it's essential - ncss 2014

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  ssential Questions in the Social Studies  NCSS, 2014 Chuck Taft t s Essential Essential QUESTIONS IN THE SOCIAL STUDIES NCSS Annual Conference Chuck Taft, University School of Milwaukee [email protected] @chucktaft What are essential  Questions?   !"#$"#$$%#"# '( $ )*+,-./0, ESSSENTIAL   12%3'".,'4 5,-,%% )647 /5*/%8,5%)2',7 8,6.)/5/59 .3 36 -35%./.". /59 .#, ,%%,5-, 3: ) .#/59 $:63 ; <)./5 ,%%, = .3 2, Question   !%&#"$-#"# 5( $ 53"5  ) 8632',; :36 */%-"%%/35 36 "5*,6 */%-"%%/357 ) ;)..,6 :36 /50,%./9)./35 $ :63; <)./5 >",6,6, =)%?@ %,,? A/::,6,5. -3553.)./35% 3:  SSSENTIAL Important questions that recur throughout life Key inquiries throughout a discipline  Questions that help students make sense of ideas   !""#$%&'( *+#"%&,$" (#'- %, %.# /#'(&0'%&,$ %.'% 1$,2(#-3# &" '$ ,$3,&$3 "#'/4.5 '$- ,$# %.'% 6'1#" (&7# 2,/%. (&8&$39 B/%,'', CD E)6./5$F5/,5 ,

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Packet version of "It's Essential - Essential Quesitons in the Soical Studies" poster presentation from the 2014 NCSS Annual Conference

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  • Essential Questions in the Social Studies NCSS, 2014 Chuck Taft

    It s Essential!Essential QUESTIONS IN THE SOCIAL STUDIES

    NCSS Annual Conference

    Chuck Taft, University School of Milwaukee [email protected] @chucktaft

    What are essential Questions? [uh-sen-shuh l] - adjective ESSSENTIAL

    Absolutely necessary; indispensable; pertaining to or constituting the essence of a thing -from Latin esse to be

    Question [kwes-chuh n] - noun a problem for discussion or under discussion; a matter for investigation - from Latin querere ask,

    seek

    Different connotations of ESSSENTIAL

    Important questions that recur throughout life Key inquiries throughout a discipline

    Questions that help students make sense of ideas

    Essential questions lead to the realization that knowledge is an ongoing search, and one that makes life worth living.

    Giselle O. Martin-Knien

    , ,

  • Essential Questions in the Social Studies NCSS, 2014 Chuck Taft

    What makes a question essential?

    A good essential question

    is Open ended there is no single correct answer is Thought provoking and intellectually engaging leading students to dig deeper into the content and/or skills elicits Higher order thinking goes beyond recall and asks students to analyze, evaluate, predict involves Important ideas key concepts that can be transferred within and across disciplines raises additional questions leading to more inquiry, additional quest for understanding requires support and justification yes, no, or a single answer doesnt cut it Recurs over time the question can and should be revisited again and again

    Essential questions fundamental, debatable questions can also serve to connect the present to the past engage students in ongoing civic debate.

    Beth C. Rubin

  • Essential Questions in the Social Studies NCSS, 2014 Chuck Taft

    Why IS IT ESSENTIAL TO USE ESSENTIAL questions IN THE SOCIAL STUDIES?

    focal point - Establish a focal point for a course, unit, or lesson a target for students Uncover - Uncover the complexity, nuance, and fullness of a topic instead of just covering it

    big ideas - Highlight the big ideas of a concept or topic, not the picky details

    critical thinking - Serve as a doorway for learners to explore content through inquiry and critical thinking

    perspective - Promote perspective in examining important issues

    Essential questions provide an opportunity to show the link between the past and the present, because they are not tied specifically to a given time or place.

    Heather Lattimer

  • Essential Questions in the Social Studies NCSS, 2014 Chuck Taft

    Culture of Inquiry Establish a culture of inquiry for an entire course, instead of just tell me what I need to know

    support an assertion - Focus on supporting an assertion or argument, not just stating a right or wrong answer

    track progress and understanding - Allow teachers and learners to track progress and understanding

    challenge - Encourages students to challenge their own beliefs and break through misconceptions

    Active citizenship - Prepares students to develop skills and aptitudes necessary for active citizenship

    A thematic approach combined with essential questions can produce transformational shifts in how students understand the relationship to both history and civic life.

    Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe

  • Essential Questions in the Social Studies NCSS, 2014 Chuck Taft

    How can WE USE essential questions in the social studies?

