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Driving Question Board

This strategy encourages students to share their questions and observations about anchoring phenomena. By sharing their thoughts throughout the learning experience, students can connect personally and culturally to the content.

Driving Question Board

Summary

A Driving Question Board supports equitable science classrooms and fosters community by encouraging students to share personal, relevant experiences that help them make sense of an anchoring phenomenon. The goal is for all students to contribute to the discussion with their unique perspectives. This allows teachers and students to establish a classroom culture that values diverse ideas and ways of thinking.

Procedure

Present students with a thought-provoking phenomenon or a puzzling question.
As students ponder their initial responses and ideas, provide them with markers, sticky notes, index cards, and/or scrap pieces of paper.
Inform students they will analyze the phenomenon by adding their questions and observations to a Driving Question Board. Whether this is a section of your whiteboard, a large poster, or a bulletin board, make sure it is visible to students as they develop their understanding.
Have each student write down their questions and any observations or personal experiences that are relevant to the phenomenon. When they are done, ask each student to add their contributions to the board.
Then, have a whole-class discussion about everyone’s questions and observations. Ask students to share their ideas for grouping the questions based on similarities.
After grouping the questions, have the whole class decide which group they would like to explore first.
See a demonstration video at https://www.youtube.com/embed/K1zPKIXmtNs

Oklahoma State Department of Education. (n.d.). Driving Question Board. Champion Excellence. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WJpH2gLUxRTtiowfj8KLThHX5yzxx_ub/view OpenSciEd Account. (2021). Driving Question Board Montage [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1zPKIXmtNs