Whilst children were learning at home (due to Covid-19 partial school closures), Gemma Hunt modelled the use of prompts to stimulate scientific thinking on a video for her class:

– I notice… hands and feet look quite similar.

– I know… there are different sizes of shoes.

– I wonder… if I have bigger feet, do I also have bigger hands?

Children responded with their own questions via videos or photos of their ideas. For example:

– I notice I am taller than my brother.

– I know we both have skeletons.

– I wonder if we both have the same amount of bones?

Other children’s questions included:

I wonder if my nose is bigger than my friend, does this mean I can smell better?

I wonder if my ears are bigger than my friend, does this mean I can hear better?

I wonder why human hearts do not look like cartoon hearts?

Some of these questions were selected for further investigation the week after.

This links to the TAPS Handspan enquiry.

Year 1 (age 5-6) class, Gemma Hunt, West Twyford Primary School, London