# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
What are the National Arts Standards? A process that guides educators in providing a unified quality arts education for students in Pre-K through high school Read More

# data[].attributes.body
Essential Questions

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Editor's note: This is an updated version of our original article on essential questions examples featuring new links to useful EQ tools and more.
So many essential questions examples, so little time. Grant Wiggins once said, "The big-idea questions signal that education is not just about learning the answer, but about learning how to learn. Both he and his colleague Jay McTighe did so much to bring an awareness of how to create meaningful essential questions in education. They knew, as we do now, that the questions we ask our students matter.

In our Essential Questions Guide, we define an essential question as one that leads us to explore the problem and choose from plans and strategies to generate an applicable solution. It's much more than that, though. A good essential question:

inspires a quest for knowledge and discovery

encourages and develops critical thinking processes

leads students to engineer real-world solutions for real-world problems

is all about possibilities

100+ Essential Questions Examples

What we have below is a list of over 100 essential questions examples that we've created and collected over time. They are the kinds of questions which can drive us, haunt us, and move us to search for answers.

All the essential questions are broken down into different categories. So off you go! Explore, ponder, and never stop asking questions.

Social Studies

1. How can one individual's experience reflect the struggles of an entire nation?

2. How does our understanding about the culture of a people help us communicate with them most effectively?

3. How do we overcome prejudice and social bias?

4. Why do we study and examine our past, present, and future?

5. How do you define the term "perfection" in contrast to how it is portrayed in our pop culture media?

6. In a culture full of ideas and images of what we should be, how do we form an identity that remains true and authentic for the individual?

7. Why do we sometimes oppress each other when we gain power?

8. Is there a price to obtaining freedom from oppression? If so, what is it?

9. How do we determine the ideals that should be honoured in a model society and explain why they are the most important?

10. How can we help people struggling in underpriveledged regions of the world lead better lives?

11. How does conflict lead to change across varying levels of society?

12. What are the benefits and consequences of questioning/challenging authority?

13. How does the study of history help us realize that ideas and actions of individuals and groups have consequences and shape events?

14. How can we be sure of what really happened in our past?

English Language Arts

1. What strategies can you use to make writing come alive for a reader?

2. What are the reasons that cultures and individuals create narratives of their experiences?

3. What makes a story effective for its purpose?

4. What moves us to communicate through digital and non-digital media?

5. What makes writing worth reading, and why should we do it?

6. How does what you read influence how you should read it?

7. How does an author create meaning in a text, and what makes that meaning valid?

8. What ways can we express ourselves when we don't know another's language?

9. How can we use story writing and storytelling to help solve everyday problems?

10. How can we use knowledge of the structure of language to write more persuasively?

11. How can you make a convincing case about a problem that inspires people to take action?

12. What are some strategies for building effective oral communication skills?

The Arts

1. How does a song, piece of art, or a dance communicate with us?

2. What is "art" and why do individual cultures place so much value on its continuing evolution?

3. What inner and outer factors influence how we express ourselves artistically?

4. What kinds of responsibilities does an artist have to an audience or a consumer?

5. Do audiences and consumers have any responsibility towards artists? If so, what are they?

6. What are the fundamental differences between a "thoughtful" and a "thoughtless" critique?

7. What do we mean when we refer to music as the universal language?

8. How can we use the arts to inspire positive action?

9. What would the world be like if we weren't able to artistically express ourselves?

10. What can the art forms of other cultures teach us about ourselves and about life?

Mathematics

1. What ways do we use math in everyday life?

2. How can I best represent a pattern using mathematical principles?

3. How could we use mathematics to create a better world?

4. How do pictures, graphs, tables, and data "paint a thousand words?"

5. What ways can mathematical problems conceal as much as they reveal?

6. How do we identify patterns and use them to predict what will happen next?

7. How can we compare the sizes of objects when we can't place them next to each other?

8. When and how has mathematics played pivotal roles throughout our world's history?

9. How do I determine the best strategy to use for tackling a specific mathematical problem?

10. When solving multi-step problems using charts, tables, and graphs, how can you tell if the information you provide is sufficient?

