Driving Questions

This week we learned about the characteristics of good driving questions for Project-Based Learning. Through various resources such as BIE and TechForLearning.org, I was able to put together a good idea of what a good driving question should look like. My project has to do with "A Nuclear World" in which students investigate the roles nuclear weapons have played in our history and how they affect our world today. With the recent Iran deal it has become even more relevant. I also created 10 sub-questions that students would have to answer in order to answer the driving question. The most important characteristic to me for a good driving question would be the real world aspect. Students in our society have not lived in fear of nuclear weapons, mostly due to the Mutual Assured Destruction concept. However, that threat does still exist. Their eyes start to open when we begin playing with NUKEMAP (online nuclear blast simulation) and I tell them that there are likely a few warheads aimed at the nearby base at this very moment. Their eyes get really big. I explain to them the M.A.D. concept but they are caught up in the fact that there is a legitimate danger and they are close to a valuable military target. Having that real world connection, something that makes it personal, is invaluable in getting students involved in a project such as this. I'm looking forward to implementing this project into my course this upcoming year.