Characteristics of Driving Questions

• Frames the curricular unit

• Worthwhile
  • Contains rich science concepts/principles

  • Promotes higher order thinking

  • Related to what scientists really do

  • Complex enough to be broken down into smaller questions

  • Helps link concepts/principles across disciplines

• Feasible

  • Students can design and perform investigations to answer question

  • Appropriate time frame

  • Materials readily available

• Contextualized

  • Anchored in the lives of learners

  • Related to real-world problems

• Meaningful

  • Interesting to learners

  • Relevant to learners own lives

• Ill-structured/Open-ended
  

  • Divergent

  • No straight forward answer

  • Complex

Return to the following pages:

• Features of Project-Based Science
• Learning Theory
• Joe's Overheads
• Joe Krajcik's Homepage