In the PYP, learning is inquiry-led: children learn by asking questions and finding things out. This guide covers asking good questions, following your child’s curiosity, maths and reading in everyday life, and how the course’s checkpoints fit in. None of it needs special materials.
Asking good questions
Some questions close a conversation: “Did you have a good day?” usually gets a “yes”. Open questions, which have more than one good answer, invite your child to think and explain. Try:
- “What do you notice?”
- “What do you think will happen? Why?”
- “How could we find out?”
- “How do you know?”
- “What would you try differently next time?”
These questions draw on four of the ten attributes in the PYP learner profile: inquirers, thinkers, communicators and reflective. An attribute is simply a quality.
Two habits help:
- Give thinking time. Count to five in your head before you step in.
- It is fine not to know. “I’m not sure. How could we find out?” is a great answer.
Following curiosity
When your child asks “Why?”, you can find out side by side. A simple pattern to try:
- Wonder. Say the question out loud, or write it down together.
- Guess. “What do you think, and why?”
- Find out. Look closely, try something, read a library book or ask someone who knows.
- Share and look back. Tell someone or draw what you found, then ask, “What surprised you? What do you wonder now?”
Try small experiments together, with a grown-up handling anything hot, sharp or electrical:
- Put ice cubes in a few places around the home. Which melts first?
- Guess which objects will float in a bowl of water, then test them.
- Mark where a shadow falls in the morning, and look again after lunch.