116-curriculum framing questions...

Curriculum-framing Questions

e M I N T S N a t i o n a l C e n t e r

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Curriculum-framing Questions eMINTS National Center 325 Clark Hall Columbia, MO 65211 Voice: (573) 884-7202 Fax: (573) 884-7614 www.emints.org Cover Photos Joshua A. Bickel Contributors eMINTS National Center staff Written July 2011 Questions Have a question about eMINTS professional-development materials? Send inquiries to the eMINTS staff at [email protected]

©2011 The Curators of the University of Missouri. Use or distribution of materials is restricted to authorized eMINTS instructors and staff. Do not copy, alter or redistribute without the express written permission of eMINTS National Center. To request permission, contact the eMINTS National Center at [email protected] or postal address above. Titles or names of specific software discussed or described in this document are registered trademarks, trademarked or copyrighted as property of the companies that produce the software. Please note that the World Wide Web is volatile and constantly changing. The URLs provided were accurate as of the date of publication.


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Table of Contents

Purpose of the Module ............................................................................ 4

Expected Outcome ................................................................................. 4

Framing the Unit with Questions

Essential Questions ....................................................................... 5

Unit Questions .............................................................................. 6

Content Questions ......................................................................... 7

Putting into Practice ............................................................................... 8

Resources ............................................................................................. 9


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Purpose of the Module Instructional planning based on the process of backward design begins with determining an overarching idea for the unit of study. The next step in the backward-design process is to frame big ideas and key content into questions that will guide and focus inquiry. During this session, participants are introduced to curriculum-framing questions as a framework for guiding inquiry-based learning. Curriculum-framing questions include essential questions (open-ended questions that address the big idea), unit questions (more unit specific open-ended questions) and content questions (fact-based questions specific to the unit).

Expected Outcome • Curriculum-framing questions are created and used to drive inquiry-based

lessons with students.

Essential Question How do people learn?

Session Question How can questioning guide learning?


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Framing the Unit with Questions Question-asking fuels inquiry and learning. Curiosity and the desire to know more about the world come naturally to humans. This is evident when spending time with preschoolers and watching them as they embark in an array of question-asking about everything they observe. Natural curiosity is more than just a stage a young child goes through. In their groundbreaking 1998 article on brain research published in Educational Leadership, Pat Wolfe and Ron Brandt stated that “the brain is essentially curious and it must be to survive. It constantly seeks connections between the new and the known. Learning is a process of active construction by the learner.” When humans ask questions and seek answers they become engaged in learning. Instruction framed around interesting questions that stimulate curiosity can be used to draw students into the quest for answers. When students pursue answers to satisfy curiosity, this translates into relevant and meaningful learning. When planning instruction teachers, therefore, need to ask themselves: “How will I design instruction so questions frame and guide learning that is meaningful to students?” The Intel Teach Program developed a structure for organizing questions and promoting thinking labeled curriculum-framing questions. Curriculum-framing questions include essential, unit and content questions. These hierarchical questions are designed to guide learning from fact-based content students need to know toward understanding big overarching ideas. Intel Teach describes essential and unit questions as open-ended questions that help students recognize the “why” and “how” that underlies content. In addition, essential and unit questions encourage inquiry, discussion and research. Content questions support the essential and unit questions by helping students identify facts and information they need to know to meet many of the content standards.

Essential Questions A key element of inquiry is the essential question, which is posed to students to frame learning. Lessons that ask students to think more deeply and consider complex issues are built around essential questions. Essential questions are open-ended questions directly related to big overarching ideas that create a sense of wonderment and span several units. When students work to create answers to essential questions they develop a deep understanding of bigger concepts by uncovering the most important ideas related to overarching ideas.

Characteristics of an essential question include the following: • They are broad, open-ended questions that address big ideas. • They are the type of question people ask over and over. • They lead to higher-level thinking and cannot be answered with a single word or

statement. • They do not have obvious right answers. • They spark curiosity and a sense of wonder and suggest investigation and inquiry. • Essential questions probe for deeper meaning and understanding. • They are sometimes cross-curricular and take advantage of how subjects are

related.

Copyright © 2011 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Adapted by permission.


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All other questions—such as unit or content questions—point to a possible answer for the essential question (McKenzie, 1996; Jacobs, 1997; Wiggins & McTighe, 2001). The purpose of an essential question is “to frame the learning, engage the learner, link to more specific or more general questions and guide the exploration and uncovering of important ideas” (Wiggins & McTighe, 2001). Developing Essential Questions When designing an inquiry-based unit, developing the essential question should follow the development of the habits of learning taxonomy, identification of content standards and benchmarks and development of student objectives/learning outcomes. To write essential questions, teachers often need to dissect curricular content to determine the most important understanding students should gain from their inquiry in the form of an overarching idea. The overarching idea forms the foundation of the essential question. Basic skills and knowledge written in the form of a question do not amount to an essential question. For example, the question “What are the three branches of government?” is not an essential question. The following question is an essential question: “How are freedom and choice preserved?” When writing essential questions, consider the following:

• Use language that all students will understand. • Base the question on overarching ideas or problems. • Write the question in a way that will engage students in wanting to know more. • Develop a question for which no single right answer exists. • Write the question so it involves thinking, not just answering. • Base the question on the upper levels of a thinking model.


