Inquiry Builders

Inquiry Builders header

Develop skills in reasoning, dialogue and writing

Our inquiry builders are easy-to-use activities and ideas for developing essential skills. They can be used as starters, dialogue breakout activities and follow-ups. Used in their own right, they are capable of stimulating dialogue that is rich in concepts. The regular use of inquiry builders contributes to learners' progress in reasoning, dialogue and writing over time.

The inquiry builder resources on this page are organised in a simple table. If you use the sub-menus in the left column, you will be able to filter the list according to the resource category. Sort any table in this section using the column headings.

Title Category Author Createdsort icon
Answers, Questions and Truth
Here are two activities with which to explore children's attitudes to questions and to ask them to consider degrees of truth in answers to a questions. 		IAPC Materials, Reasoning Concepts IAPC 03/02/2012
Good Reasons
Six exercises to introduce the notions of relevance, strength and sense with which to evaluate reasons. 		IAPC Materials, Reasoning Concepts IAPC 03/02/2012
If ...
Exercises with which to reflect on the logical, causal and imaginative uses of the word "if". 		IAPC Materials, Reasoning Concepts IAPC 03/02/2012
The Language of Reasoning
Why and how to help pupils get more control over their thinking 		Reasoning Concepts, P4C Articles, P4C Library Steve Williams 26/01/2012
Examples
An exercise on giving examples 		IAPC Materials, Reasoning Concepts IAPC 25/01/2012
Generalization
An activity to help children become aware of generalization,its uses and abuses 		IAPC Materials, Reasoning Concepts IAPC 25/01/2012
Questions and Answers
Activities to help children think about what makes good questions and answers and how to answer them. 		IAPC Materials, Reasoning Concepts IAPC 25/01/2012
Roles
Some exercises to help pupils think about the different roles people play 		IAPC Materials, Reasoning Concepts IAPC 24/01/2012
Similarities and Differences
Thoughts and an exercise about similarities and differences with respect to ... 		IAPC Materials, Reasoning Concepts IAPC 24/01/2012
Possible and Impossible
An activity for young children to develop awareness of these important concepts. 		Reasoning Concepts Sara Stanley 24/01/2012
'Probably'
Two exercises on, using the word 'probably' and the links to inductive reasoning. 		IAPC Materials, Reasoning Concepts IAPC 26/10/2011
Inferring
Two exercises on inferring, the act of thinking beyond what is give. 		IAPC Materials, Reasoning Concepts IAPC 26/10/2011
Writing poems to explore 'unfairness'
A little activity to explore the concept of unfairness through having children write and discuss their own verses of poetry. Contains audio files. 		Examples, Thinking and Writing Steve Williams 09/11/2009
Poems of delights and other things
An activity to develop conceptual exploration through short poems. Short audio file of children reading poems included. 		Examples, Thinking and Writing Steve Williams 10/10/2009
Ideas for writing
Ideas to get children writing. The writing easily into inquiry. 		Getting Started, Thinking and Writing Steve Williams 26/09/2009
Writing and thinking booklet for pupils
A booklet to encourage children to care for their thoughts through writing. 		Getting Started, Thinking and Writing Steve Williams 26/09/2009
Thinking and Writing (Part 4)
How freewriting and p4c can work together 		Thinking and Writing Steve Williams 11/01/2009
Thinking and writing (part 3)
An introduction to i-writing -- writing for ideas 		Thinking and Writing Steve Williams 21/11/2008
Thinking and writing (part 2)
An introduction to writing for ideas and writing for ideas plus expression 		Thinking and Writing Steve Williams 09/11/2008
Thinking and writing (part 1)
Steve Williams introduces some general strategies to guide writing for thinking and thinking for writing 		Thinking and Writing Steve Williams 09/11/2008
Would you prefer ...?
Another activity for the nursery questions board involving children in giving reasons for their preferences 		Reasoning Concepts Sara Stanley 15/10/2008
LogicWorks D
This lesson introduces the practice of defining and the concept 'all'. 		LogicWorks Roger Sutcliffe 09/10/2008
LogicWorks C
Lesson C continues to explore the concepts of cause and effect and introduces the problems of 'rash reversing' 		LogicWorks Roger Sutcliffe 09/10/2008
LogicWorks B
Lesson B develops 'If ... then' thinking and highlights the concepts of cause and effect. 		LogicWorks Roger Sutcliffe 09/10/2008
LogicWorks A
The first 'lesson' in the LogicWorks programme for pupils aged 9 and above 		LogicWorks Roger Sutcliffe 09/10/2008