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Big questions

See also: teaching

Linked to related ideas

  • Driving/essential questions used in Project-based learning

Use questions that link to beyond the curriculum to

  • make curriculum more meaningful and contextual
  • link to real-world issues
  • Provide more meaningful anchors into students' memory - make learning stickier
  • Help students see the broader connections

Sources#

Monreal (2015) cites Perkins (2014) definition

Big questions address particular themes about humanity, our world, and our universe. There are also very general big questions that find significance in almost any context. The child’s ‘why’ is prelude to the ‘why’ of a scientist, artist, or historian. Likewise, the child’s ‘how’ looks toward the engineer or politician or manufacturer. The broadly exploratory question ‘what’s there’ touches everything from the interior of cells to the interiors of black holes. (p. 74)

Link to live hypotheses possibilities that are a real issue/interest for the individual. Worth engaging with.

References#

Monreal, T. (2015, July 8). Big Questions, Big Understandings, and Big Ideas in the Classroom. Books about Education. https://medium.com/reviews-of-education-books/big-questions-big-understandings-and-big-ideas-in-the-classroom-ba0728f6f430