What is the question?

During school, we are used to being asked questions, but are they the right questions? As I continue my study of Backwards Design as a way to plan instruction, I am realizing how important it is to ask the right questions. I do not mean asking questions like "What is 8+6?" or "Who invented electricity?" I mean deep, thought provoking questions that do not necessarily have right or wrong answers and might not have any answers at all. These are questions like "How do our personal experiences mold the way we look at a piece of art or literature?" or "How is life similar and different for children in North Carolina through history?" These types of questions are considered essential questions and need to be established before you can plan a successful instructional plan.

So my textbook includes the question that many teachers are asking, "If the textbook contains the answers, then what are the questions?" How do we help our students go beyond the surface information that is provided as facts in their books to look at the big picture and transfer that information to relevant questions? I think my first answer to the question posed in my book is who says the textbook contains ALL the answers? Yes, the textbook gives the facts and information needed to formulate some of the answers, but we need to branch out and provide information from as many sources as possible. My second response is that it is not just the responsibility of the teacher to ask all of the questions. As I am formulating the essential questions for my upcoming social studies unit, I am realizing that I want to help my students learn how to ask these types of questions for themselves. If they get used to looking into the information to find out how it relates and what it really tells us, then hopefully as they go through school they can look at the information they are learning through that type of lens. How and why is this information important and how does it fit in with everything else I know? Those should be the true questions.