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.
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
