Too often we don't consider what are the main points or questions for a science unit, especially when the ideas have been formulated for us as in a chapter of a textbook. Textbook chapters normally contain more information than students need to know. However, without focus or central questions it is difficult to help the students see the main point of the chapter, or in this case your science mini-unit. Focus questions can also help students make a link with their prior knowledge, as well as establish a rationale for studying the science unit.
Here as some questions. Which of these would function as useful focus questions?
1. What is an atom?2. How can knowledge about atoms impact the foods I eat?
3. What can families do to prepare themselves for natural disasters such as tornadoes, floods, hurricanes and earthquakes?
4. How should people interact with the environment?
5. When was the first atomic bomb exploded? Where? By Whom?
Posner and Rudnitsky (1986) point out that focus questions should help you define the heart of your unit or course. As you think about your unit, you might ask your self these questions: Which of the questions you have listed really get at the heart of your unit? What kinds of questions are you asking? Are they mostly "where" or "when." Have you considered "how," or "why" questions? To what extent do your questions relate to the students, or to the relationship between the content of the unit and social issues?