Obenchain, Kathryn M., Angela Orr, and Susan H. Davis. “The Past as a Puzzle: How Essential Questions Can Piece Together a Meaningful Investigation of History.” (2011)

In this article, the authors outline their findings about framing curriculum in order to teach historical thinking more effectively to elementary, middle, and high school students. They found that framing the curriculum around “essential and historical questions that guide historical inquiry can facilitate the learning process” (190-91). Essential questions (EQs), in their definition, are open-ended questions that address the big ideas of history, and, importantly, have no predetermined answer, allowing for multiple interpretations. Using essential questions allows courses to be organized around questions that promote critical and higher order thinking, instead of around answers. Once EQs, such as Should liberty be limited? are developed, teachers can use them to create grade specific historical questions; for example, for elementary students, Were the British justified in limiting the liberty of colonists who protested new taxes? (192). Doing so allows educators to construct a vertically integrated curriculum, in which the larger questions are constant over the student’s years in school. The authors want to make it clear that implementation of EQs in the curriculum involves a complete re-framing of questions based on student inquiry, instead of simply adding questions in a traditional narrative-based classroom. Using EQs helps students find recurrent themes, engage in historical inquiry, connect historical themes to current issues, and use primary sources in context.