Chapter V: Essential Questions: Doorways to Understanding

During the learning the process it is very common to face up all kind of questions referring, for example to our knowledge and the lack of it. Those questions give meaning to our learning which could be focused on stimulate thought, to suggest inquiry and to give space to think about more different questions. Besides, those questions suggest emphasize the big ideas which allow learners to find out their own way of learning throughout theories, concepts, topics, issues, problem solutions, etc.

Firstly, the idea of questioning tries to make the learner focus on the reasoning than in answering with short answers to yes or no questions. For example, the teacher suggests a History test about the economical crisis the world is facing today. Here the teacher could review the contents with students during a certain time (two classes). After that the students have to face a test with content questions such as; does the economical crisis affect every country in the world? However, even that question is according to what they reviewed during the lessons; it does not suggest critical thinking from students. What is more, an essential question pointing out to the focus on the critical thinking of students should be one like: how does the economical crisis affect your normal family life? With that kind of questions students will be able to think beyond what they have learned in classes and try to think how they relate that topic with their own lives.

On the other hand, we have some ideas to describe essential questions. For instance, we can think of the questions which give us knowledge for the rest of our lives and such as questions which can be discussable by generations. Besides, we have those questions which point out to the main ideas or contents that are common knowledge and which can be debated by too many different fields. Then we find those kinds of questions which refer to idea if being helpful for students to realize about some topics and make a “click” in their knowledge. In the last place of essential questions association there are the kinds of questions that call the learners’ attention and invite them to learn more about it.

Finally, learners are able to develop their own learning skills throughout questions which try to evidence the learner comprehension. For instance, there is a kind of question that focus on the key concepts showing if the student is able to say that comprehended certain content. Then, there are questions related to the purpose and values of contents, to the strategy the learner can take from the content and how the learner can place the context according to the reality it is facing at.

In conclusion, the essential questions enable the learner to build his/her own knowledge by putting in practice the critical thinking each one of us has.