1. Jayne Hollensbe
CED505.20
Fall 2011

2. Essential questions are the foundation of
unit plan in the field of education.
Essential questions are the framework for
learning in the classroom.
Essential questions determine the
subsidiary needs in a unit plan.

3. Educators should use essential questions to
 Guide learning, not dictate what should be
done,
 Allow students to seek a deeper understand of
a topic,
 Engage the imagination,
 Ask broad questions, not trivial,
 Allow for exploration of a topic,
 Encourage analysis and evaluation.

4.  Students will take the essential questions
from a unit and see how they apply to their
everyday life.
 How can they use these questions to become
better human beings?
 How do these questions connect with other
texts they have read?

5. An essential questions toolkit is
something every district should
utilize.
A toolkit should contain examples of
essential questions and subsidiary
questions.
Example of a toolkit:
www.fno.org/nov97/toolkit.html

6.  http://questioning.org/mar05/essential.html
 http://www.techforlearning.org/essquest.html
 http://www.soundout.org/article.111.html
 http://www.simsbury.k12.ct.us/page.cfm?p=13
52

7. 1. www.galileo.org/tips/essential_questions.html
2. www.fno.org/feb01/pl.html
3. www.fno.org/sept96/questions.html
4. www.fno.org/toolbox.html
5. www.fno.org/nov97/toolkit.html