Inquiry Builders
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 | Created |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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. | Thinking and Writing | Steve Williams | 09/11/2009 - 12:50 |
| Poems of delights and other things An activity to develop conceptual exploration through short poems. Short audio file of children reading poems included. | Thinking and Writing | Steve Williams | 10/10/2009 - 19:38 |
| Ideas for writing Ideas to get children writing. The writing easily into inquiry. | Thinking and Writing | Steve Williams | 26/09/2009 - 20:22 |
| Writing and thinking booklet for pupils A booklet to encourage children to care for their thoughts through writing. | Thinking and Writing | Steve Williams | 26/09/2009 - 20:07 |
| Thinking and Writing (Part 4) How freewriting and p4c can work together | Thinking and Writing | Steve Williams | 11/01/2009 - 15:55 |
| Thinking and writing (part 3) An introduction to i-writing -- writing for ideas | Thinking and Writing | Steve Williams | 21/11/2008 - 18:25 |
| 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 - 22:25 |
| 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 - 22:19 |
| 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 - 14:01 |
| LogicWorks D This lesson introduces the practice of defining and the concept 'all'. | LogicWorks | Roger Sutcliffe | 09/10/2008 - 12:29 |
| 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 - 12:07 |
| LogicWorks B Lesson B develops 'If ... then' thinking and highlights the concepts of cause and effect. | LogicWorks | Roger Sutcliffe | 09/10/2008 - 11:37 |
| LogicWorks A The first 'lesson' in the LogicWorks programme for pupils aged 9 and above | LogicWorks | Roger Sutcliffe | 09/10/2008 - 11:20 |
| A nursery question board Introducing the philosophical skill of making a choice and giving a reason with children in nursery. | Reasoning Concepts | Sara Stanley | 08/10/2008 - 19:13 |
| Mysteries A 'mystery' is an activity to develop exploratory thinking, often about causes or consequences. | Inquiry Builders | Steve Williams | 06/09/2008 - 22:41 |
| Questions about the question A graphic organiser to help explore dimensions of a question | Reasoning Concepts | Will Ord | 14/08/2008 - 20:46 |
| Questions to consider about a question Ideas for developing children's powers of questioning | Reasoning Concepts | Will Ord | 14/08/2008 - 20:12 |
| Introducing Argument Tips for developing criteria for good arguing and good arguments | Reasoning Concepts | Will Ord | 14/08/2008 - 20:02 |
| Eight tips to develop questioning | Reasoning Concepts | Will Ord | 14/08/2008 - 19:53 |
| Strong and weak reasons An activity and resource using a 'diamond nine' | Reasoning Concepts | Will Ord | 13/08/2008 - 23:37 |
| Little concepts for big thinking On the importance of concepts for reasoning and connection-making | Reasoning Concepts | Steve Williams | 02/07/2008 - 17:07 |
| A short course in logic LogicWorks. A short course in logic for teachers and pupils to help with progression in thinking, writing and dialogue. | Reasoning Concepts | Roger Sutcliffe | 23/06/2008 - 14:27 |
| Claims and reasons An activity to encourage the giving of reasons to support claims | Reasoning Concepts | Steve Williams | 11/04/2008 - 16:14 |