Essential Questions - Website Information

1. Site Information In my own words What I learned
Galileo – educational Essential questions [EQ] While I knew essential
network are what guide and help us questions helps us to
to understand and grasp think and learn about
URL: concepts. The key new concepts, I didn’t
http://www.galileo.org/tips/ components to EQ are that think about the impact
essential_questions.html they arrive from people’s it has had and will
curiosity and wanting to have on creativity and
know more about how that will shape
something, depending on and change how we
who asks the question is live and think.
how they will go about
finding an answer, by
answering EQ connection
are made between who or
whom is asking the
questions and their
experiences of the world,
EQ helps us to know how
things came about and
how it has made an impact
on our history and our
lives; EQ go beyond just a
question; EQ sparks our
imagination and helps us
come up with
ideas/experiences we may
have never otherwise
come up with;

2. From Now On – Online Information given in this After reading this
Bookstore article Information given in article I realized that
this article came from a answers to EQ do not
URL: series of six articles have to be answered
http://fno.org/feb01.pl.html published in 1995. right away, rather you
http://fno.org/sept96/questi Essential questions helps get a starting answer
ons.html students and staff to be and keep building
motivated and find upon it. A good EQ
meaningful answers to really makes you think
their questions. According and dig deep to know
to this article there are as much as you can.
attributes that go along
with essential questions.
EQ incorporate Bloom’s
Taxonomy because
students have to evaluate,
synthesize, and analyze.
EQ come from when we
want to know something
about that has us intrigued
and wanting to know more.
EQ answers are not found
by just looking and
researching, they have to
be found by the one asking
the EQ’s. EQ answers do
not happen overnight;
rather they keep
developing and finding
more information to solve
the answers over time. EQ
also helps students to
solve real life problems and
relate to the real world
around them and helps
them to think beyond their
school years but they still
meet all school standard.

3. Filling the Tool This webpage stresses the importance of I learned new
Box curiosity and not to develop autonomous and strategies and
interdependent thinkers. When beginning a ideas of how
URL: new unit, instead of already having questions to get
http://fno.org/too for students to answer, ask them what students
lbox.html questions they can think to ask during their involved in
new unit to get their minds turning and get coming up
them engaged in the new unit. Tell the with
students to think about the topic for a moment questions to
and then come up with questions that are out ask during
of the box question, ones you would not new units,
typically find at the end of the chapter. book reports
Teachers need to refrain from being etc. This
judgmental when students are coming up with makes the
their own questions for a new unit. According student feel
to this webpage there are four rules of important and
brainstorming: “1 that they are
All contributions are accepted without really a part
judgment; 2. The goal is a large number of of what is
ideas or questions 3. Building on other going on and
people's ideas is encouraged; 4. farout, their
unusual ideas are encouraged”. Start with an education and
initial question and have students build off of I think will
it. Since there is a good chance there will be a help them to
lot of questions thrown out, have students be more
assigned to writing some of the questions and motivated and
then sharing with the rest of the class later on participation.
or with younger students, sit close to a
computer where you can type them a lot
faster than writing them. After all the
questions are documented, start categorizing
them and show how some questions relate to
others and you can discuss which questions
may be trickier to find answers to than others
etc.
The next strategy discussed is the Class
Taxonomy of Questions. In this strategy
students begin to label questions and to
realize how different questions can promote
different kinds of thinking. To help students to
understand what you mean you can use
different analogies to give more examples of
what you mean and how they should be
looking at asking questions. At the primary

4. level it does not really matter the type of
questions, but that they are engaged and
coming up with questions. As the students get
older the questions should start to be labeled
and more complicated.
The third strategy is Questioning Homework. I
think the idea of having students come up
with questions for a discussion the next day is
a brilliant idea. First it makes the students
responsible for their learning but also gets
them really involved in what they are learning.
The article stated that “research substantiates
improved comprehension scores for students
who question as they read”.
The fourth strategy is the Interview. Most
children have seen a reporter or an actor give
an interview, so build upon that with your own
students. Have your student’s role play and
act out being the interviewer and the
interviewee.
The fifth strategy is The Five Minute Question.
In this strategy the teachers lets the student
know how many minutes they will get to
spend on a question. Encourage students to
jot down ideas and listen to their fellow peers.
Have them think about how when they
thought of one question, it lead them to think
of another similar to it and how asking
yourself questions can keep building and
giving you more ideas.
5. The Five Minute Question(K-12)
Some questions deserve 10 seconds of
thought. Others require days or even months.
Great questions span centuries of human
civilization (i.e., "why are we here?" "How do
we know?" "Can we know?" "How can we
know if we know?").
Research into wait-time for American
classrooms paints a distressing picture. Many

