The Inquiry Jar – Developing Inquiry Skills in the IB PYP

Hello dear teachers! I’m excited to share this idea with you. It is really easy to implement and can be done with ANY age level. I call it the INQUIRY JAR. (I know, really imaginative, right?) Let’s get straight to it!

A few posts ago, I wrote about developing inquirers and the three stages that are CRUCIAL to this development; structured inquiry leading to guided inquiry before you finally have independent inquirers.  ( You can link to that article here if you like.) Well, this activity with the Inquiry Jar, is a great way to encourage the inquiry process and model what it looks like and sounds like as well as moving on to teaching higher level thinking skills through questioning and thought analysis. You can find this plus 9 more ideas for bringing inquiry into your classroom in my free guide. It also comes with another great, FREE activity.

Structured Inquiry: Model the Inquiry Process

• Simply, grab a jar or a box. ( I prefer a jar because it provokes the kids’ curiosity since they can see a bit of what’s inside.)
• Then, gather about 10 items to put inside your jar. The key here is to gather unusual items; items that are somewhat unfamiliar to most of the kids in your class. You can see from my example that I have a mouse trap, a dreidel, the strange contraption that is used to clean out the coffee machine ( does that thing even have a name?) , a mushroom cleaning brush and a variety of other knick-knacks. My point is, the artefacts are probably not really fitting into the schema of my group of kiddos.
• To begin, I like to use this activity a few times a week for about a thirty minute activity. Perfect for that end of the day time when we all come together or even as part of a language lesson on questioning or describing.
• Have a child pull an artefact from the jar.
• As a whole class, discuss ideas, schema, suggestions as to what it is OR what it could be used for.
• Those questions can be directed under key concepts if your students have that ability  – FORM: What does it look/feel like? FUNCTION: What is it used for? What does this part do? CAUSATION: How does this work? Why might it have been created?
• Document the class’s suggestions on your board so that the children’s ideas and their thought process are visible. It is very important to demonstrate visible thinking strategies as a part of the development towards independent inquirers.
• Next, analyse everyone’s thinking using the recording on your board.
• Separate the questions from the suggestions, categorising their thinking.
• For a higher level, you can look at the questions they came up with and teach them how some questions have a definite answer but the open-ended questions are moving us into higher level thinking.

Collaborative Thinkers:

• Alternatively, if your students are ready for less structured inquiry, you can give one artefact to each small group.
• You will then have them share their ideas, suggestions and schema within their group.
• They will document their thinking in their journal or working binders either using a graphic organiser that allows them to make their thinking visible or have them create their own graphic organiser if they are at that level.
• You can structure and guide their thinking in the beginning, with specific vocabulary related to inquiry, on the graphic organisers. ( discuss, share, analyse, record, question, observe etc.)

And there you have it! Simple but very effective. If you’d like more of these simple ways to bring inquiry into your classroom today, simply sign up on the form to the right on the side bar, with your e mail and I’ll send you that free guide I mentioned.

Enjoy the activity and please do share! You can connect with me on Facebook or Instagram@ pypteaching  below! I’d love to see your inquiry jars in action.

Catch you soon,