In contrast to most questions asked of students, an essential question focuses a learner’s attention on big ideas, on inquiry, on “the heart of things”, on thinking like a practitioner. These questions are live in their fields; they don’t have right answers, though they might have better and worse answers. This concept comes from Understanding by Design - Wiggins and McTighe (see ch 5 specifically). A few (adapted) examples they give: “What makes a mathematical argument convincing?”; “To what extent and in what circumstances should we listen to our ancestors?”; “What, exactly, does DNA determine about an organism’s future?”
Note that this sort of question is very much in contrast to the kind of question one practices and explores as part of a Spaced repetition memory system practice. Resolving that tension may be part of How might the mnemonic medium support readers in building more complex understanding?
We propose that a question is essential if it is meant to
- Cause genuine and relevant inquiry into the big ideas and core content.
- Provoke deep thought, lively discussion, sustained inquiry, and new understanding as well as more questions.
- Require students to consider alternatives, weigh evidence, support their ideas, and justify their answers.
- Stimulate vital, ongoing rethinking of big ideas, assumptions, prior lessons.
- Spark meaningful connections with prior learning and personal experiences.
- Naturally recur, creating opportunities for transfer to other situations and subjects.
(“naturally recur” is interesting, given my spaced repetition work…)
They also list four connotations of the word “essential”:
Q. Four connotations of “essential”?
A. Important (broad, timeless), core (central to a discipline), necessary (for learning objectives), meaningful (emotionally engaging for the audience)