How to Make Y

Essential questions rarely arise

in a first draft. Here’s how to
construct good ones.

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e Your Questions
ESSENTIAL
Grant Wiggins and Denise Wilbur

T
he well-known aphorism that “writing is revision” applies
particularly well to crafting essential questions. With more
than 30 years’ experience in teaching through questions and
helping educators create great unit-framing queries, we’ve
repeatedly seen the wisdom of this saying.
But what makes a question essential in the first place? Essential
­questions foster the kinds of inquiries, discussions, and reflections that
help learners find meaning in their learning and achieve deeper thought
and better quality in their work. Essential questions meet the following
criteria:
n They stimulate ongoing thinking and inquiry.

n They’re arguable, with multiple plausible answers.

n They raise further questions.

n They spark discussion and debate.

n They demand evidence and reasoning because varying answers exist.

n They point to big ideas and pressing issues.

n They fruitfully recur throughout the unit or year.

n The answers proposed are tentative and may change in light of new

experiences and deepening understanding (McTighe & Wiggins, 2013).

Here are some examples of good essential questions: To what extent
MR.EXEN/SHUTTERSTOCK

does where you live influence how you live? What should we make of
­outliers—error, anomaly, or insight? What should our diet and wellness
plans be in a world of constantly changing advice from experts?

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 Which strategy
should I use
when I don’t
understand
what I’m
reading?
WAVEBREAKMEDIA/SHUTTERSTOCK

Seven Ways to Hone first nonexample: How do good readers 2. If the question is too convergent,
Your Questions use strategies to understand text? The how can I phrase it to invite inquiry
Alas, such questions rarely emerge in question is leading; it merely aims to and argument? If the question is
the first draft. Here are some common remind students of the answer. It asks factual, what question on the same
first-draft questions: How do good for recall, not inquiry. topic is worth arguing about?
readers use strategies to understand text? A better question might be, Which Arguments involve unsettled issues
What’s the value of chemistry? What strategy should I use when I don’t under- of understanding or application—not
were the three major causes of World stand what I’m reading? By putting the settled knowledge and skill. We typi-
War I? Why do earthquakes happen? question this way, the student must cally find debates not in the content
These questions fail to meet the think about all possible moves and itself but in discussions of its value,
suggested criteria. They’re all con- determine which to use in each “stuck” importance, or applicability. For
vergent, low-level questions designed situation. The research on effective example, there’s no argument about
to support content acquisition. They instruction in comprehension strategies how to kick a soccer ball with the
either point toward the one official shows that asking students to gener- instep, but there are endless debates
“right” answer, or they elicit mere lists alize their answers helps them become over when to shoot, pass, or dribble.
and thus no further inquiry. self-regulated learners because gener- Here’s a draft question in English
If first drafts of essential questions alizations facilitate transfer (Bransford, language arts: What is proper punc-
are likely to be too fact-focused, how Brown, & Cocking, 2000; Brown & tuation, and why is it important?
can we ensure that subsequent drafts Palincsar, 1984; Wiggins, 2015). There’s little argument about the first
better meet the criteria? Here are some Tip: Create a simple checklist to use half of the question, and the second
editing tips, which, in the spirit of the for either self- or peer-assessment of half seems likely to limit, rather than
topic, we’ve framed as questions. draft questions. The checklist should expand, inquiry. Referring to the soccer
include the criteria listed above. You example—and to debates on when to
1. How well does the draft question can also use the seven questions in this execute certain actions in the game—
meet the criteria? article to self-assess your draft. Finally, we can revise the punctuation question
Writers of essential questions need to get in the habit of running draft ideas to read, When is proper punctuation
develop the discipline of pausing to by others. Sometimes by just saying mandatory, and when is it optional? We
deliberately self-assess their question the draft question aloud, you’ll realize can easily prompt debate by looking at
against specific criteria. Look at the how to edit it. poems and social media messages that

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 are not “properly” punctuated and at unfortunate punctu-
ation errors in more formal writing to deepen the inquiry
and lead to important general understandings.
Some easy editing moves can open things up.
Rephrase a draft question using sentence stems like,
To what extent . . . ?, In what contexts . . . ?, How
important was . . . ?, and so on. By doing so, you can
turn a humdrum question—such as, Why is World War
I important?—into something vastly improved: How
important was World War I in shaping the modern world?
Tip: When planning your questions, make a T-chart
in which you list both the important factual questions
and the essential questions of the unit to avoid conflating
the two or landing on factual questions out of habit. To
move from inarguable to arguable aspects of the topic,
try framing key learning and assessment tasks using the
suggested stems. Here are a few more: What’s the value
of . . . ? When should we . . . , and when shouldn’t we . . . ?
What’s the optimal strategy? Or try the provocation we
use in Understanding by Design: If the facts are answers,
what were the questions?

