actually go through that question....and what happens is that these things become relevant...you are noticing it more often"
Many educators have identified some of the key elements or characteristics of essential/powerful questions for inquiry. These include:

The question can be investigated in multiple ways using a wide variety of sources

The question invites multiple responses and perspectives

The question connects to the world beyond me right now - it matters and is relevant

There is 'intellectual bite' in the question - or it is unsettling and thought provoking.

There concept/s within the question can be transferred to other contexts/situations even time periods.

I am so fortunate to work in a wide range of inquiry classrooms. This experience gives me an insight into compelling questions that 'work' for shared inquiry. I love seeing students tackle these questions across time and the increasing depth in which they respond to them as they explore. Over the next few weeks - I intend to 'tweet' a compelling question each day - something that may trigger an idea for inquiry or help some of you re-frame current units that might be constrained by 'topics' rather than opened up by big picture throughlines and compelling questions. Here are just a few examples:

What does it mean to be healthy?

Can war be justified?

Who's got the power?

Why do we eat what we eat?

Are we more the same or more different?

How do we know if it is true?

What does it mean to belong?

What does it take to make?

How does where we live affect HOW we live?

Why Earth?

Can art change us?

Do compelling questions drive inquiry in your classroom? What questions have worked for you?

Just wondering....

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Walking the world with questions in our heads... - KATH MURDOCH

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Authentic Education - What Is an Essential Question?

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Like many metaphors, "essential questions" sounds true and wonderful. It's like such terms as "essentials" and "fundamentals" and "basics" and "primer" and "ideas" and "introduction to..." and "for dummies" and other such promises. It's like promoting "understanding" instead of merely memorizing and reciting. The problem in mathematics at least is in actually finding essential questions.

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Access the list here

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How to frame a researchable question in History

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How to frame a researchable question in History

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Asking Good Questions - Learning Historical Research

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Learning how to do historical research. The official website of William Cronon.

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Helping Students Develop the Ability to Ask Good Questions

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Helping Students Develop the Ability to Ask Good Questions

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Articles and chapters from the QUT library and databases

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Articles and chapters from the QUT library and databases

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QUT Login required. You will draw on some of these in your assignment.

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Questions that guide the critical evaluation of sources

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Frameworks that guide each stage of the inquiry cycle or process

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Big questions that frame the inquiry

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Supporting students to generate or formulate questions.

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What is The Question Quadrant? | North Lakes School

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Using questions to facilitate student engagement

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Using questions to facilitate student engagement

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The skill of question asking is far too rarely deliberately taught in school. We have worked with and learned from educators to develop a teaching strategy, the Question Formulation Technique (QFT), which provides a simple yet powerful way to teach students how to formulate, work with, and use their own questions.

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Teaching + Learning - Right Question Institute

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We are two weeks into our Passion Project and my kids have pretty much narrowed down their area of focus for their passion: travel, gardening, healthy living, animals, music....the list goes on. These are all big, broad areas of interest, so how do we begin on our passion journey?

Our 'way in' was through the PYP concepts. We thought about these in two ways: as lenses and as keys. Some kids really bought into the idea that they were picking up and putting on different glasses with different colored lenses through which they would look at their topic. Some kids bought into the idea that they were standing in a room with eight colored doors and each key in their hand unlocked a different door to step through to their passion. I was pretty impressed with the speed at which they figured this out, actually!
Download the cards below, updated to include related concepts, here.

Each child made a set of concept cards using the following information. A descriptor of the concept on one side, and curriculum area sample questions on the reverse. These were mounted on different colored cards and bound together with a ring. We were ready to begin!

I started with the whole class and a topic close to my own heart and one they could relate to: dogs. We started going through the concepts and thinking of questions that would fit that lens:

FORM: What are the distintive characteristics of a dog?

FUNCTION: How do the lungs of a dog work?

CHANGE: What are the newest medical advances that are now in place to help injured dogs?

Each child was given a large concept question planner and, armed with their passion topic and their concept-question cards, were asked to think of questions for each concept. PDF Concept Question Planner

We discussed that some concepts may lend themselves to more questions and some to fewer questions. As we continue with this on Monday, my hope is that we can help each other focus our inquiries through the use of concepts. I also want to make sure that their time is spent on relevant, engaging and worthwhile questions. I want their questions to be deep and open. But how?

