Formative Assessment in PBL
How to build formative assessment into the PBL process.
Designing the Driving Question
Central to the project design is the over-arching Driving Question (also called Guiding Question).
Questions should engage students and provoke more questions. The Driving Question is intentionally designed to be open ended and not ‘googleable’. Its aim is to give the project context, meaning and underpin sustained inquiry. Finally, but most importantly, the driving question should align with curriculum standards and frameworks. (PBL Works, 2023, Magnify Learning, 2023)
In this toolkit section, principles of designing the Driving Question are introduced. Self-guided resources are:
- Video: This 3-minute video from Magnify Learning (2023) explains how a Driving Question acts as an umbrella for your project.
- Slides and Overview: Developing a Driving Question in Project Based Learning.
- Explore further: Additional resource links and videos to explore to develop Driving Questions including rubrics and templates.
PBL is driven by questions; from the first steps of setting the Driving, or Guiding Question and the sub-questions, to the collaborative problem-solving and critical thinking that is needed to design and communicate students’ projects. Questioning supports deeper learning through exploring and applying ideas, tests out new vocabulary, and consolidates subject-specific knowledge (EIF Research, Ofsted, 2019)
Quick links for The Driving Question
This 3-minute video from Magnify Learning (2023a) explains how a Driving Question acts as an umbrella for your project.
Explore Further:
Designing the driving question can be one of the hardest parts of crafting a project, and one of testing out ideas. The 6As model rubric to develop a Driving Question can support this by considering your question under the following criteria (Magnify Learning, 2023b):
Does the Driving or Guiding Question:
- Have Authenticity?
- Demonstrates Academic Rigour?
- Allows Applied Learning?
- Supports Active Exploration?
- Develops Adult Connections either in the community or from external experts?
- Embeds Assessment
See how XP School (2019) UK use a Guiding (Driving) Question in their expedition on migration called Should I Stay, or Should I Go?
The Guiding Question chosen was:
‘Why should we care about migration?‘
'Should I Stay or Should I Go' is a film created by Year 8 students at XP & XP East schools over a number of weeks in the Autumn of 2019. Working with the support of the Doncaster charity the Conversation Club and the people they help; the film is about migration and the stories that deserve to be told.
Developing open, closed, and guiding questions
Effective questioning means students build their critical thinking from their existing knowledge and experience, and questions support curriculum objectives. Effective questions build an inclusive classroom environment where students feel their opinions and ideas are valued, and they can take risks or make mistakes in a safe environment.
What is an open question?
An open question requires deeper thinking through the connecting of ideas and knowledge to answer it. Open questions ask what if, how, why, can you explain? They have more than one answer and typically promote higher-order thinking skills of applying, analysing, evaluating, and creating. They encourage prior knowledge and skills to be applied to current scenarios or problems, allowing students to situate knowledge in their wider subject knowledge and understanding. Open questions allow teachers to assess learners’ ability to apply acquired knowledge and generalise it to new contexts. Students control the conversation.
Examples: What do you think will happen next? How might global warming affect polar bears? Why might some birds mate for life? What are the pros and cons of building on the green belt?
Open questions need planning and teacher direction to avoid lengthy answers and misconceptions.
What is a closed question?
A closed or direct question has a ‘right’ answer. It can be answered by a single word or short phrase or can be answered ‘yes’ or ‘no’. The questioner is in control. Teachers need to be aware of the strengths and limitations of closed questions. Closed questions are useful for the recall of facts, checking or consolidating subject knowledge including vocabulary choices, process steps and to develop technical language.
Examples: Who discovered penicillin? When was the battle of Flodden? What are the characteristics of living things?
Effectively planned closed questions can be used to determine student knowledge and to identify misconceptions, including at key curriculum knowledge steps.
However, closed questions can invite a game of ‘guess what the teacher is thinking’. Wrong responses by students can risk humiliation in a public arena or create ‘performance anxiety’ which reduces the willingness of some pupils to contribute ideas.
Why plan guiding questions?
Sequences of guiding questions are planned to scaffold students’ learning to use higher-order thinking skills. This means:
- the session has appropriate curriculum coverage and expectations
- prior learning is assessed, appropriately applied and situated in new knowledge
- oracy development is expected and supported through planned opportunities to model new vocabulary, and apply technical vocabulary
- effective guiding questions build knowledge incrementally, and link to assessment way-points of knowledge and skills expectations
Resources to support developing your Driving Question, and effective classroom questioning throughout your project:
For more links to support the Driving Question, and developing effective questioning see below.
Bibliography and additional resources
- Avid Open Access. (2020). Costa’s Levels of Inquiry. Available from: https://avidopenaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Costas-Levels-of-Inquiry.pdf
- Chartered College.(2023). Skilful Questioning: the beating heart of good pedagogy Available from: https://my.chartered.college/impact_article/skilful-questioning-the-beating-heart-of-good-pedagogy/
- DfE. (2019). Education inspection framework: overview of research. Available from: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/813228/Research_for_EIF_framework_100619__16_.pdf
- DfE. (2014). Research report: Beyond Levels: Alternative Assessment Approaches. Available from: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/349266/beyond-levels-alternative-assessment-approaches-developed-by-teaching-schools.pdf
- DfE. (2004). Pedagogy and Practice: Teaching and Learning in Secondary Schools Unit 7: Questioning Available from: http://www.mmiweb.org.uk/publications/re/questioning.pdf
- Education Scotland. (2017). Raising Attainment: Improving Life Chances-Questioning. Available from: https://education.gov.scot/resources/raising-attainment-improving-life-chances/
- Iowa State University. (2022). Revised Blooms Taxonomy. Available from: https://www.celt.iastate.edu/teaching/effective-teaching-practices/revised-blooms-taxonomy/
- Magnify Learning. (2023a). What is a Driving Question? Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbsBzLTeoak
- Magnify Learning. (2023b). Driving Question Rubric (6A’s). Available from: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oH26y1jiJjZXSVJp0tvrU08u9ytOHlohf8pGEAOtA_Y/edit
- PBL Works. * (2021). Critical thinking rubrics. Available from: https://my.pblworks.org/resource/document/6_12_critical_thinking_rubric_ccss_aligned
- PBL Works. * (2023). Essential Project Design Elements Checklist. Available from: https://my.pblworks.org/resource/document/pbl_essential_elements_checklist
- PBL Works. (2023). A Tricky part of PBL: Writing Driving Questions. Available from: https://www.pblworks.org/blog/tricky-part-pbl-writing-driving-question
- Sec Ed. (2017). Teaching practice-hinge questions. https://www.sec-ed.co.uk/best-practice/teaching-practice-hinge-questions/
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