Rewiring the Research Project

Holy smokes, it's been a busy two weeks, but it's time to get the show going! We are going to explore how to frame your essential questions for research projects to elicit higher level thinking from your students. We are fortunate in the Thompson School District to have three exceptional instructional technologists and former classroom teachers who keep us very current on instructional strategies involving technology. Traci Gile, Michelle Logan, and David Grubbs worked tirelessly to bring Rewiring the Research Project to our technology coaches and facilitators earlier this month.

The Developing Essential Questions PowerPoint:
*gives important background information about research projects;
*provides a summary of forming Essential Questions;
*supplies an example of how to do so in a 5th grade classroom.


Framing Essential Questions

Essential questions are at the heart of Rewiring the Research Project. Our Instructional Technologists did a fabulous job of explaining the qualities of essential questions, how to put power behind them, and differentiating them from the important Foundation Questions that the Essential question is built upon. Additionally, they demonstrate how to promote higher-level thinking through questioning with the section: Moving up the Bloom's Taxonomy ladder by avoiding the "What is" questions. This is a brief, yet informative, document that will help educators breath life into the questions we ask our students to solve. There are also tremendous sources listed for the document if you would like a more in-depth evaluation of the material. That said, the first source I clicked on was down at the time (http://www.fno.org/oct97/questions.html). FNO is a terrific education site. Try this FNO page if the FNO cited page still doesn't work.

The Student Pre-Search Planner is a concrete road map that helps student save time and frustration in the long run by planning their research. It's an excellent tool for students! An important Reflecting and Refining Checklist follows the pre-search plan, and it offers a quick way for students to evaluate and adjust their strategies. It also gives teachers an instant look into who may need a little extra help.

The Teacher Research Planner gives us a guide and timeline to setting this rewired research project into motion.

I want to thank Traci Gile, Michelle Logan, and David Grubbs for providing the instructional resources this week. They are fabulous, hard working educators!