,

It s Essential!
Essential QUESTIONS IN THE SOCIAL STUDIES
NCSS Annual Conference

Chuck Taft, University School of Milwaukee

mtaft@usmk12.org
@chucktaft

What are essential Questions?

ESSSENTIAL [uh-sen-shuh l] - adjective
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

Overarching

USE ALL
TYPES!
Open

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

What can we learn from history?

Which is better - a hands on or hands off
government?

These questions are posed to

engage students in thinking
like experts, to argue, to
debate, to explore without
the expectation of a definitive
answer
When should one country get involved in

the affairs of another?
Provides the opportunity for

intellectual freedom

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

Provides focus on core content

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

What lessons emerged from the

Progressive Era?

Was the New Deal a positive step for
America?

Was American imperialism right or
wrong?

What are the essential characteristics of a

What are my rights?
good citizen?


What were the defining moments of the
How far has America come in realizing
Civil Rights movement?
MLKs dream?


Should I buy or sell in the stock market?
How do I make wise economic decisions?

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. <http://www.essentialquestions.org/index.lasso>.
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

Essential Questions in the Social Studies

NCSS, 2014

Chuck Taft