Essential question

A specific, open-ended, thought-provoking question that probes the factual and conceptual levels of understanding. The role of essential questions is to create interest and a "need to know," leading to deeper understanding (Erickson 1998). Essential questions focus and organize the curriculum, provide scope and sequence, highlight conceptual priorities, fulfill outcomes, and connect a range of disciplines in an interdisciplinary unit (Hayes Jacobs 1997).