To begin a learning lesson, teachers should be able to design essential questions. These are meant to encourage the learners to think critically and participate actively in the learning process.
Through essential questions, students will be able to understand the material more deeply, as well as applying it in their daily life.
Then, what exactly is an essential question?
Essentially, an essential question is a question proposed by the teacher to direct students’ attention towards thinking deeply, exploring and discovering the right answers.
Commonly, essential questions can trigger new questions from the students. So, how to create essential questions? Let’s look at these following steps!
- Prepare the learning objectives
- Generate 5 questions based on those objectives
- Choose 2 out of those questions based on the following criteria:
– The question should not have an immediate answer
– The question must be used to encourage further exploration
– The question are essential to the learning course
– The question potentially provide opportunities for students to elicit a variety of responses
– The questions should promote students’ curiosity
Those are some steps to consider when creating essential questions.
Keep in mind that essential questions are not simply an opening line to begin a lesson. To have a better understanding about making essential questions, check out this video!
Students must learn the importance of inquiring about the world around them. They must learn how to pose questions about alternative points of view, ask questions to help them make causal connections, see relationships, and devise hypothetical (if/then) questions.
—Boys and Watts
Resource:
Kurniastuti, I., Setyawan, T. Y., & Sonialopita, S. (2018). Designing Essential Questions in the Process of Teaching and Learning to Deepen Understanding and Develop Students’ Awareness toward Environment. Jurnal Cakrawala Pendidikan, 37(1).
Writer: Angelina Aprilia