3. Is the question merely engaging? Or will pursuing

it lead to the topic’s big ideas?

How important
To engage students, some teachers frame an essential
question that goes off on a tangent. But a good question
has to be more than just intriguing. The best essential

was World
questions are, literally, of the essence: They take you to
the core issues and insights of a topic.

War I
Our longtime favorite engaging, but tangential,
question is, Crustaceans: What’s up with them? It’s cer-
tainly open ended, and it could go in a million directions.

in shaping
But it’s unlikely to uncover rigorous, in-depth learning
in biology. On the other hand, What good is a bug? more
easily leads to deep inquiries into ecology, agriculture,
health, and so on.
In math, here’s a common first-draft question: Where
do we find examples of ____ in the real world? This
question means well, but it leads to the world of things,
the modern
not to the world of ideas; it will yield only a list of factual
answers. There’s no inquiry into mathematics.
A teacher we worked with wanted to ask, Where in the
world?
world do we find examples of similar triangles? After lis-
tening to the above argument, he quickly came up with
EVERETT HISTORICAL/SHUTTERSTOCK

this edited version: How much and in what ways would we

most miss similar figures if they didn’t exist? Not only is
this a more intriguing and arguable question, but it also
goes deep into math, opening up an exploration of other
geometries besides the familiar Euclidean one.

Wiggins.indd 13 7/28/15 3:53 PM

 between fiction and nonfiction? What’s

What should
a theory in science? What is history?
What can numbers help us do? These

our diet and questions don’t lead us very far. They

call attention to key ideas, but they

wellness don’t promote in-depth inquiry.

plans be
And frankly, they’re a bit dull and
“teacherly.”
By contrast, successful questions
in a world do just the opposite: They highlight

of constantly
apparent paradoxes or counter­
intuitive investigations. Here are those

changing “teacherly” questions revised: When is

fiction revealing, and when is it a lie? If

advice from we can’t see something (gravity, human

evolution, dinosaurs, and so on), how do
experts? we know it is or was there? If history

LZF/SHUTTERSTOCK
is the story told by the winners, what
stories aren’t we hearing? What can’t the
language of numbers c­ ommunicate?
Misconceptions are a rich resource
Tip: Start by making a concept web Lobel is that Frog and Toad sometimes for such questions. For example, a
for the topics of the unit. Identify the don’t act like friends, which deepens common misconception in physics
hard-to-understand but vital con- the inquiry. is the assumption that a ball thrown
nections of ideas. Make sure your Here’s another example showing in the air has two forces acting on it
question points to the ideas identified, the virtue of a more general focus. The once it leaves the hand: the force from
suggests interesting inquiries, and question, Why did we fight in Vietnam, the hand pushing it up and the force
helps uncover the powerful ideas. Ask and was it worth it? sets a more helpful of gravity pulling it down. Actually,
yourself, What does this idea help us agenda for a history course when we there’s only one force acting on the
make sense of? How does it help us revise it to read, Why have we gone to ball: the force of gravity. So, a devil-
connect the dots of our learning? war? When was it wise, and when was it ishly simple essential question would
foolish? be, Why does the ball move that way?
4. Is the question general enough to use Tip: Avoid mentioning or edit out Not only will you generate inter-
across other units? Or is it bound too the specific topic in the question. esting and diverse theories, but you’ll
narrowly to just this topic or text? Don’t mention specific books, events, uncover misunderstandings.
We want a question that rewards us or facts. Instead, pose the question Tip: Familiarize yourself with the
for revisiting it. Here’s a draft question, more generally about concepts such most counterintuitive and commonly
based on a reading of one of the stories as friendship, war, ecosystems, and misunderstood aspects of the subjects
in Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad so on. We call such questions over- you teach, and build your questions
series: How do Frog and Toad act like arching (McTighe & Wiggins, 2013; around them. There are countless
friends? By revising the question to Wiggins & McTighe, 2005, 2013). websites on common student mis­
this—Who is a true friend?—we can conceptions for all academic subjects.
connect to varied texts and to personal 5. Does the question get at what’s Simply search for “student misconcep-
experience. In addition to making us odd, counterintuitive, or easily mis­ tions in ____” in your web browser.
question the question—What do we understood? Or is it a predictable
mean by true friend?—this revised question with mundane and relatively 6. Am I trying too hard to craft the
query recurs over and over throughout superficial answers? perfect question?
our lives, in history and psychology Here are some common first-draft We often see question writers trying
as well as in literature. The genius of questions: What’s the difference hard to create the one ideal question