Science

1. What tools can an individual use to judge the difference between illusion and reality?

2. How do we determine what is truly "real" and what is not?

3. How can we predict what life will be like 30 years from now?

4. When can we be sure that estimation is more appropriate than finding an exact answer?

5. How can I represent a large object accurately on paper or in a small model?

6. How can I make larger representations of small objects?

7. When and how do scientific theories change?

8. How can we be sure that the universe beyond our world is truly "infinite"?

9. How do we make predictions for the future and ensure that they have validity?

10. How do we create, test, and validate a scientific model?

11. Why is it important that we recognize universal patterns existing within our world?

Ethics and Morality

1. What is morality and what are the factors that have an impact on its development?

2. Why do we choose to use labels in society, and when can they be harmful?

3. What is the difference between truth and fact?

4. How is our perception of good and evil shaped by our films, books, and video games?

5. If you could choose one rule for the entire world to adhere to, what would it be and why?

6. Is civilization and order necessary to survival? Why or why not?

7. Why is having values and beliefs important and how can we form them independently?

8. Is humanity inherently "good" or inherently "evil?" Why do you feel this way?

9. How do different cultures shape our definitions of good and evil?

10. Why is it crucial to consider the effects of our words and actions on other people?

11. What are the attributes of heroism and how could they change?

Health and Wellness

1. What does it mean to be truly healthy?

2. Why is it necessary for long-term health and wellness to achieve balance in our lives, and how can we achieve it?

3. What would be the short- and long-term effects of all living humans striving to understand each other?

4. How do we define "happiness" for ourselves and how important it is in our lives?

5. Why (and how) does choosing activities we enjoy contribute to our whole-being health?

6. What causes some to thrive while others fail in the face of a challenge?

7. What personal qualities do you have that help you deal with conflict, challenge, and adversity?

8. In what ways does where you live influence how you live?

9. What is the difference between "surviving" and "living"?

10. How does what we eat impact our health in both the short and long term?

11. How does being healthy affect our relationships with others?

12. What is special about how you deal with personal conflicts and change, and how could this help someone else?

13. Why is it so important for us to ensure that our lives have "meaning"?

14. How can we support people who feel alone and are uncertain about themselves due to social and psychological factors?

The Global Community

1. What does the term "global community" mean to you and why is sustaining it important?

2. Are there universal characteristics of belief systems that are common across all cultures? What are they and how can they bring us together?

3. How could we ensure and sustain enough food, water, and clothing for every living person on Earth?

4. How has technology transformed how we see ourselves and others? Is this good or bad?

5. How can small actions eventually change the world?

6. What is your vision of a "perfect society" and how would you describe it?

7. How do we decide if the world as it is today is better or worse than it was in the past?

8. How does what we know about the world affect how we view ourselves?

9. Why does it often seem to take a global disaster or crisis to inspire us to help each other?

10. What personal contributions and changes can we make to help reduce the effects of global warming?

11. How can we ensure our world is preserved for future generations?

Personal Development/Responsibility

1. If you were to leave behind your own legacy for future generations, what would it would be and why?

2. How can we ensure that conflicts lead to constructive change and a positive outcome for everyone involved?

3. What qualities and characteristics make a person "mature" and "responsible"?

4. Why is it important to be grateful?

5. What role(s) do I play in defining my own future?

6. How do we form and shape a personal identity for ourselves?

7. How do our relationships with others change us?

8. How is useful failure beneficial to our personal development?

9. What is the difference between management and leadership, and which is more important?

10. In a culture where we are bombarded with other people trying to define us, how do we make decisions for ourselves?

11. What are the elements of true friendship and how might these change or grow over time?

Additional Reading

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A List of Over 100 Awesome Essential Questions Examples by Subject

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Editor's note: This is an updated version of our original article on essential questions examples featuring new links to useful EQ tools and more. So many essential questions examples, so little time. Grant Wiggins once said, "The big-idea questions signal that education is not just about learning the answer, but about learning how to learn.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Today I know was a gift from the Soul Comfort class I took towards the end of 2013. And it ended up being one of my favorite projects from 2014. It never felt burdensome or cumbersome.