I came across the idea of a Question Quadrant to help see if where your questions 'fit': The Quadrant can be used to distinguish closed and open questions that relate specifically to a text; or closed and open questions that stimulate intellectual curiosity.

I also really like the Visible Thinking routine Question Starts.

Once they have generated questions, I am thinking of using the Visible Thinking Routine, "Question Sorts" to help my students ensure they are really focusing on questions they care about:

A question sort, would be similar looking to the question quadrant:

I am still thinking about how best to help them make the most of their inquiries. I think we are off to a good start! I know a lot of the focus still remains on 'producing a product' which is not the goal of this project but is something that I think people are more comfortable with given that is how we were educated: to produce 'something'. My goal is to keep putting the tools out there and hoping that the more product oriented ideas arise from the deeper inquiry, rather than become the sole purpose of the project.

A mom, educator, designer, creator. I care about kindness, representation, equality, and making a positive contribution. I began teaching in 1997 in New Zealand and have since taught from G1 through G10 in 4 continents. View all posts by Sonya terBorg

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We are two weeks into our Passion Project and my kids have pretty much narrowed down their area of focus for their passion: travel, gardening, healthy living, animals, music....the list goes on. These are all big, broad areas of interest, so how do we begin on our passion journey?

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The Question Game: A Playful Way To Teach Critical Thinking

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The Question Game: A Playful Way To Teach Critical Thinking

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The Question Game
by Sophie Wrobel, geist.avesophos.de

The Question Game: A Playful Way To Teach Critical Thinking
Big idea: Teaching kids to ask smart questions on their own
A four-year-old asks on average about 400 questions per day, and an adult hardly asks any. Our school system is structured around rewards for regurgitating the right answer, and not asking smart questions - in fact, it discourages asking questions. With the result that as we grow older, we stop asking questions. Yet asking good questions is essential to find and develop solutions, and an important skill in innovation, strategy, and leadership. So why do we stop asking questions - and more importantly, why don't we train each other, and our future leaders, to ask the right questions starting from early on?

In A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas, Warren Berger suggests that there are three main questions which help in problem solving: Why questions, What If questions, and How questions.

Regardless of the question, the question needs to be phrased openly and positively in order to achieve positive results - a closed or negative question only raises bad feelings against each other.

Why questions help to find the root of a problem

What If questions open up the floor for creative solutions

How questions focus on developing practical solutions

So, perhaps, this lesson can be adapted to help trigger young children to start solve problems early too and stop accepting whatever the kindergarten teacher says to be fact? And perhaps, continue to keep up these inquiring and probing abilities later on in life?
Learning Goal: A Pattern Of Critical Thinking
The Question Game focuses on teaching children a kind of thinking which is particularly useful in creative problem-solving-a focused approach to get from a problem to the most effective solution. It is most effective when combined with regular repetition, which solidifies the thought pattern, and with groups, which encourages contributory exploration of alternative responses and creativity.

Thinking strategy is just one of many qualities that are necessary for imparting charisma and leadership skills to the next generation. Many of us would claim that we don't have the 'natural gift' that charismatic leaders like Nelson Mandela or Mahatma Ghandi had. However, charisma and leadership are qualities that, to a large extent, can be cultivated and trained. With soft skills becoming more important in today's job market, cultivating these skills early on can provide children with an additional edge in becoming effective, active citizens in our society. These skills can be broadly grouped into four logical skills and four emotional skills:

Logical skills: risk-taking, thinking strategy, creativity, and negotiation.

Emotional skills: persuasion, emotional connection, body language, and dealing with vulnerability.

Introducing The Question Game Preparation: print out the figure in the illustration, cut it out and glue the tabs together to form a cube.
Of these eight skills, the Question Game focuses on thinking strategy and creativity, and aims to solidify the critical thinking thought pattern from an early age onwards.
Evaluating Learning Progress

1. One simple idea is to pick up your favorite illustrated fairy tale book-the kind of book you'd read a two-year-old for bedtime stories. (This also works with most fictional works; the natural 'break point' for questions is at the end of a plot development or paragraph for older audiences.)

