Essential questions are a great way to get students to think more in depth about the subject. In terms of mathematics, which is my content area, essential questions can help students understand why concepts work the way they do. Essential questions can provide clarity to subjects that students are struggling with.
1. What would our world be like without numbers?
2. How can irrational numbers be useful?
3. When would probabilities be useful in the real world?
4. How important is data and how you represent it?
5. How and why do we use variables?