Inquiry Questions

Overview

This is lesson 5 of 6 in Exploring My Learning Journey. Students revisit what they learned from earlier inquiries and strengthen their Health inquiry skills by refining research questions they can investigate about self-care, hygiene, and wellbeing.

Learning intentions

• WALT identify what makes a strong research question for a Health inquiry.
• WALT use evidence from earlier class inquiry work to improve questions.
• WALT refine research questions so they are clear, focused, and answerable.
• WALT reflect on how good questions guide planning, learning, and respectful classroom discussion.

Success criteria

• I can explain why a question is strong (clear focus, relevant to Health, and can be researched).
• I can rewrite my research question to be more specific and answerable.
• I can use feedback from peers or teacher prompts to improve my question.
• I can describe how my previous inquiry outcomes help me set a better question.

Curriculum links

• Self-care: exploring self-care habits that contribute to respectful classroom environments, linking hygiene, physical health, and emotional wellbeing.
• Self-care and emotional regulation: investigating ways healthy habits and emotional regulation strategies support wellbeing.
• Nutrition/hydration/sleep connections: investigating how physical needs support emotional wellbeing and brain function.
• Developing inquiry skills in Health through structured questioning, reflection, and applying feedback to improve learning.

Lesson structure (45 minutes)

1. 0–5 min · Activate prior learning (reflection quick-start). Teacher displays 3 sentence starters on the board: “In my earlier inquiry I noticed…”, “A challenge I had was…”, “One question I still have is…”. Students privately jot one sentence for each, then share one improvement they hope for today.

2. 5–12 min · Teach: what makes a strong Health question? Teacher briefly models using one example question and compares it to a revised version (e.g., broad vs focused). Students co-construct class criteria using teacher prompts: clear wording, specific topic, relates to Health, and is something we can investigate with reliable classroom resources or data.

3. 12–18 min · Success criteria practise (question sorting). Teacher provides 6 question cards (mixed quality: too broad, unclear, not Health-focused, answerable). Students in pairs sort into “Strong” and “Needs improvement”, then choose one card from each category to justify with the class criteria.

4. 18–30 min · Inquiry question refinement (guided workshop). Students return to their own draft research question from the previous lesson or from their learning journey notes. Teacher circulates with a “Refine the Question” checklist:

• What exactly am I investigating?
• Who/what group is the question about (e.g., Year 6 students, me, classmates)?
• What Health aspect is it about (hygiene, sleep, nutrition, emotional wellbeing)?
• Is the question answerable with evidence/resources we can access?
• How will I know I found an answer (what evidence will I look for)? Students rewrite their question at least twice: draft 1 → draft 2 (focus) → draft 3 (answerable).

5. 30–37 min · Peer feedback (Two Stars and a Wish). Students form groups of 3. Each student reads their draft 3 question aloud. Peers respond with:

• Two Stars: two specific strengths they notice using the criteria.
• One Wish: one targeted suggestion to make the question even stronger. Teacher reminds students to keep feedback respectful and tied to criteria, not personal preferences.

6. 37–43 min · Whole-class reflection: how good questions guide the inquiry. Teacher facilitates a brief discussion using prompts:

• “How did your earlier inquiry outcomes shape your new question?”
• “What changed when you made your question more specific?”
• “How will your question help you plan what to research or collect?” Students share one new learning from their reflection, and one intention for the next step in their inquiry.

7. 43–45 min · Exit ticket (check for readiness). Students complete an exit ticket on a single sheet:

• Write your final research question.
• Circle one criteria it meets most clearly.
• In one sentence, explain what evidence you might use to answer it.

Resources

• Inquiry question cards (printed).
• Student inquiry learning journey notes (from previous lessons).
• “Refine the Question” checklist (printed or displayed).
• Sentence starters for reflection.
• Exit ticket sheets.
• Sticky notes or mini-whiteboards for quick answers.
• Teacher sample questions (broad vs focused; unclear vs clear).

Assessment

• Formative observation during question sorting (students’ justifications show understanding of criteria).
• Teacher conferences during guided workshop (checking that questions become more specific and answerable).
• Exit ticket review to confirm readiness for subsequent inquiry research planning.

Differentiation

• Support: provide sentence starters and question stems (e.g., “How does… affect… in…?” “What strategies help… when…?”) and offer a checklist with examples for students who need more structure.
• Support: allow students to work with a peer partner for the sorting activity, then individually refine their question after.
• Extension: challenge students to create an additional “probe question” that would help them narrow their investigation further (e.g., a second question about effects, timing, or barriers).
• EAL/SEN: pre-teach key words such as “specific”, “answerable”, “evidence”, and provide a visual “strong vs needs improvement” model.

Extension (optional)

SKIP