Effective Driving Questions
The best projects identify real-world needs related to required academic content. Students work in groups to devise their own solutions to the problem. They present their solutions to the intended audience.
Design Thinking
Since finding a suitable problem is at the heart of PBL, many teachers use design thinking as they develop their PBL units. Design thinking is a process used by engineers, architects and other applied science professionals. The process looks like this
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The first step in the design thinking process is to empathize. Ask yourself, "What is the current situation?" You may want to collect some data to support your ideas but be open to new possibilities. Who is your target audience? In other words, who will benefit from the solution to the problem? Is it the community as a whole, is it parents, the elderly, young children? You might want to ask your target audience what they feel about the problem and what their ideas are. By speaking to the target audience, you gain their point of view about the problem. They might not view it as a problem at all or they might already have some ideas for solutions or they might share with you other problems that are more urgent.
Now that you have ideas about what the community needs, choose one problem where you can have an impact. Clearly define it. The more clear you are about the problem, the more likely you are to generate solutions.
During the ideate stage, ask yourself, "What if?" Envision how the problem might be solved. This is a brainstorming stage so it's ok if some of the ideas are not entirely practical.
The prototype and testing stages are iterative. During the prototype stage, you choose the solution that you think will work the best and build a prototype. Then you test the prototype to see what works. Based on your tests, you revise the prototype and then you test again. You do this until the prototype works well. As part of your tests, you may invite some of your target audience to review the prototype solution.
Design Thinking and Project Based Learning
PBL relies on choosing a problem that students can solve. The ideal PBL problem
has multiple possible solutions
is challenging enough that students can't solve it readily. In other words, students will work together over a period of weeks to generate their solutions.
has significance to the community
requires students to learn and apply required content
can be achieved with the resources available to the school
is meaningful to the students
You can use the design thinking process to identify problems that your students can work on. Empathize with your community and your students. Think about the problems they face. Are there any problems that relate to your content area?
For example, one social studies teacher noticed that there were no designated bike paths near his school. His students rode their bikes to school on dangerous roads. He had his students analyze traffic patterns along routes they rode their bikes to school. Based on their data, students proposed a network of bike paths to the city. This project taught map reading skills, data collection skills and communication skills.
As a teacher thinking about problems your students can solve, ask yourself if the solutions help you teach required content. Think about what students will need to know in order to generate their own solutions to the problem. Will you need help from experts in the community? Could you co-teach the project with a teacher in a different discipline?
If you have thought through the possible solutions your students might generate, then you will be better prepared to anticipate what lessons they will need during the project. Although you should go through the design thinking process yourself, you don't want to teach the answers to the students. Your goal is to clearly define the problem for the students and then allow them to ideate, prototype, and test their own solutions.
Things to Consider
Expertise
If you personally lack expertise in a project area, are there experts who would be willing to help you? A few years ago I taught a project on solar energy. Since my background is in biology and chemistry, I invited physics professors to help out. They guest lectured in my class, provided materials for investigations and guided groups as they explored solar cells. Your mentors don’t need to be local. My students in Texas once worked with an immunologist in Seattle to explore emerging diseases. They simply e-mailed the mentor questions and she responded. Sometimes experts aren’t available to come to your classes but may be willing to meet with you to provide you with information and/or skills needed for a project. You could also ask experts to prepare a podcast that could be referenced by your students during the project.
Time
Do you have enough time for students to explore to explore the topic in depth? Is there a way to increase your time for the project-based unit by compacting curricula for other units (i.e. speeding them up)? You can increase the amount of time available for projects by teaming up with teachers from other disciplines (middle and high school) or combining disciplines (elementary). For example, I worked with a world history teacher on a joint project on emerging diseases. Our driving question was, “What are the social, political, economic and medical implications of emerging diseases?” We compared the bubonic plague with more modern emerging diseases such as AIDS and Ebola. In biology, students learned about bacteria and viruses, the immune system, vaccines, and how to treat different types of diseases. In world history, students explored how the bubonic plague affected medieval societies and speculated on how emerging diseases might affect current societies. Students in both classes developed an indepth view of the biological and social aspects of disease. The same teacher collaborated with a geometry teacher to explore the geometry of Islamic art. If you teach at the elementary level, consider how you might combine disciplines to increase the impact of projects you do. Time can also be constrained to the bell schedule. When I taught a project that explored the causes of E. coli contamination in Barton Springs, I worked with a biotechnology professor to break the procedures down into 40 minute segments so that students could complete lab work in a 50 minute period.
One of the most important attributes of a good problem is how much content will your students learn as a result of working on the project. In other words, how many of the standards will your students cover and to what depth will they learn them as a result of doing this project? This is one thing that distinguishes project-based units from “projects.” PBL problems should address significant content. They should address local and national standards. If your problem does not address significant content, your project will fail.
Sustainability
Good PBL problems promote student inquiry over a sustained time. Short projects may only last two weeks but some projects could be the focus of an entire year-long course. The important thing is that the sustained inquiry covers required content. You have to be able to justify the amount of time spent on a project-based unit so you need to cover as much or nearly as much you would with other methods. A rough guide is to look at the standards for your grade level and/or course. Count the standards. Divide the number of days in the school year minus testing by the number of standards. For example, in Texas, sixth grade science has 43 standards. There are 180 days in the school year but about 20 of those will be testing and other things. 160 days divided by 43 standards is just less than 4 days per standard. While some standards take longer than others and you can combine some standards (like process skills with content in science), you should count on spending no more than 4 days on a standard for 6th grade science. In Texas a 4-week project for grade 6 science should cover 5-6 standards minimum.
