The most interesting insight I gained from this course is the importance of

Driving questions in a PBL Unit and how to develop a good driving question.
According to my reading, a driving question is the major question that that
helps guide students throughout the PBL process. Driving questions have to be
open-ended, challenging, provocative, discipline-centered, and consistent with
curricular standards and frameworks.
In the past, I didn’t have any idea of a driving question until recently I have
discovered its function in terms of teacher and students. Firstly, for the sake of
teacher, it helps initiate and focus the inquiry. The projects are to make sure
that all the students are focused and driving questions in this case help the
teacher focus the teaching and the learning. In addition, it also captures and
communicates the purpose of the project in a succinct question. When reading
the driving question, the teacher and student should be clear on what the
overall project is as well as its purpose. Also for the teacher, it helps to guide
planning and reframe standards or big content and skills. I will say more about
this later, but the driving question should not sound like a standard reimagined
in the form of a question. Instead, use the driving question to reframe the
standards in ways that are accessible to both you the teacher and the student.
On the students side, it’s meant for the students mainly. It creates interest and
a feeling of challenge so that even the most reluctant student thinks, make the
projects more attractive and engaging. It guides the project work. All work for
the project, including the culminating project and daily lessons and activities,
should be trying to help students answer the driving question. Whether it's a
lesson on commas, or implementation time, or drill-and-skill with math
problems, the work needs to connect to the driving question. Moreover, it
helps student answer the question: "Why are we doing this?” If students know
what they are doing, they can do better. If your driving question is good, it can
help connect that work so that students can articulate the reason behind daily
lessons and activities.
And as I observe some videos related to Driving questions in PBL, I have
understood 3 criteria to make a good driving question. The first thing that
make a good driving question is that it is engaging for students. It is
understandable and interesting to students, and it provokes further questions
and focuses their inquiry process. Secondly, it needs to be open-ended amd
there could be several possible answers, and it cannot simply be Googled. The
final criteria is that it has to be aligned with learning goals. To answer it,
students will need to learn the targeted content and skills. From these criteria,
I can refer to a bad driving question. It is the kind of question that is google –
able. It is easy to be answered, not open – ended, and it does not require
critical thinking. Additionally, it sounds like the voice of a teacher or a
textbook; therefore, it’s not engaging. Another point is that the question may
be aligned to learning goals; however, if it’s too simple, or obvious, it also
become a bad question as it does not require critical thinking. The last point
within my discovery is that a bad driving question is so general that it’s too
broad which make it not engaging enough or provocative.
Next time, based on what I have achieved from this course, I will devote more
time to developing driving questions in PBL. It may be difficult, but more time
of research will bring great results.