Stuck for ideas for an investigation? Try question cards. Make a set of question starters in speech bubbles, eg, Which? What if? or How does? and laminate them.
Place the object for investigation (ice hands, seeds or sponges) in front of the pupils. Let them choose a question card, one between two. They have two minutes to talk to generate a question about their object.
Of the 15 questions, there will be at least six that can be easily investigated. Hey presto! The pupils have generated investigable questions and have ownership of the investigation.
Imagine the endless uses of these cards in all aspects of the curriculum.
Pauline Armitage teaches at Woodlands Primary School in Grimsby.