5. teachers wait less than two seconds for the
answer to each question and ask hundreds of
questions per hour. These types of questions
are generally recall questions demanding little
thought.
The sixth strategy is The Book Report. Have
student come up with questions that promote
thinking and are requiring students to actual
read and indulge into the book they are
assigned to read. Another idea would be to as
a class come up with a list of questions and
then select questions for each book report.
As long as the teacher is there throughout
each of these strategies promoting guided
practice and modeling helps student to learn
how to ask questions.

6. Questioning This article suggests that each school district I had not idea
Toolkit (FNO) comes up with their own Question Toolkit and of all the
that it should contain dozens of question and different kinds
URL questioning tools. It also encourages the idea of questions
http://www.fno.o of posting in the classroom and introducing to that could go
rg/nov97/toolki.h students starting kindergarten. The different inside a
tml types of questions are essential, subsidiary, questioning
hypothetical, telling, organizing, probing, toolkit. While I
sorting an sifting, clarification, elaborating, do not think I
unanswerable, inventive, provocative, would focus
planning, strategic, divergent and irreverent on all of the
questions. Essential questions are the ones types of
that make a big impact on our lives and touch questions, I
us in a personal way. Essential questions are can definitely
the center of tall the other types of think of a few
questioning listed above. Subsidiary of these that
questions are where we building off answers would really
of essential questions. Hypothetical be beneficial
questions explore possibilities and test and help
relationships. Telling questions leads us right students to
where we want to go, no guessing games – come up with
just straight to the point. Planning questions answers to
has us look at our resources. Organizing their essential
questions helps us to structure and put our questions.
questions in categories. Probing questions There was a
are where we investigate and get right down lot of
to what’s going on or what we want to know. information in
Sorting and Sifting helps us to realize what we this article
need and what we can discard. Clarification and it is one I
questions help us to clearly understand what will bookmark
is being asked or what we learned. Strategic and look
questioning helps us to learn where we go more into in
from there and what we need to do. An the future for
elaborate question helps us to expand our my own
questions/what we are learning. classes.
Unanswerable questions are questions that
were good to ask and investigate but have not
definitive answer. Inventive questions turn our
questions upside down and inside out.
Provocative questions push and challenge us
more. Irrelevant questions are questions that
do not pertain to what we are asking and are
making us get off of track of where we should
be headed. Divergent questions is when we
use/look at what we already know to start off.

7. Irreverent questions push us to look at things
that are considered off limits or taboo.

8. Dare to Before teachers start planning for a new When using
Differentiate school year or a new unit, they need to question from a
think of the essential questions. EQ question toolkit, you
URL incorporate Bloom’s Taxonomy and really need to look
http://daretodiffe sparks students’ curiosity. Answers to at the question
rentiate.wikispac EQ are not found but invented by being asked and
es.com/file/view/ researching and building upon the first make sure you are
essential.pdf question. EQ engage students and get utilizing the correct
them involved in real life tool to find the
problems/situations. EQ are important answer. Not all
because they provide the teacher with a tools will help you
thoughtful approach to units and to find an answer. It
lessons, as well as gets students could be a good
motivated and engaged which helps way to review the
them to learn and get involved so much types of tools and
more. Characteristics of engaged have students
learners are that they are responsible evaluate which will
for their own learning, become be the most
energized by learning, becoming and beneficial according
practice being strategic, and teach the question being
students to be collaborative. asked.
After reading all of these wonderful articles on Essential Question, it ahs broadened
my knowledge of what essential questions are and how to get my students to ask
essential questions. Whether it be having them come up with their own questions
and categorizing or whether it be creating a toolkit and gong over the types of tools
with the took kit, there were so many ideas for us to try and share with our
students. Without Essential questions the world would not be where we are today,
we would probably still be cave men sitting next to the fire but because humans are
intrigued and want to know more about whatever intrigues them we are where we
are today [thank goodness right!]. Everyday you ask yourself some type of question
that may be the basis for another questions and so forth. It is important to teach
students as soon as they begin school how to ask questions and build upon them
because when they are out of school and working they will need the skills to ask and
answer essential questions.

