The Power of

When Designing/Revising Curriculum

SITPEC WorkshopMarch 26th, 2015

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Purpose of Guiding Questions

Help us FOCUS and REFOCUS:

During Curriculum Development/Revision Processes

• What is the overall purpose of learning in this rotation (or set of rotations)?

• What’s the main take-away we want learners to get from this?

• Why will learning this be important 20 years from now?

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It’s similar to theme…

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What Makes a Good Guiding Question?

Is open-ended; that is, it typically will not have a single, final, and correct answer.

Is thought-provoking and intellectually engaging, often sparking discussion and debate.

Calls for higher-order thinking, such as analysis, inference, evaluation, prediction. It cannot be effectively answered by recall alone.

Points toward important, transferable ideas within (and sometimes across) disciplines.

Raises additional questions and sparks further inquiry.

Requires support and justification, not just an answer.

Recurs over time; that is, the question can and should be revisited again and again.

Jay McTighe & Grant Wiggins

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What do Guiding Questions Look Like?

• How do chemicals benefit society?

• Are animals essential for human survival?

• What can artworks tell us about a culture or society?

• How are belief systems represented and reproduced through history, literature, art, and music?

• How does theater/music reflect a culture or point in history?

• How do we decide what to believe about a scientific claim?

• What makes objects move the way they do?

• How have ancient Greeks affected our society?

• How are structure and function related in living things?

• How does the economy of a society depend on the geography of the region?

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Guiding Question – Yes or No???

Where would the snowy owl fit into the food web of its environment?

How does an electrical circuit work?

How does where you live influence how you live?

What types of art were most popular in the 1960’s?

How can motion express emotion?

How do animals help us better understand our world?

What are four concepts critical to the science of flight?

Directions: 1) Identify which of the questions below are GUIDING QUESTIONS2) Pick a question that is NOT a Guiding Question and think of a possible Guiding

Question to which that question might relate.

NoYes

NoYes

NoYes

NoYes

NoYes

NoYes

NoYes

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Partner practice

1. Look at the activities/projects.2. Determine a connection/theme that runs

through the activities: what are we going for here???

3. Craft a guiding question for this rotation.4. Type it up on the screen.

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Some possible guiding questions

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Moving Toward a Guiding QuestionStep #1: list all activities/projects (things students DO)

Step #2: for each of these activities/projects, what specifically are students expected to learn (CHALLENGE – use short phrase 3-5 words)?

Step #3: identify connections, threads, links among those activities/projects. Are there some activities/projects that seem disconnected or just don’t really seem to fit?

Step #4: As you examine the activities/projects that are well aligned, what overall rotation theme emerges?

Step #5: Generate a Guiding Question (may not be perfect but give it a try)