Where are the questions?

Textbooks supply their readers with information and often times “thin” questions at the end of each chapter that only skim the surface of understanding. Those questions reflect the information in the text in that they can be answered directly in the text, often without the need to infer or think. Thus, these questions are a more accurate assessment of students’ ability to search and find specific information in a text than of students’ comprehension of the material. These questions do not require students to go beyond the minimum knowledge level of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Essential questions, on the other hand, are open-ended, provoke inquiry, and require students to investigate, discuss, and problem solve in order to find an answer. These essential questions do not come from a textbook, but from authentic problems, experiences, and thoughts of students and teachers. These questions often come from students when they take the role of “young social scientists.” This means that students develop questions as they identify problems, create hypotheses, collect data, analyze data, and share their results. These essential questions are further a result of making connections across disciplines and being aware of the complexity of issues and concepts. As it was mentioned in class last week, essential questions come from looking beyond the exposed surface of the material and seeing the “whole iceberg.” Teachers must have these overarching ideas in mind when planning social studies units and lessons. I further think that my ultimate goal as a social studies teacher will be to help my students become higher-level thinkers so that they can cultivate their own essential questions. I hope to accomplish this by modeling my thought process through think alouds, as well as offering the class opportunities for guided and independent practice to share their thinking with the class throughout the year.