9. Essential Questions Lesson
Jessica Gearon – CED505
Title: Living and Non-Living things
Grade: Subject: Science
Students will read and discuss what characteristics are for living and non-living
Overview: thing. After learning the characteristics and going over examples, students will
sort pictures into living and non-living categories.
What characteristics need to be identified in order for something to be considered
Essential Question
living or non-living?
How many and what are the logistics of the characteristics that categorize
something as living or non-living? Can non-living things derive from something
Subsidiary Questions that was once living? Why do we classify objects as living and non-living? These
may be more factual knowledge or comprehension questions that provide
information supporting the essential questions. (3-5)
Show Me Standard: Science
Connection to
In Science, students in Missouri public schools will acquire a solid foundation,
Standards
which includes knowledge of, [2] characteristics of and interactions of living
organisms.
What will students and teacher do? Be specific and provide a step-by-step
process for tasks and activities. The teacher will inform students that today we
will be learning about living and non-living organisms and what characteristics
classify something to either living or non-living. On the Smartboard the teacher
will have definition of what a living thing is. Teacher will tell them that all living
things have 7 characteristics. All living organisms need to take substances from
their environment to obtain energy, to grow and to stay healthy. All living things
show movement of one kind or another. All living things exchange gases with
their environment. All living things need to remove waste from their bodies. Living
thing become larger and more complicated as they grow. Living things react to
Activities/Tasks changes around them. All living things produce young. After explain what living
things are the teacher will show the students some example and ask the students
Procedures why this item is living and give one or more of the 7 characteristics. Next the
teacher will tell the students that if something does not have all 7 characteristics it
is not living. However, some non-living things do arrive from something that is
considered living. Give a few examples of non-living things and ask students
whey these items are not living and what characteristics they are missing. Next
the teacher will have the students retell in their own words [possibly jot down a
few sentences] about what living and non-living things are. Then the teacher will
pull up an activity on the Smartboard, as well as pass out handout to the students.
The students will look at the pictures and determine if the item is living or non-
living and put it in the right category. The students will work in small groups to
finish the sorting activity and then share with their assigned partners their finding

10. and discuss if there are any differences. After all students have had time to share
the teacher will go over all the answers and ask student to explain why [using
characteristics] an item is living or non living. Lastly the teacher will tell students
what they learned and to go home and tell their parents what they learned today.
The technology integration being used in this lesson is computer, Internet and use
of the Smart Board.
Students will be assessed informally from teacher observations and from student
product of their sorting living and non-living things assignment. Teacher will make
sure they understand and can recall what the 7 characteristics of living and non-
living things are. The teacher will also collect and look at how students sorted the
items and into which categories.
5 points 3-4 points 1-2 point
Students are All 7 4 -6 Less than 3
able to recall characteristics characteristics characteristics
and give are given are given are given
Assessment
characteristics
of living and
non-living
things.
Sorting and All 10 items 5-9 items are 4 or fewer
matching are sorted sorted into the items were
activity into the correct correctly
correct category sorted into
category categories.
Student work will be the activity of sorting things into living and non-living things.
This will be to assess their knowledge and also to keep and refer back to and
review what the characteristics of living a nonliving thing are and examples.
Living Things Non-Living Things
Samples of Student
Work
Pictures would include: tree, spider, pitcher, cup, jellyfish, girl, fish, clock,
chair, and a butterfly.

11. What problems do you anticipate with this lesson? How will this lesson fit into
your overall curriculum planning? Problems I anticipate with this lesson are
students will not be able to remember all of the characteristics and the logistics of
each category. Some students may not be interested in living and non-living
Teacher Commentary
things and may not be as engaged as others. This lesson fits into my overall
Reflection
curriculum planning because we will discuss what non-living and living things are
to gain knowledge of what the characteristics are and will then be able to recall
this information as we move into units on animals, plants, etc. and get further into
the curriculum for the school year.