Science // Scientific Inquiry

Asking scientific questions

Ask simple scientific questions and recognise that they can be answered in different ways including observation, testing, and research

Ages
5 to 8
Type
Thinking skill
Builds on
4 topics
Leads to
2 topics
Standards
2 codes

Quick check

When the learner wonders about something — like 'why do leaves change colour?' — can they suggest how to find the answer, whether by looking closely, doing a test, or looking it up?

Ask this to see whether the topic is secure.

Topic // Mastery

What mastery looks like

What a learner can do once this topic is secure.
  • Ask at least three 'how' or 'why' questions about the natural world
  • Suggest different ways to answer a question: observing, testing, asking an expert, reading a book
  • Choose an appropriate method to investigate a specific question

Topic // Map

Where this fits

What to learn first and what this topic opens up, with the reason for each link. Required links come first.
  • RequiredMust come first
  • HelpfulHelps, but not essential

Before this

4 topics
  • Asking QuestionsHelpful

    English // Speaking & Listening // Ages 4 to 11

    Formulating scientific questions builds on the general skill of asking relevant questions to extend understanding, developed in English speaking and listening

  • Persisting When It's HardHelpful

    Learning to Learn // Learning to Learn // Ages 5 to 6

    Scientific enquiry requires persistence through uncertainty — the universal persistence habit underpins willingness to keep investigating

  • Observation vs InterpretationHelpful

    Scientific Inquiry // Ages 6 to 7

    Asking good scientific questions requires noticing the distinction between observation and interpretation — a question like 'why did this happen?' only makes sense once you've separated what you saw from what you inferred

  • Feeling of not understandingHelpful

    Learning to Learn // Learning to Learn // Ages 6 to 7

    Asking scientific questions is the science-domain expression of the universal comprehension-monitoring habit: noticing what you don't yet understand

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Asking scientific questions

Ages 5 to 8 // Thinking skill

Leads to

2 topics

Topic // Research-informed

Teaching notes

From the Marble Skill Taxonomy. These notes have not been validated in classrooms, so treat them as a starting point for your own judgement.

The approach

Help children aged 5–8 practise asking genuine science questions and recognising that different questions call for different ways of answering: observing, a simple fair test, researching (book/internet), or asking an expert. The core skill is generative (producing real how/why/what-if questions) plus routing (choosing a sensible method) plus discrimination (telling an investigable question from an opinion/value question that evidence can't settle). The five activities below are a question-sorting workbench that ends with the child's own questions, a task that sharpens a vague wonder into an answerable question, a sort of science-versus-opinion questions, a spoken conversation with a curious scientist, and an optional curiosity-priming scene. Each has its own role, and any sorting of pre-written cards is only a quick check that comes after the child makes up questions.

Common misconceptions

  • Thinking a science question always needs an experiment, when observing or researching may fit better.
  • Confusing a question with a guess/answer ('I think it's the heat') instead of an open question.
  • Believing every question can be answered by looking it up (or, conversely, by testing).
  • Treating only 'why' questions as scientific, overlooking 'what if' and 'how' questions.
  • Asking questions that can't be investigated (opinion or unanswerable) without noticing the difference.
  • Seeing question-asking as a sign of not knowing, rather than as the engine of science.

Useful representations

  • Question 'wonder wall' of posted how/why/what-if questions
  • Method menu: observe / test / research / ask an expert, with an icon each
  • Sorting mat routing each question to its best answering method
  • Vague-wonder → answerable-question transformation frame
  • The five enquiry-type cards as a 'ways to find out' menu

Teaching practices

  • Create a visible 'wonder wall' where children post questions, legitimising curiosity and giving raw material to sort and pursue.
  • Explicitly name the ways to answer a question — observe, test, research, ask an expert — and match example questions to each, so method-choice becomes deliberate.
  • Model turning a vague wonder ('why is the sky like that?') into an answerable question ('does the sky look redder in the evening than the morning?').
  • Distinguish questions you can investigate first-hand from those you must look up, without dismissing either.
  • Use the five enquiry types as a menu: for each new question ask 'which kind of enquiry would answer this?'.
  • Value the question itself as a scientific product — praise good questions, not just right answers.

Activities to try

  1. 1

    Question Workbench: sort each wonder into how you'd answer it

    Why it works: A scientist doesn't just ask a question — they also ask 'how would I find out?'. Different questions are answered in different ways, and recognising the method is part of the question.

    1. Collect a wall of wonder-cards, e.g. 'Does the snail come out when it rains?', 'What do owls eat?', 'Which paper towel soaks up the most water?', 'Why is the sky sometimes red?'
    2. Sort each card into one of four answering methods: WATCH (observe), TEST (try a fair test), LOOK IT UP (research a book/internet), ASK SOMEONE (an expert).
    3. Say aloud, for each card, why that method fits — e.g. 'What do owls eat?' goes to LOOK IT UP because you can't easily watch owls at night.
    4. Notice when the SAME curiosity could become a different kind of question depending on how you'd find out.
    5. Generate at least three of your own wonder-cards and route them too.
  2. 2

    Sharpen a floppy wonder into an answerable question

    Why it works: A vague wonder becomes an investigable science question when it points to something specific you can observe or compare.

    1. Start with a vague wonder such as 'Why is the sky like that?' or 'Why is the snail slow?'.
    2. Use comparison words (more, than, when, which, redder) to reshape it into something you could actually check — e.g. 'Is the sky redder in the EVENING THAN the morning?'.
    3. Explain what you would observe or compare once the question is sharpened.
    4. Try sharpening one more wonder of your own.
  3. 3

    Which questions can science settle, and which can't?

    Why it works: Scientific questions are the ones evidence can answer; opinion and value questions can't be settled by observing or testing, no matter how hard you look.

    1. Sort a short mix of questions into 'we could find out' versus 'people would just disagree', e.g. 'Do woodlice go to the damp side?' versus 'Are woodlice the nicest minibeast?'.
    2. Name the feature that decides it: evidence can settle one, but the other is a matter of opinion or taste.
    3. Come up with your own question about an animal or object that science could NOT settle by investigating.
    4. Discuss what you would trust if a book disagrees with what you observe (e.g. the book says woodlice like damp but the garden ones keep going to the dry side), and how you could settle it.

Topic // Standards

Curriculum standards

Codes for the curriculum statements this topic maps to. Each publisher owns its standard text.
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) K-5
K-2-ETS1-1
The national curriculum in England: Key stages 1 and 2 framework document
KS1.Sci.WS.1

Science // Scientific Inquiry

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