Essential Questions: Strategies for Effective Web Research

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Essential QuestionsStrategies for Effective Web
Research

• Doug ProutyContra Costa County Office of
  Education
• dprouty_at_cccoe.k12.ca.us

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Agenda

• What are Essential Questions?
• Examples
• Attributes
• A Change of Style
• Blooms Taxonomy
• Subsidiary Questions
• Suppositions and Hypotheses
• The Research cycle
• Research Modules (Scaffolding)

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Essential Questions

• Definition
• Open-ended with no right or wrong answer
• Important life-affecting questions
• Political or Socially Significant

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Examples

• Acid Rain
• War
• Gun Control
• Cloning
• Foreign Relations
• Atomic Energy

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Attributes

• Reside at the top of Bloom's Taxonomy
• Seek an understanding of some thing which matters
  to us, sparking curiosity and wonder.
• Answers cannot be found. They must be invented.
  Students must construct their own answers and
  make their own meaning
• Essential questions engage students in the kinds
  of real life applied problem-solving suggested by
  nearly every new curriculum report

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The 4th Grade State Report

• Traditionally, the typical State Report was to
  find information about the state, the flower,
  bird, capital, etc.
• This assignment leads to information gathering
  but little analysis or thought.
• Invites Copy-and-Paste plagiarism

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4th Grade State Report take 2

• A new state of California is being created. It is
  up to your team to find a new location for the
  capitol, a new state flag and song.
• Create a persuasive multimedia presentation
  convincing your classmates.

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The Top of Blooms Taxonomy

• EVALUATION
• "Imagine that families are moving from the West
  Coast to New England. Recommend the best New
  England city to move to. Base your choice upon
  the availability of jobs your parents can fill
  and other criteria identified and listed by your
  team related to categories such as recreation,
  education, entertainment, climate, etc."

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The Top of Blooms Taxonomy

• SYNTHESIS
• Your team has been assigned the task of revising
  the policy from School District X. Compare this
  policy with others from around the nation and
  then produce a clear list of recommended
  amendments, explaining your reasons for each of
  your suggestions. You will prepare a presentation
  as if speaking before the district's board of
  education."

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The Top of Blooms Taxonomy

• ANALYSIS
• "Some people think that CD-ROM edutainment
  products may do damage to young people. What seem
  to be the biggest risks people see connected with
  such products and what evidence can you find to
  dispute or substantiate their fears? Create a
  report which might appear on the evening news as
  an advisory for parents."

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Identifying Subsidiary Questions

• Teams must list smaller questions which will help
  them answer their main question.
• Large questions are really the parent and
  grandparent of many related questions
• Effective research results from formulating as
  many categories of related questions as possible,
  with each category suggesting missing questions.

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Suppositions - Hypothesis

• Before they proceed very far, students list
  suppositions, pose hypotheses and make
  predictions - many and most of which will be
  revised as information is gathered. This thought
  process helps to provide a basis for construction
  of meaning.

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Research Cycle

• http//www.questioning.org/rcycle.html
• Essential Questions
• List subsidiary questions
• Develop Research Plan
• Gather Info
• Sort and Sift
• Synthesize
• Evaluate
• Report

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Jamie McKenzies Module Maker

• These questions are typical of those found in
  tough new state tests. We select a great prime
  question and then make it the focus of a Research
  Module.
• http//questioning.org/module/module.html

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http//www.gpisd.org/gpisd/modules/modulepage.html
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http//www.bcpl.net/sullivan/modules/
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Jamie McKenzie

• http//www.questioning.org/beyondtech.html
• Beyond Technology Questioning, Research and the
  Information Literate School

Questions allow us to make sense of the world.
They are the most powerful tools we have for
making decisions and solving problems, for
inventing, changing and improving our lives as
well as the lives of others.
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Resources

• Asking the Essential QuestionsCurriculum
  Development Coalition of Essential Schools
  http//www.essentialschools.org/pubs/horace/05/v05
  n05.html
• Asking the Essential Question Internet
  Innovations Inc. http//www.biopoint.com/ibr/askqu
  estion.html
• CES Collection of Essential Questions
  http//www.essentialschools.org/fieldbook/strategi
  es/curriculum/eqcollection.html
• Essential Questions (Bellingham Schools)
  http//wwwgen.bham.wednet.edu/essenque.htm
• Framing Essential Questions (From Now On)
  http//www.fno.org/sept96/questions.html
• Asking the Essential Questions (Horace)
  http//www.essentialschools.org/pubs/horace/05/v05
  n05.html
• Asking Essential Questions http//www.biopoint.com
  /ibr/askquestion.html
• Questioning.org (Jamie McKenzie)
  http//questioning.org/
• Examples of Student Research Problems and
  Questions (Learning Space)http//www.learningspac
  e.org/instruct/lplan/probex.htm
• Exploratorium Institute for Inquiry
  http//www.exploratorium.edu/IFI/index.html

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Thank You!

• Doug Prouty
• Contra Costa County Office of Education
• dprouty_at_cccoe.k12.ca.us