Stage 1: Initiating and eliciting
An Enquiring Minds lesson begins with students generating ideas for subjects they want to pursue.
How does it work?
The teacher’s job is to help students draw on their own lives and experiences to discover things that interest them, make them excited, curious and want to ask questions. It’s about getting students to look at familiar things from surprising angles: asking questions, igniting ideas and spurring them on. The message to students is that they've got something interesting to say – something worthwhile to bring to their lessons.
Some of the things that could take place at this stage include:
- finding and collecting things
- drawing, sketching, telling stories
- taking stock, observing, noting, counting
- posing questions and identifying problems
- talking, debating, disagreeing.
Next stage: Defining and responding