Using Big Questions to Inspire Thinking in Humanities

1. Creating Powerful Thinkers
Using Big Questions in
Humanities.

2. Big Questions and Key
Themes
How might global warming
effect Dulwich Hamlet Junior
School?

3. Big Questions and Key
Themes
How might global warming effect Dulwich Hamlet Junior School?
• Provides an inspiration for thinking;
• Learning to learn: facts for purpose;
• Gives the children flexibility in their
approach: madcap ideas etc.;
• Allows children to make links across
subjects and year groups;
• Provides a basis for your planning.

4. What kind of questions…
• Personalised or local (Rose 2009 & Alexander
2007)
– How can local people improve their community?
• A project to revitalise the pond (link to science)
– What makes me who I am?
• Contemporary Global issues
– Are some people more important than others?
• Discuss in the context of India.
– Are we part of Europe?
• Inspirational
– What can we learn from Scott of the Antarctic?
– What was it like when Granddad was a boy?

5. Alternatives…
• Big idea
– Competition for resources: Is the world
fairer today than it was in Roman Times?
• Big Challenge
– How important is the story is “History”?
• Create our own Horrible History: Sickening
Saxons
• Big statement (controversial)
– Modern day morals have declined; we
should yearn for a return to Victorian
values.

6. Promoting Big Questions
• Use the language:
– What do we need to do to answer our big question?
• Have your big question displayed.
• Make it the title of your outcome e.g. non-fiction
writing.
• Talk about them in assemblies.
• Use them in other curriculum areas: Art, PSHE,
Literacy, Science.
• Use P4C techniques to bring debate to the fore.
• Refer back to prior learning through Big Questions.
• As children become literate in language of Big
Questions, allow them ownership.

7. Edward De Bono’s Thinking Hats

8. What kind of Outcomes do we
expect from this creative and
rigorous approach?
• Humanities Workbook
• Use of ICT: animation, film, podcast, cartoon,
magazine, website, class encyclopaedia.
• Speaking and Listening: a play or a debate
• A real-world action: an event, an object or a
campaign.
• A piece of writing: non-narrative text or a piece of
narrative history.
• A project
• A giant display

9. A Word of Warning
• Time expensive
• Target one half term or a few weeks of
your humanities planning.
• Only mark the final outcome: oral
feedback will suffice for the rest of the
work.

10. Humanities Workbooks
• A non-fiction book whose author is the
child.
• Shows the learning journey the child
went on.
• Imagine looking at the book again in
5/10/20 years’ time, what would you
think?
• Front Cover: creative and thought
about
• Contents page, index and glossary

11. Humanities Workbooks
• On each page the presentation of the
whole page is considered;
• Title (and possibly a date); be consistent;
• Flip over and reuse.
• Balance of History, Geography and RE
• Non-fiction writing
• Graphs/ Tables etc.
• Art
• Trips and Visitors
• ICT: QR links