Thought Adventure 41 This is not only a curriculum topic (at the time of writing), it is also a topical topic, and, in my experience in schools in South East London, one that has special significance for the children I have run this session with, many of them being immigrants – or the children of immigrants – themselves. Equ...

Write the following question on a piece of paper, whiteboard or IWB (interactive whiteboard): Is there a thought on this piece of paper [or whiteboard or IWB etc.]? Nested Questions: What is a thought? Where are thoughts? How are thoughts created? Where do thoughts that aren’t being thought about go? Where is William Sh...

Edward Colston 120 years ago, a statue of Edward Colston was erected in Bristol. Underneath there was an inscription: “Erected by citizens of Bristol as a memorial of one of the most virtuous and wise sons of their city.”  Colston was a wealthy man and he gave a lot of money away to build schools, hospitals and houses for t...

Key ideas: Home. What is home?   Stimulus Show the children a picture of a house and ask the following Task Question: Is this a home? Why?   Further Stimulus Bring up a picture of a person sleeping rough (could also have a tent/campervan) Task Questions: Is this home? Is ‘a house’ the same as...

This session began life as an extension activity to The Ship of Theseus session (see The If Machine p. 86) but has now developed into a session in it’s own right. It’s a good get-up-and-do session. Equipment needed and preparation: space, a class of children Starting age: 8 years Key concepts / vocabulary: change, identity, ...

From The Numberverse by Andy Day Do: Put a number line on the floor. Or you could lay it out on tables and all gather round. Just make sure there are some big spaces between the numbers. Children may have comments before you even start, just from what they have seen so far. Hear them out in case you can use them as a starting point. Before...

Stimulus: By Steven Hoggins Jeff (the children chose the names) is playing ball outside and kicks it through a window. The owner comes out and says: "Did you break my window?" Jeff responds with, “no." Task Questions:  Did Jeff lie? What makes it a lie/not a lie? The children talked abo...

Here's a shockingly simple way, thought up by David Birch to generate some intriguing and unusual ethical questions for a provocative discussion - created by chance.   Method Take two hats and put six cards with nouns in one hat, six verbs in another.  Then place something on the floor with the following written ...

Stimulus Hundreds of years ago, there was a thing called the Hundred Years War. It was a struggle between two countries: England and France. The English had land in France that they wanted to keep, and they wanted to take more land, maybe even the whole of France. The French fought to win back the land that the English. Over the hundred ...