Before reading this you may want to read my comments on ‘permissible lies’ in ‘As if: truth and lies in fiction’ on page 8. This session is based around the curriculum themes earth, sun and moon and direct and indirect evidence. In this session the teacher role-plays the ancient Egyptian thereby giving a dynamic and respo...

Before beginning Honest Sa’id it is a good idea to ask the class what the five senses are and whether they can list them. It is sometimes thought that a sixth sense, which Avicenna had overlooked, is proprioception (relative position), and possibly a seventh, interoception (awareness of such things as pain, hunger and the movement of inter...

Idea: The aim of the session is to try to provide an account of the conditions under which it can be said that we know something. A secondary, and more philosophical, aim of the session is to identify any children who think that providing an account of knowledge is harder than it might at first seem. This session is very improvisatory so w...

Please refer to attached images (downloadable at bottom of this page) Looking Is this a colourful picture? Why is he naked? Is his body more like the rock to his left or the triangle to his right? How many objects are in this picture? What is the oldest thing in the picture? What is the youngest thing in the picture? Thin...

We are going to be talking about magic today. To start with, can you think of the most amazing magic trick you’ve seen? (what was amazing about it?) ‘Break the circle’ on magic   We’re now going to look at a story which may or may not have some magic in it. Stimulus One frosty weekend a scien...

  If an alien came down and saw a box of funny coloured paper with a ribbon tied around it, would they think its special? Why when we look at these boxes do we think there must be something inside? And why do we get excited? Task Questions: Is this a present? Is this piece of rubbish I found a present? If you give me thi...

By Tim Beardmore-Gray Background to session This enquiry was written for a Yr5 class that had lead a previous enquiry into exploring the EQ: “What features would a robot have to have in order to be a real human?” They had expressed a desire to explore this further the following week. Engagement was a given and we could dive qui...

Thought Adventure no. 20 Equipment needed and preparation: A standard classroom ruler and a less standard, more unique looking item(s). Starting age: 5 years Key concepts / vocabulary: steal, find, borrow, know, intention, property, ownership, permission Subject links: PSHE and all knowledge-based subjects Key controversies: Wh...

Thinking about Risk and Responsibility Session by Peter Worley. The emphasis throughout this lesson plan is on risk and responsibility, however you may want to include a discussion around self control and desire. If so, during the first enquiry (around TQ1) have the class explore how much they want (or would want) to press the button and h...