Unit Questions Unit questions share some characteristics with essential questions. They are open-ended and point to the most important ideas students will learn during the unit. The difference between essential questions and unit questions is that a unit question is more specific to the unit topic than an essential question. Unit questions focus on the big idea that will be uncovered within the unit. Essential questions, on the other hand, focus on big ideas that students begin to uncover through several units or across subject areas.

Characteristics of a unit question include the following: • They are open-ended and tie directly to a unit. • They lead to higher-level thinking and cannot be answered with a single word or

statement. • They assist students in constructing answers and personal meaning from

information they have gathered. Copyright © 2011 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Adapted by permission.

Developing Unit Questions When writing unit questions examine unit expectations and determine the most important idea students will uncover. Examine big ideas that support the overarching concept in the essential question and base the unit question on that idea. Focus on


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conclusions students will draw as they conduct an investigation and uncover content in the unit. An example of a unit question related to the essential question stated in the previous section might be as follows: “What is the role of government?” When writing unit questions, consider the following:

• Use language that all students will understand. • Base the question on overarching ideas that will be covered in the unit. • Write questions that assist students in drawing conclusions about the unit

content. • Write a question that is open-ended with no single right answer.


Content Questions Content questions are fact-based questions that guide students to what they need to know or be able to do in order to answer and understand the unit and essential questions. There is a right or wrong answer to a content question. These questions typically require information definition, identification and recall. Content questions equate to short-answer test questions. Characteristics of a content question include the following:

• They have correct, fact-based answers. • They require students to recall, define or identify information. • They assist students in clarifying or obtaining information they need to answer

the unit questions. Copyright © 2011 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Adapted by permission.

Developing Content Questions When writing content questions identify important facts and information students must know to develop an answer to the unit question. Concentrate on what students need to know prior to solving problems, making decisions or developing innovative solutions. Consider the unit content standards and pull questions directly from the expectations defined in the standards. When writing content questions, consider the following:

• Use language that all students will understand. • Base the questions on facts students need to know. • Review unit content standards and pull questions directly from expectations in

the standards. • Write questions that have a single right answer or a small group of correct

answers. • Develop fact-based questions students need to answer and understand so they

can answer unit and essential questions. Copyright © 2011 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Adapted by permission.


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Putting into Practice Develop curriculum-framing questions for a unit plan. Begin using curriculum-framing questions in the classroom. If desired, ask the session facilitator to observe and record student reactions, responses and answers to curriculum-framing questions posed during a lesson. Use the collected data for question revision and reflection on the use of curriculum-framing questions in the classroom.


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Resources Curriculum-Framing Questions Lackland Independent School District. Essential Questions. Building Teams and Tools for Teaching.

http://www.lacklandisd.net/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=5860&&PHPSESSID=46f8b09fd5ca65cf463fea1c8c03f44d

Intel Corporation. Curriculum-Framing Questions. Designing Effective Projects: Project-Based Units to Engage Students.

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/education/k12/project-design/design/curriculum-questions.html

Intel Corporation. Designing Effective Projects: Curriculum-Framing Questions. Using Questions to Promote Learning.

http://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/program/education/us/en/documents/project-design/projectdesign/using-questions-to-promote-learning.pdf

Essential Questions Clifford, P., & Friesen, S. Creating Essential Questions. Galileo Educational Network.

http://www.galileo.org/tips/essential_questions.html

Huff, D. (2007). Understanding by Design: Essential Questions. Huff English. http://www.huffenglish.com/?p=363

MathStar. Essential Questions. New Mexico State University College of Education.

http://mc2.nmsu.edu/mathnm/exploration1/unit/content_questions.html McKenzie, J. (2005). Essential Questions. The Question Mark 1(5).

http://questioning.org/mar05/essential.html McKenzie, J. (1996). Framing Essential Questions. From Now On, 6(1).

http://www.fno.org/sept96/questions.html

Wiggins, G. (2007). What is an Essential Question? Authentic Education. http://www.authenticeducation.org/bigideas/article.lasso?artId=53

Unit Questions Peach, J. Essential and Unit Questions. Educational Technology in the Classroom: Applications and Integration. California State University.

http://www.csus.edu/indiv/p/peachj/330ab/essential.html

Developing Questions Buck Institute for Education. The Birth of the Tubric.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2CAmW7c-Ow&feature=player_embedded

Buck Institute for Education. Driving Question Tubric 2.0. http://www.bie.org/images/uploads/useful_stuff/Tubric.pdf


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Intel Corporation. Developing Good Questions. Designing Effective Projects: Project-Based Units to Engage Students.

http://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/program/education/us/en/documents/project-design/projectdesign/developing-good-questions.pdf

References Intel Corporation. Curriculum-Framing Questions. Designing Effective Projects: Project-Based Units to Engage Students.

http://www97.intel.com/in/ProjectDesign/Design/CurriculumQuestions/

Jacobs, H. H. (1997). Mapping the Big Picture: Integrating Curriculum and Assessment K-12. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

McKenzie, J. (1996). Framing Essential Questions. From Now On, 6(1). http://www.fno.org/sept96/questions.html

Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2001). Understanding by Design. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, Inc.

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