Explorify is a bank of resources produced by the Wellcome Trust that can be used as stand alone activities at the beginning of the day, or during lessons as starters or plenaries. Many of these activities can be useful for eliciting pupil ideas.

For example, science lead Sarah Eames used a ‘What if’ discovery activity on ‘Dancing Raisins’ to stimulate discussion, observation and question raising. For this lesson, she used a ‘thinking mat’ to support the small groups to record their ideas in words and pictures. At other times the Explorify online resources like ‘Zoom in Zoom out’ photos or ‘Odd One Out’ pictures are the stimulus for discussion. These short activities can provide a quick way to gauge learners’ starting points and to pick up on less well understood areas.

Sarah Eames, Sandfield Close, Leicester