Senior Project: 100 Sample College Enrichment Driving Questions

							                                  North Lawndale College Prep Charter HS
     Senior Project: 100 Sample College Enrichment-based Driving Questions
                                                2011-2012

Good Driving Questions

    are provocative;
    are open-ended, not close-ended;
    lead to argumentative claims/essays/presentations;
    are challenging; and
    are more specific than they are vague.

Sample Driving Questions:

1.  Are disabilities hereditary? If so, which ones?
2.  If my mom or dad had or has a disability, what can I do to prevent „inheriting‟ it?
3.  What colleges offer the best support programs for students with disabilities?
4.  Are there any peer mentoring programs in place at these schools?
5.  What are my legal rights as a student with an IEP in college?
6.  Outside of school, where can a student with an IEP get extra support?
7.  What major US corporations offer the most job opportunities to students with disabilities?
8.  Which ones have a local branch or office in Chicago? Illinois?
9.  Are there any programs funded by the government that assist students in their post-secondary
    job search?
10. Are there any specific financial assistance programs or grants designed to help students with
    special needs in acquiring school, housing, and auto loans?
11. How does autism have an effect on teenage high school students?
12. How could special education help guide students to be resilient?
13. How could having special needs effect a students self-esteem and grades/performance in the
    classroom?
14. How do students cope with having peers with special needs in the classrooms?
15. How could the special education dept in schools help prevent students with special needs not
    be labeled as special or different while in school?
16. Is is possible for us as students to work together and accommodate our peers with special
    needs?
17. What are some positive and negative challenges students face while being in a classroom
    with peers that has special needs?
18. How do students that are visually impaired, deaf, or in a wheelchair properly cope in an
    impoverished school that lacks resources?
19. Should all schools be required to be specially equipped for those with special needs?
20. How or what are some ways students with special needs survive the feeling of being
    different from their peers?
21. How do visual impairments affect student‟s grades within the classroom?
22. How do disabilities play a larger role in regards to academics in low than high income
    communities?
23. How do students in wheelchairs perform academically comparatively to the general student
    body?
24. Why do some special education programs fail? Why do others succeed?
25. What kinds of programs for the autistic are really effective? What factors contribute to the
    effectiveness of these programs?
26. Is it possible for special needs students to succeed within a standard classroom setting?
27. Should disciplinary action should always be necessary against a student that has been
    diagnosed with a behavioral disorder, ADD/ACHD, or learning disabilities?
28. How can parents work with special education programs to help their child overcome social
    and academic issues?
29. What can parents do if they disagree with the particular program that their child has been
    placed in?
30. How often is a child‟s disability misdiagnosed? How is this misdiagnosis corrected and dealt
    with accordingly?
31. Does labeling (special education labels) and stereotyping influence how we look at and
    understand the world?
32. How are individuals with disabilities transformed through their relationships with others?
33. What is community and what is a community‟s responsibility to individuals with disabilities
    and what are the responsibilities of individuals with disabilities to a community?
34. How do the decisions and actions toward individuals with disabilities reveal the character of
    those around them?
35. What are the ideals (e.g., freedom, responsibility, justice, community, etc.) that should be
    honored in a society that supports individuals with disabilities?
36. What is the American Dream and to what extent is it achievable for individuals with
    disabilities?
37. Within the challenges of being diagnosed with a disability, what causes some individuals to
    prevail while others fail?
38. Do students with Individual Education Plans experience social stigma within our schools and
    communities?
39. How are students with disabilities victims of the “cradle to prison pipeline”?
40. How do fathers make significant contributions to their children's cognitive and behavioral
    development?
41. Can task persistence in young adolescents predict their income and occupational levels as
    adults?
42. Is problem-solving best learned individually or in groups?
43. Do incentives make a difference in behavior and learning?
44. Does the disproportionate out-of-school suspension rates between black students and white
    students drive the continuation of the large achievement gap in academic performance?
45. How does trauma impact student learning?
46. When criminal behavior can be explained by a medical condition, how should the criminal
    justice system respond? (or something along the lines of is the criminal justice system
    working)
47. Nutrition/food and learning? Wealth and access to food? How does socioeconomic status
    impact nutrition and what are the ramifications?
48. LGBTQ and the military, Don‟t Ask Don‟t Tell, Gay Marriage: What are the potential
    consequences of gay marriage?
49. What role has religion played in politics/laws in the U.S. and should it play a role in the
    future?
50. What are the factors that increase the possibility of successful employment as an adult?
51. How does participation in class, listening to instruction, and asking questions impact student
    learning?
52. Why do people steal?
53. What are the characteristics common to people who succeed in secondary school?
54. How much does self-determination influence success?
55. Do students demonstrate increased success with teachers of the same race?
56. Are students from underserved communities more likely to quit/accept failure? Why?
57. Does a longer school day increase student success?
58. What practices have successfully increased the ACT scores of students from underserved
    communities?
59. What are some practices that increase student motivation to learn?
60. NCLB: Are children still playing catch up?
61. Was Renaissance 2010 successful?
62. Is there Special Education in Developing countries?
63. What does Special Education look like in Developing countries?
64. Is a school set up with a multi-system of supports only for students with disabilities fair?
65. Should all students have an IEP?
66. How do paraeducators affect student academic and behavioral performance?
67. What does learning really mean? How are people labeled as learning disabled?
68. How does family life affect learning (experiences)?
69. Why are so many children poor readers?
70. How do you find the motivation to be academically successful when you have had so many
    failures?
71. How does the brain work in relation to reading?
72. Is the capacity to learn a genetic factor?
73. How does Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome affect learning?
74. How does self-confidence affect your success as an adult?
75. How do high academic standards set by the state really help students to strive academically?
76. Why are students who have special needs the target of bullying?
77. Why do students in special education get rejected by other students?
78. How will colleges help students with learning disabilities?
79. How can people with learning disabilities improve their social skills?
80. How do general education classroom environments respond to individual differences and
    needs?
81. What is a learning disability?
82. Why can‟t a student with autism understand class work as well as others?
83. Why is reading so important?
84. Why is it easy to remember lyrics to a song, but hard to remember vocabulary words,
    understanding spoken or written storyline, or writing a correct storyline?
85. Why do some students with learning disabilities understand a topic well enough to answer
    questions and connect in discussions when information is first offered, but does not do well
    on an exam or in a discussion on the same topic later that week?
86. What must the school do if my child's behavior gets in the way of the child's learning or the
    learning of others?
87. What positive steps can schools take to address inappropriate behavior without using restraint
    or seclusion?
88. School district staff tell parents that the schools have to address only academic subjects. Is
    this true?
89. What does the term "adversely affecting" educational progress mean?
90. What can happen if the inappropriate behavior is not related to a disability?
91. Do Funding Formulas Make Special Education Too Expensive?
92. Will the Government Fund Its Commitment to Special Ed?
93. Is Medication the Best ADHD Treatment?
94. How Can Teachers Help Students With ADHD?
95. What is the difference between a person with a LD and a slow learner?
96. Can learning disabilities get worse as a person ages?
97. How common are language-based learning disabilities?
98. Does LD mean you have a lower IQ?
99. What makes adults with learning disabilities successful?
100. How confidential is information about learning disabilities?