I really liked doing such a wide variety of pages. The art was fun. Learning to navigate the thin and non-waterproof pages of the book was fun. Playing with such a variety of mediums was also fun.

But the best part was the journaling. Getting to write out such interesting topics. Using the pages to collect my thoughts. I really loved it.

I seriously considered continuing the project for 2015 in some capacity. But I like to change things up. So I decided to bit farewell to this particular project. However, I am keeping my prompts and may end up using them in some other way.

In the meantime, I love love love this book that I ended up with. And I will go back and visit it regularly.

It was one of the few projects I didn't abandon or modify in any way. I found a system early on in the year and it worked well enough for me to carry it throughout. Partly because I think this was a very flexible project. It was fun, diverse, introspective and rewarding.

I am very grateful to Melody for her wonderful ideas that never let me down.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Today I know was a gift from the Soul Comfort class I took towards the end of 2013. And it ended up being one of my favorite projects from 2014. It never felt burdensome or cumbersome. I really liked doing such a wide variety of pages. The art was fun.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
An art journal is a journal in which you combine art and words to express yourself. That's it. It's not complex, and there really aren't any rules for art journaling. It's all about self-expression.

Art journaling has a long-standing artistic tradition. Artists through the centuries have kept notebooks in which they sketched, practiced, experimented, and recorded themselves. Vincent vanGogh kept notebooks (and he used moleskins!). Picasso and DaVinci were two other prolific sketchbook keepers. You are in good company! If you feel like exploring famous and not-so-famous artists' sketchbooks, go to Artists' Sketchbooks Online.

Today, artist's journals are illustrated journals on any theme or combination thereof. It can be a record of your daily thoughts, a travel journal, an exercise or diet diary, a dream journal, a place where you jot down your goals, a to-do lists, or almost any record that you'd like to keep.

Art Journal Themes

Journaling, as part of a school curriculum, strengthens and refines students' cognitive skills by teaching them to observe, to become aware of what they have observed with all of their senses, and, to exercise their imaginations and critical skills through developing hypotheses to explain what has been observed. Using a journal allows students a place to record and preserve what has been seen, done, and thought in the course of her work.

Integrated Curriculum

Art journaling is also a great way to integrate art into your language arts and science curriculum. The journals can become a place for creative writing and personal reflections. If you encourage students to write personal material in the journals as in a diary, you can give them the option of folding a page over on itself to indicate that the contents underneath are something that they are not yet ready to share. If they later decide that they do want you to look at the page, they can unfold it and let you know.

In our homeschool, we predominately use our art journals as a method of trying new art techniques or media. However, we also use it as a reading journal, creating a visual or artistic impression of books we've read.

Art & Writing Prompts

Student writing will often naturally lend itself to creative expressions of art. Here a just a few ideas to get you started.

What do the characters in the book we just read look like in your mind?

Imagine a future in which we each have a personalized robot servant. What would yours be like? What would it do? What features would it have? Use both words and pictures to describe your robot.

What road-trip would you take if you suddenly could? Write about it. Sketch a picture of what you might see.

Choose a favorite quote. What images does it bring to mind?

Write a description of something very dark (like a crow) in a very light place (like a field of snow). Make the dark thing seem innocent and the light thing seem ominous.

Pick two characters from different books you've read this year. What would they say to each other? What would they do - go for a walk, enjoy a meal, or ?

Follow Michelle Cannon's board Art Journaling on Pinterest.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What is Art Journaling? Ideas for Middle School Students - Eva Varga

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
An art journal is a journal in which you combine art and words to express yourself. That's it. It's not complex, and there really aren't any rules for art journaling. It's all about self-expression. Art journaling has a long-standing artistic tradition. Artists through the centuries have kept notebooks in which they sketched, practiced, experimented, and recorded themselves.