Working with Big Ideas of Science. Good Questions for Inquiry Based Projects. March 2013 • Sue Jackson Once you have a classroom environment which promotes curiosity, fascination, and mindfulness, students begin to raise questions and seek answers through the inquiry process.
Because the framing of a good question is the driving force in any inquiry, let's explore: What makes a good question for inquiry-based projects? Any question that matters to students is a good question. If students are genuinely interested in the answer and learning about the topic, then the question is worthy of investigation. 'Quick Find' questions are information gathering questions, closed in nature but important to the understanding of a topic (e.g., What kinds of clothing did the Incas wear? During inquiry-based projects, students should be drawn into thinking critically and creatively about big ideas and key concepts. According to Wesch, "... You might want to ask your students: What makes a good question? Essential Questions.
Model Essential Questions Social Problems/Health • Who is hungry and what are the effects of hunger?
• What does it mean to be healthy? Language Arts • What is courage? Science • Why do organisms die? History/Cultural Values • Who was/is a great person? Math • What is measurable? More tips for essential questions... How do you engage students deeply in the content of the curriculum? In my 31st year of teaching, I can honestly say that all of my classes are turbocharged with energy. The difference is, I now use essential questions that set the class off on an inquiry. In the field of cognitive science, inquiry is defined as “the rigorous apprenticeship into disciplinary ways of knowing,” and that’s just what it should look like in the classroom.
What Is an Essential Question? An essential question frames a unit of study as a problem to be solved. Essential questions can be geared toward uncovering a topic. Likewise, you can proceed from the kind of composing you want students to do. BC Education Big Ideas. What is a Big Idea? by Grant Wiggins, author of Understanding By Design. Nobody can be a good reasoner unless by constant practice he has realized the importance of getting hold of the big ideas and of hanging onto them like grim death.– A.
N. Whitehead, 1929 What is a “big idea”? An idea is “big” if it helps us make sense of lots of confusing experiences and seemingly isolated facts. It’s like the picture that connects the dots or a simple rule of thumb in a complex field. A big idea is thus a way of seeing better and working smarter, not just a vague notion or another piece of knowledge. If an idea is “big” it helps us make sense of things. A genuine idea is thus not a “mere” idea. Similarly, in literacy or history teaching, the important “themes” are big ideas. In science, the most illuminating hypotheses are the big ideas of science. In short: think of “big” as “powerful” not as a large abstract category. a powerful idea vs. a mere abstraction John Dewey – as we might expect – articulated the notion of a useful idea long ago. The Critical Thinking Skills Cheatsheet [Infographic] Critical thinking skills truly matter in learning.
![The Critical Thinking Skills Cheatsheet [Infographic]](http://cdn.pearltrees.com/s/pic/th/critical-thinking-cheatsheet-143956726)
Why? Because they are life skills we use every day of our lives. Everything from our work to our recreational pursuits, and all that’s in between, employs these unique and valuable abilities. Consciously developing them takes thought-provoking discussion and equally thought-provoking questions to get it going. Begin right here with the Critical Thinking Skills Cheatsheet. It’s a simple infographic offering questions that work to develop critical thinking on any given topic.
How Does It Work? Critical thinking is thinking on purpose. The Critical Thinking Skills Cheatsheet includes categories for Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How. In these questions you’ll find great potential conversation starters and fillers. Critical Thinking Skills Cheatsheet for Printing You can grab an 11x17 PDF file of the Critical Thinking Skills Cheatsheet for quick and easy printing.
We really hope you enjoy this cheatsheet.