Big Ideas and Questions

Respond to the following in a minimum of 175 words: 

One way to organize interdisciplinary thematic study is around big ideas and essential questions. Big ideas can be applied across disciplines, promote an in-depth understanding, and are unifying concepts. Essential questions go beyond just asking for information. They build an inquiry or follow a line of thought that encourages the analysis of experiences to form conclusions or to ask more questions.

• How do you know if you have a "good" big idea or essential question? 
• What is it about the idea or question that makes it worthy of study?
• How can you develop your students' ability to ask questions? 
• What are the characteristics of good question sequences that will engage students and have them generating their own questions?