2. On each page, roll the cube and answer the question together. I'll bet you'd be surprised by what turns Little Red Riding Hood can take. And more importantly after a while you and your child will both start asking these questions reflexively.

My personal experience introducing the game to my two children (aged Pre-K) is a gradual acceptance of the game and associated learning goals:
Sophie Wrobel is a mother of two and independent information consultant with no pedagogic background. She runs a technology-oriented blog at avesophos.de and a self-improvement blog at geist.avesophos.de; The Question Game: A Playful Way To Teach Critical Thinking; image attribution flickr user usarmycorpofengineers

1. Initial excitement: Rolling the cube puts the child in control and made a fun addition to reading their picture books; they couldn't wait for their turn to roll the cube.

2. Distress: The questions are hard, especially when they aren't used to this sort of thinking pattern and are accustomed to the 'teacher knows everything' thinking pattern. Here, my children often asked if we could read ‚without the cube', or ‚I don't want to roll, but ___ can roll and answer the question.'

3. Acceptance: As they start to recognize that there isn't a single correct answer, and they begin to understand what each question is trying to achieve, they begin to enjoy the game and insist that we read 'with the cube'.

4. Application: During more abstract conversations, discussions, or observing how the children go about solving day-to-day problems during play. Example: a particular lego construction doesn't quite work, even though it was‚ built according to instructions'-and the child goes about investigating what is wrong and fixing it himself. Another example: When they ask me questions and I give them answers that obviously don't make sense, I get more pointed questions than just 'why?' as a response.

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The Question Game: A Playful Way To Teach Critical Thinking

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The Question Game by Sophie Wrobel, geist.avesophos.de The Question Game: A Playful Way To Teach Critical Thinking Big idea: Teaching kids to ask smart questions on their own A four-year-old asks on average about 400 questions per day, and an adult hardly asks any.

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Questions and questioning: moving beyond the KWL chart

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Questions and questioning: moving beyond the KWL chart

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Lately I have found myself questioning questions. They are indeed the heart and soul of inquiry. Questions give voice to our passions and our curiosity. When we bravely release a question into the air - we are vulnerable, open and ready to learn. Where once, question-asking was the teacher's territory, in an inquiry classroom, students' questions are as important - if not more-so than the teacher's. The presence of students' questions (orally and visually) in a learning space is one of the first signs that I have entered a zone of inquiry. Many of the sessions I have recently facilitated with students have focused on the art of question-asking. I regularly hear teachers voice their frustration with what I think of as 'sham questions' - those designed to teacher-please or simply to fulfil a requirement - frustratingly narrow, irrelevant or poorly constructed or students who ask no questions at all. Part of the problem can be that we have failed to move beyond the linear notion of inquiry that framed our previous thinking ("What do you know? What do you want to know....?") and to embrace a more invitational, organic and cyclical approach. In short, we need to move on from the KWL chart.

A couple of weeks ago, I worked with a lovely group of year 6 students who had been busily drafting questions for personal inquiries following their shared inquiry into Australia's connection with Asia. While the interest was high, this was no easy task for many of the students. We soon realised that some kind of "success criteria" were needed to help them figure out what would constitute an effective question for this particular kind of task.
Drafting some initial criteria for questions
We spent the best part of an hour exploring the question "What makes a good question?" Of course - the answer is "It depends". We need to be clear about the purposes and nature of the task. Through conversations, trial and error, design and feedback - we eventually devised some success criteria to guide the formulation, self and peer assessment of their questions. Even with the criteria available, however, some students still struggled to articulate their interests beyond a general sense that they 'wanted to learn more about....' It reminded me how often I am in this exact same position with my own learning. And even when I think I know what I am looking for - what I end up finding out prompts me to re-think my original intent. Whether or not I begin with a question depends on the nature of my investigation. I mostly end up asking something...but certainly not always from the outset. I read this recently and it really struck a chord:

"The best way to find out things, if you come to think of it, is not to ask questions at all. If you fire off a question, it is like firing off a gun; bang it goes, and everything takes flight and runs for shelter. But if you sit quite still and pretend not to be looking, all the little facts will come and peck round your feet, situations will venture forth from thickets and intentions will creep out and sun themselves on a stone; and if you are very patient, you will see and understand a great deal more than a man with a gun." Elsbeth Huxley 1959: 272 *

