What are the questions?

We're learning how to design social studies units -- BACKWARDS! It sounds a little odd, but it's really quite eye-opening. The reference book we are using is called Understanding by Design and it contains the following quote: If the textbook has the answers, then what are the questions?

Students come to school ready to learn, right? So doesn't that readiness to learn imply that they have some questions? Furthermore, have you ever met an elementary school student who wasn't full of questions? I don't think I have. The notion of figuring out questions to ask and explore and answers to uncover is far more appealing to me than covering all the topics in my textbook. As a teacher, it will be part of my job to figure out what the students' questions are. Doing so may lead the class to ideas and information beyond what the textbook has to offer.

Sometimes the subject is so new that students don't even realize that they have questions. A good place to start is with the teacher's questions. If we truly embrace lifelong learning and zest for knowledge, we will have questions too.

I guarantee you that the person(s) who wrote the textbooks started with questions. Their book, in fact, probably represents a culmination of years of research in which they uncovered the answers to the questions they had on a given subject. As a result, the textbook will be a very helpful place to start to uncover the answers to students' and teacher's questions. But I don't want my students to be limited to the knowledge uncovered by a small group of individuals. I want my students to dig deep powered by their own curiosity and interest.

First, ask the question. From there, you know where to proceed.

Actually,

Aricka