Standards-based Units of Study
Essential Questions
Standards-based units of study are outlines or plans that help students and teachers organize instruction in meaningful ways. Units are "standards-based" because they address standards, what educators want students to know and be able to do. In Kentucky, these standards are defined in the Kentucky Learner Goals, Academic Expectations, Core Content for Assessment, and Program of Studies. Teachers should consult these documents in making decisions about their instruction. A unit is simply the teacher's plan for addressing the standards. To develop the unit plan, teachers select the standards for a "chunk" of instruction. They determine a meaningful "organizer" for the unit, and then, sometimes working with students, they form a manageable set of "essential questions." The questions indicate the different strands or divisions of the unit. They are useful in helping the teacher and students stay "on track." Teachers use a question format as a way to engage the students, stimulating their interest and their thinking. The questions are "essential" because they indicate instructional priorities for the unit. The essential questions, thus, help organize the unit. For the different questions, the teacher will determine instructional activities, appropriate methods of assessment, important student products and performances, and resources—all also noted in the plan. The essential questions play a very important role in the unit of study because they not only organize the unit, they serve as important means of engaging students and helping them see the why or "So what?" of instruction. When the questions guide students to the standards, they also prepare students for the state's assessment.
The Kentucky Department of Education's Transformations includes a chapter with explanation and examples of essential questions. Note the following examples for a unit in American government: "What does government do for me?" and "How do we keep government from getting too powerful?" Other questions also are provided for the unit, but these two show some of the important characteristics of essential questions: The essential question
1. Indicates a particular strand or division of the unit, which establishes a basis for leading students to important standards in the study area. As such, the question helps the teacher organize and keep "on track."
2. Helps students see a connection between their learning and their lives. It suggests a "So what?" for their learning in the course and strives to stimulate students' interest in learning.
3. Indicates the importance of engaging students in higher-order thinking, problem-solving, applying learning to realistic issues, needs, goals, questions, etc. The questions call for more than factual recall, summary, or recitation and emphasize the teacher's intention to involve students in active learning.
4. Allow teachers to design various instructional practices appropriate for their students.
The way the essential question is phrased is important because it indicates not just a topic of instruction or a test question but an emphasis on certain principles of education. By creating the unit of study, the teacher must reflect on instructional practices that are likely to help all students learn and find their learning meaningful.
Sample Approaches to Essential Questions that:
Address content standards
Promote students' thinking, problem solving
Lead students to apply learning
Help students connect their learning to their lives
How can our understanding of _________________help us plan/decide/act/solve problems/make good decisions about ___________________?
How can we use our understanding of ________________ to predict changes that can influence our lives?
From understanding principles about ________________ what decisions do we need to make to help us address conditions/ problems/issues we face or will face?
From our study of _____________, what conclusions about _________________ can we draw to help us today with ________________?
How well have people in our society today addressed __________________ (concern, issue, question, problem, goal, need) like those evident in ______________, and how can we improve so that _____________.
How well are the needs or goals of _________________ being met and what in our understanding of _____________________can help us meet these needs/goals better?
What influences from _________are affecting _______________ in our own society/community for the better or the worse?
How can we use the ideas, information, principles, concepts, skills, and resources we have gained in our study of _____________________ in order to help people in our society _______________________?
Through reading and responding to a variety of materials about __________________, what conclusions can we draw about ________________ in helping us __________________________.
From our inquiry into the ________________, how can we use effective communication skills to promote our understanding of __________________and communicate our ideas to others?
Sample Essential Questions:
Agricultural Science and Technology
Through reading and responding to a variety of materials about veterinary medicine, what conclusions can we draw about the role of fiction and non-fiction in helping us make our own career choices?
From our inquiry into veterinary medicine, how can we use effective communication skills to learn more about this field of study and share our ideas with others?
Arts & Humanities
From our study of various art works relevant to the literature we have read, how can we use our art analysis skills to enhance our understanding of the theme of a particular novel that we find especially important?
From our understanding of the importance of the arts in the workplace, what conclusions can we make about the role of the arts in helping with our own career choices?
English Literature
How do portrayals of people, relationships, situations, and point of view in literature and other reading materials influence others and us in our world?
Through reading and responding to a variety of materials about the role of altruism in the workplace, what conclusions can we draw about the significance of using our talents wisely in connection with our own career choices?
How can we use our writing skills to effectively communicate to others our ideas and feelings about teen talents and ways to create a sense of community, or other related topic?
Math
By understanding the properties of triangles, how can we solve practical geometric problems in our own homes?
How can we use our understanding of the Pythagorean Theorem to determine approximate distances in planning road trips?
Through reading and responding to a variety of materials about data collecting and analysis in the workplace, what conclusions can we make about the use of data analysis in business to help us with our own career choices?
Practical Living/Vocational Studies
After evaluating our own fitness self-assessments, what decisions do we need to make to personalize our own fitness/wellness programs?
Through reading and responding to a variety of materials about the importance of wellness programs, what conclusions can we make about wellness in helping with our own career choices?
Science
How can we use our understanding of the structure of the Earth System to predict changes that can influence our lives?
From our inquiry into earthquakes, how can we use our experience and our learning n Earth Science as well as our communication skills to share our ideas with others?
Through reading and responding to a variety of materials about the role of science in the workplace, what conclusions can we make about scientists' work in helping with our own career choices?
Social Studies
What were the essential roles of government in ancient Egypt, and how well does our own government compare in helping people?
From our study of the ways ancient Egyptians adapted to their geography, what conclusions can we make about the influence of geography on our own society?
From our inquiry into ancient Egypt, how can we use effective communication skills to communicate our ideas to others?
World Languages
How can our study of French West Africa help us to use the French language to speak and write about West African culture?
Through interacting with a variety of authentic media in the target language, what conclusions can we make about the importance of communicating in a world language in the global marketplace and how can this knowledge assist us in our own career choices?