Developing the capacity to ask questions remains a significant part of the inquiry teacher's role BUT to make this work we need to attend to two things. Firstly (and somewhat ironically) we need to acknowledge that inquiry does not need to begin with a question...they can pop up along the way or even at the end of a process of investigation. Secondly, we can spend time exploring the art of questioning itself. We need to inquire INTO questions - empowering students to frame and reframe questions as needed. Here are a few tips that may help you move beyond the tyranny of the KWL chart

* Invite rather than insist on questions early on in an inquiry journey.

* Try using the term ' wondering' rather than 'question'. Wondering' has a softness to it that invites risk taking.
"Why do possums sleep in the morning?" a five year old's personal wondering
* Encourage/display/celebrate questions about all sorts of things - not just those things associated with a "unit of inquiry".

* If you are using something like a 'wonderwall' help students see it as a work in progress - a dynamic space that allows for questions to be taken down, added to, refined and grouped throughout the journey

* Share YOUR questions - model curiosity and the art of framing questions by actively and authentically participating in the process yourself!

* Allow students time to play with the material about the area under investigation. Contradictory as it sounds, we often need to do some finding out before we know what we want or need to find out! Use provocations to stimulate questions.

* Avoid demonising the 'skinny' or closed question. Most researchers need to use a combination of both to guide their investigations. Help students notice the way different kinds of questions are needed for different purposes.

* Challenge students to find a question as a result of their investigation - a question can be a conclusion!

* Recognise that the impetus for investigation may come more from a desire to make/build/design/create. These generate questions but often through the process.

* Devise compelling questions to drive rich inquiry (I have blogged about this previously: http://justwonderingblog.com/2012/10/28/walking-the-world-with-questions-in-our-heads/)
Which questions do you think will be the easiest for us to answer? Which will be the hardest? (Why?) Which questions are you most excited/least excited about? Which ones are open/closed? Let's group them according to best ways to find out about them? Which are google-able? Which are not? Most-least important?
* Finally, spend time inquiring into questions themselves. They are fascinating linguistic expressions! Play with questions - when students DO generate them, examine the different ways they are structured. Ask students to group them in different ways. Some of the challenges I have given students recently include:
Just wondering....
How flexible are we about our students' questions? How much time to we spend reflecting with students on the nature of questions themselves? Can powerful inquiry happen if we DON'T ask questions?

* Huxley, E (1959) The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood Penguin

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Moving on from the KWL chart : student questions and inquiry

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Lately I have found myself questioning questions. They are indeed the heart and soul of inquiry. Questions give voice to our passions and our curiosity. When we bravely release a question into the air - we are vulnerable, open and ready to learn. Where once, question-asking was the teacher's te

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Questioning elaborations in the Australian Curriculum

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Questioning elaborations in the Australian Curriculum

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inquiry learning & information literacy

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I have prepared this post for a professional development seminar I'm presenting for teachers on inquiry and information literacy in the Australian Curriculum. Here I have created word clouds (in Tagul) of the content elaborations related to posing questions the the subject areas of Science, History and Geography. The visualisation demonstrates the strong sense of disciplinarily and topic areas that are not necessarily evident in the content descriptors alone.

The images maybe useful for teachers who are developing an integrated curriculum, as the visualisations help in analysing the similarities and differences between the subject areas in the same year groups. They also illuminate where there is more detail at a particular year level, for instance compare Year 7 History which provides topic examples with Year 9 History which seems more generic in nature. The generic versus rich description is also seen in a comparison of Year 7 Science, History and Geography. Year 7 Science is generic and process-oriented whereas History and Geography have a strong sense of the discipline and topic areas.
Science questioning: Foundation-Year 9 History questioning: Foundation-Year 9 Geography questioning: Foundation-Year 9

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Questioning elaborations in the Australian Curriculum: Science, History & Geography

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I have prepared this post for a professional development seminar I'm presenting for teachers on inquiry and information literacy in the Australian Curriculum. Here I have created word clouds (in Tagul) of the content elaborations related to posing questions the the subject areas of Science, History and Geography.