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 on the first try. Everything we know Tip: Build into your lessons
about the writing and design processes meaning-making and application
reminds us that this is an un­successful Grant Wiggins, an challenges—for example, a Socratic
approach. We want numerous and influential educator, seminar, formal debate, or problem-
diverse ideas at first, jotted down author, and friend based learning project. By committing
quickly, from which a good one will to ASCD, died to using at least one such interactive
emerge. suddenly before this article went
approach, you’ll more likely come
into production. Among his many
The problem is compounded when up with an arguable and intriguing
contributions to education was the
writers spend too much time word- Understanding by Design (UbD) question for framing the unit.
smithing the question instead of curriculum model, cocreated with
trying to generate the best intellectual Jay McTighe. Wiggins authored The Bottom Line
direction. Don’t try to write and edit numerous Educational Leadership The fact is, you need to develop the
simultaneously. Draft a bunch of ques- articles and ASCD books. He was habit of always critiquing the essential
tions first, then edit. The more versions president of Authentic Education, questions you draft. High-level
a New Jersey–based education
you draft, the easier the editing will be. inquiries and questioning yield some
training and consulting firm.
Tip: Use brainstorming rules: Don’t Particularly pertinent to this of the greatest gains possible on con-
judge (or self-judge), and jot down EL theme, Wiggins coined the ventional tests of achievement, as well
lots of ideas in a brief span of time. term essential questions as it as better student engagement.
Also, draft webs of related questions. has come to be understood in Getting the questions right takes
For example, when it comes to a piece education. He will be missed by discipline, skill, and artfulness. But it’s
of writing, you might ask, What am I friends throughout the education well worth the effort to ensure that
community.
trying to say? To whom am I trying to students tackle inquiries that are
Denise Wilbur (denise@
say it? What do I want readers to leave authenticeducation.org), coauthor
important, intriguing, and revealing. EL
with or be ready to do after reading this? of this article, was Grant’s wife
Maybe you’ll use all the questions, and and is the vice president of References
maybe you won’t. But creating such Authentic Education. Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking,
webs usually points to a deeper and R. R. (Eds.). (2000). How people learn:
Brain, mind, experience, and school
more powerful direction for inquiry. (Expanded ed.). Washington DC:
National Academies Press.
7. Am I looking for questions in all will raise all the right arguments and Brown, A. S., & Palincsar, A. L. (1984).
the wrong places? require further generalizations? Reciprocal teaching of comprehension-
By committing to essential questions For example, in a unit on mean, fostering and comprehension-
monitoring activities. Cognition and
as a framing approach, you’re planning median, and mode, just learning to Instruction, 1(2), 117–175.
for inquiry and argument as a priority manipulate those three concepts McTighe, J., & Wiggins, G. (2013).
outcome. Essential questions aren’t a won’t develop understanding. The Essential questions: Opening doors to
teaching move. Rather, they’re a design interesting and arguable aspects of student understanding. Alexandria, VA:
move intended to make it more likely those concepts lie in how to best use ASCD.
Wiggins, G. (2015, April 20). On transfer
that the work and talk get beyond low- them—and avoid misusing them!—in
as the goal of literacy [blog post].
level coverage. So looking only at the making sense of real data. So this draft Retrieved from Granted, and . . .
content you wish students to acquire question heads in the wrong direction: at https://grantwiggins.wordpress​
is not the optimal way to come up with When do we use mean, median, and .com/2015/04/20/on-transfer-as-the-
good questions. mode? Rather, focus on the signifi- goal-in-literacy-7th-in-a-series
Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2005). Under-
To aim for understanding is to aim cance and applicability of the ideas:
standing by design (expanded 2nd ed.).
for three kinds of learning: acqui- What’s the fairest way to calculate Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
sition, meaning making, and transfer. grades? What are the strengths and Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2011). The
Given the content, then, what theories weaknesses of each measure of tendency? understanding by design guide to cre-
should learners build and test? What When are measures of central tendency ating high-quality units. Alexandria, VA:
problems and texts will prompt them most abused, and how can we defend ASCD.
to do so? What attempts at application against such abuses? Copyright © 2015 Denise Wilbur

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