by Courtney Belolan A high quality driving question provides motivation for learning. Often when we first start working with driving questions, or essential question, to frame learning the questions we come up with can feel a little, well, off. Just like with any skill, crafting good driving questions takes practice. The four tips below can help you make some gains. For each tip there is an example of a driving question using the following learning target: Understands the structures and functions of the major body systems
2. Place the target in a larger context. Sometimes a learning target is interesting enough in itself to motivate learning for most learners, others are not. If a particular targets feels dry when you think it, or try to make a question of it, then try thinking about where the target fits in the real world. The target itself should rarely be its own context for learning, and putting targets in a larger context makes them feel more relatable and interesting to many learners. Think about this example for our test target: How do doctors and scientists know what is happening inside the body? 3. Find the debate within the target. There is nothing like a good academic argument to get learners interested in a topic. No, really. If learners get a chance to debate, take sides, and try to prove other people wrong about something almost anything becomes interesting and worth learning about. The debate within a learning target does not have to be a big heated one, just something that makes learners think and ask a few more questions. Consider this example with our test target: To what extent should body systems be manipulated or enhanced by technology? 4. Find the fun in the target. We learn the most when we are enjoying ourselves, and all of us can describe times when we were teachers or learners when we had a ton of fun with a particular project, lesson, or unit. This one feels similar to putting the target in a bigger context, and the big difference is that this context should be smile inducing. Think about what a 4 year old would find awesome about the target, even if the learners working on it are 17. Try not to giggle at this example with our test target: Why does our body need blood, bile, brains and other weird goo?
1 Comment
11/14/2020 06:47:15 pm
If you want to craft the perfect driving exam, then this blog will help you. All of the topics that they discussed here are awesome. I am someone who writes questions as well, which is why I understand this very much. If there are people who are not into this, then that is just sad. I hope that we can start relying on people more. It is not bad to ask some tips from others, especially if they are all helpful.
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