Driving Question

Effective Driving Questions

Driving questions are also called essential questions, project questions, and umbrella questions. Effective driving questions include the following features:

1. Are open-ended. Driving questions lead to debate and discussion, and therefore, are motivating to explore and answer

2. Are objective. Driving questions do not imply whether something is good or bad, better or worse.

3. Focus and drive the project. All learning and research in the project are geared toward answering the driving question.

4. Are answerable. With diligence and dedication, students are able to answer the driving question. While it should not be an easy process, it should be manageable.

5. Require research, investigation, and reflection. Driving questions may have yes-or-no answers; however, students need to support their answers

with the research and knowledge they have acquired throughout the project.

Driving Questions should present a problem that encourages complex thinking, rather than focusing on defining a term.

Not a Driving Question: What is global warming?

Driving Question: Will global warming the community in which we live?

Driving Questions should encourage synthesis and analysis, rather than listing or reciting answers.

Not a Driving Question: What were the causes of the Great Depression?

Driving Question: Could the Great Depression happen again?

ASSIGNMENT:

Complete the following steps below for your top project idea.

STEP 1:

Write or type the specific project topic and a paragraph explaining what the project would include.

• Describe what you want to do.
• How you are going to do it?
• What is the first thing you will do to start the project?
• Who will you ask to be your mentor (specific person or unsure at this time)?

STEP 2:

Take the top idea for a senior project and develop goals for the project. These goals should be focused on learning and not just the end product. (What do you want to get out of completing this project?) You should have 5 learning goals for the project.

Example:

Learn how to use a skill saw.

Learn how to create the correct lighting when taking night time photographs.

STEP 3:

Take the idea for a senior project and create driving questions.

A driving question becomes the focus of the project. The question should be about what you want to learn or get out of the project.

Good Driving Questions

• are provocative;
• are open-ended, not close-ended;
• are challenging; and
• are more specific than they are vague.
• MOST IMPORTANTLY: Google alone cannot answer the question. There must be some personal aspect to the question.

Below are examples of differences between a question and a DRIVING question.

Question 1:

How does a river change over years?

DRIVING question1:

What is the affect of erosion on a river’s ecosystem?

Question 2:

Why does some music make us feel happy?

DRIVING question 2:

What effect does music have on the emotions of a person?

DRIVING QUESTION POSTER:

Once you have an approved driving question, you must create a project poster. These will be hung up in the room to remind you exactly what you are trying to answer.

The poster must include the following:

• Name of project (be clever)
• Driving question
• 3-5 learning goals
• picture or illustration of project