    A diagnostic assessment tool given before, during, and at the end of a lesson series of lessons, or unit

    The focus of student reflection offering learners a method of self assessment and metacogniton The avenue for differentiation encourage a variety of approaches for instruction, student creation, and assessment The base of a student centered classroom allowing students to drive the learning and letting the teacher be a facilitator

    The driving force of a SERVICE LEARNING PROJECT making the connection to service and content more authentic

    The framework for an entire course the major goals that student should thrive to meet throughout a year The core of a unit constantly referred to during instruction, allowing students to use them as mental velcro The theme of a student-created project offer students choice in how to represent their response of an essential question The Hook for a lesson, unit, project, field trip, or

    more entice students into an inquiry that they conduct themselves

  • Essential Questions in the Social Studies NCSS, 2014 Chuck Taft

    How CAN I WRITE A GREAT essential question?

    Unpack the standards - content or skill and look for key nouns and verbs then fashion overarching and topical essential questions that lead to inquiry and deeper examination

    The student will explain how the federal system and the separation of powers in the Constitution work

    to sustain both majority rule and minority rights.

    Leads to

    Should a democracy uphold the power of the majority or protect the rights of the minority? (An overarching, open EQ)

    How does the Supreme Court ensure that the voice of the minority is heard? (A topical, guiding EQ)

    Use desired understandings, (the big ideas that are often abstract concepts, themes, theories, assumptions, paradoxes, complex problems) and create a question as a doorway to those understandings

    History involves interpretation; historians can and do disagree.

    Leads to

    When it comes to history, whom do we believe, and why? (An overarching, open EQ)

    How do we view Abraham Lincoln? (A topical, guiding EQ)

  • Essential Questions in the Social Studies NCSS, 2014 Chuck Taft

    Begin with overarching questions to generate topical essential questions, allowing you to spiral the curriculum with recurring investigations and ideas

    Is conflict inevitable? desirable? avoidable? (An overarching, open EQ)

    Leads to

    Could the United States have been talked off the edge of the precipice in the mid-1800s? (A topical, open EQ)

    Consider the Facets of understanding promoted by Wiggins and McTighe the capacity to explain, interpret, apply, shift perspective, empathize, and self-assess to craft essential questions

    Explanation What would happen if there were no rules in the lunch room?

    Interpretation Why are rules necessary in any community? Application What are the most important laws for a town or village?

    Perspective Do the people and the government view laws differently? Empathy What may motivate someone to break a law?

    Self-knowledge To me, what are the most important rules in my community?

    Create questions for social studies skills based on key concepts, purpose and value, strategies, and context of use.

    Skill The student will use reference points, latitude and longitude, direction, size, shape, and scale to locate positions on various representations of the earth's surface.

    Leads to

    What do latitude and longitude mean to a fourth grader?

    How can I show you where I am? How do I know which map is the best to use?

  • Essential Questions in the Social Studies NCSS, 2014 Chuck Taft

    Essential questions - scope and intent

    USE ALL TYPES!

    Overarching These general essential questions take students beyond a specific social studies topic or skill, pointing to more general, transferable understandings the big ideas Valuable for framing and entire course or curriculum

    Topical These more specific essential questions help students reach more particular understandings in a lesson or unit the specific ideas Valuable for collectively providing the method to tackle the overarching essential questions Open These questions are posed to engage students in thinking like experts, to argue, to debate, to explore without the expectation of a definitive answer Provides the opportunity for intellectual freedom

    What can we learn from history?

    Which is better - a hands on or hands off

    government? When should one country get involved in

    the affairs of another?

    What lessons emerged from the Progressive Era?

    Was the New Deal a positive step for

    America?

    Was American imperialism right or wrong?

    Guiding These questions are targeted for a deeper understanding of an idea or topic, as students uncover desired understandings Provides focus on core content

    What are the essential characteristics of a good citizen?

    How far has America come in realizing

    MLKs dream?

    How do I make wise economic decisions?

    What are my rights? What were the defining moments of the

    Civil Rights movement?

    Should I buy or sell in the stock market?

  • Essential Questions in the Social Studies NCSS, 2014 Chuck Taft

    Your best resources for essential questions in

    the Social Studies!

    "Essential Questions: Opening Doors to Student Understanding." Essential Questions. Web. 17 Nov. 2014. . Jacobs, Heidi Hayes. Mapping the Big Picture: Integrating Curriculum & Assessment, K-12. Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1997. Print. Lattimer, Heather. "Challenging History: Essential Questions in the Social Studies Classroom." Social Education 1 Oct. 2008. Print. Martin-Kniep, Giselle O. "The Power of Essential Questions." Becoming a Better Teacher: Eight Innovations That Work. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2000. Print. "The Past as a Puzzle: How Essential Questions Can Piece Together a Meaningful Investigation of History." Social Studies 1 Jan. 2011: 190-99. Print. Rubin, Beth C. "Essentially Different." Making Citizens: Transforming Civic Learning for Diverse Social Studies Classroom. New York: Routledge, 2012. Print. Wiggins, Grant, and Jay McTighe. Essential Questions: Opening Doors to Student Understanding. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2013. Print. Wiggins, Grant, and Jay McTighe. Understanding By Design. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2005. Print. By exploring essential questions, students understand that history is not just represented by one set of facts for that history is complex and is experienced understood differently by those affected.

    Donna Ogle