Contextualization
Contextualization refers to how much the problem relates to real world issues. How much does the problem require students to act like professionals in the field? Does the problem lead the students to develop skills that professionals in the field have? Does the final product have meaning outside the school? Students don’t necessarily need to understand the context of the problem at the outset. You can develop context for unfamiliar topics through videos, readings, role plays or other activities.
For example, I showed videos of oil spills and provided articles on recent oil spills to get my Marine Science students interested in a project on oil spill clean up. I challenged my Biology students to investigate how statistics are used by giving them a Time magazine summary of "The Bell Curve."
The authors of The Bell Curve assert that social status is highly correlated with intelligence and therefore poor people are poor because they are dumb. Understandably my students (many of whom were poor) were incensed. So I asked them to critique the use of statistics. I was able to use this to motivate students to learn some basic statistics, the limitations of those statistics and what statistics really tell you.
Meaning
Will the students think the problem is meaningful? Meaning is closely tied to contextualization. The more context a problem has, the more students find it meaningful. When students are given choice, including the opportunity to ask their own questions, meaning is enhanced. The presence of outside experts/mentors in the project can also enhance meaning for students. For example, if students are designing an airplane wing, presenting their designs to a team of engineers adds a level of seriousness and reality that is greater than presenting to teachers. Even more powerful is when adults enact change as a result of the students' work. For example, a teacher had his students monitor phosphate levels in creeks around their town. Students presented their data to the city council and recommended banning detergents with phosphates. As a result, the city banned phosphates before it was common to do so. A geography teacher had his students collect data on traffic in his town and students proposed the best roads for bike paths based on their findings. This is very empowering for students.
Driving Questions
Once you have defined your problem, think about how to phrase it as a question. This question will drive instruction so it is called a driving question.
Types of Driving Questions
Philosophical/Debatable
Philosophical/debatable questions center around a controversial issue (or one that students find controversial). These can be extremely motivating for students - particularly if the issue is current. For example, a biology teacher I know has her students debate the question, “Should the US ban GMO crops?” She doesn’t tell them which side of the debate they will be on until the day of the debate so they have to prepare both sides. A social studies teacher I know has students debate the value of affirmative action. One of my previous PBI class groups had students debate whether it was necessary to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
An environmental science teacher has students debate the question, “Did an asteroid cause the demise of the dinosaurs?” This is set in the context of congressional testimony about funding for a star wars program that would detect and destroy near earth asteroids. Students are assigned roles (pro, con, reporters, and congressional representatives). Pro and con teams divide themselves into content experts who testify on certain topics and debaters who question the experts (on both sides). Congressional representatives are required to ask thoughtful questions of both sides and reporters produce a video and/or newspaper report that balances both sides. When possible, the teacher brings in a community member to serve as the panel head.
Product Oriented – How do we create ___ to ___?
As the name implies, product-oriented questions are focused on the end product. How do we design an airplane wing that is light and strong? How do we develop a policy (on a specific topic) that is inclusive but fair? How do we design a podcast to debunk myths and stereotypes of world religions? What type of public service announcement will change attitudes about (insert and issue here)?
Role Oriented
Role oriented questions have students assume roles within their groups while they solve a problem. A mock trial is a good example of a role oriented project. The dinosaur extinction debate is also role oriented. A chemistry teacher has his students assume different roles in a forensic lab to determine the outcome of a mock criminal investigation. A geometry teacher had her students work as teams of architects to design a high school for the year 2050. The teams present their final products as bids for a contract to build the school. In a history class, you can also have students assume historical roles for re-enactments. The Tweeting the Civil War battle project would be an example of this.
Driving Question Resources
If you would like more information on how to craft a good driving question for your project, you can look at this website: http://archive.pbl-online.org/driving_question/drivingquestion.html
This blog has an excellent description of different types of driving questions (more than my list above) as well as suggestions for refining driving questions. It also has examples of concept maps (which we will use after groups select their driving questions): http://learninginhand.com/blog/drivingquestions
If you're having trouble coming up with good ideas, you might be able to adapt one of these 60 project ideas for your situation. https://my.pblworks.org/projects?_ga=2.41542114.1921864143.1560686379-1930695929.1560686379
Homework
During the workshop, you will collaborate with a team to produce a project-based unit that can be used by teachers throughout Southeast Asia. This project-based unit will be judged on the following criteria.
How well does the project foster collaboration among teachers and students across the region?
How well does the project address REQUIRED content? In other words, Is the project content-rich? (Worth from Czerniak and Krajcik)
How well does the content address real-world problems relevant to the communities in Southeast Asia? (Context from Czerniak and Krajcik)
Can the project utilize technology when it's available and be done without technology when technology is limited?
How well will the project engage learners throughout the region? (Meaning from Czerniak and Krajcik)
How does the driving question address social equity and access to education?
How does the project involve the parents and/or local community?
How much student choice does the project provide?
The first step in this project design process is for each of you to come up with your own driving question. We will sort you into groups based on your driving question topics. Then your group will come up with a driving question for the group project.
Post the following in the driving question draft discussion:
Your draft driving question.
What is your target audience? Grade level and subject(s)?
How does your driving question meet the 8 YSEALI judging criteria above?
After you post your driving question, look through the other participants' questions. Constructively comment on at least two participants' driving questions. We will use the critical friends technique to offer constructive comments. First reflect back what you like about the project ("What I like."). Then ask questions about aspects of the project that puzzle you ("I wonder"). Finally, offer suggestions for improving the project.