Abstract
We have little certainty about the specific skills and capabilities that young children need for their future and so we need to foster children’s confidence and capabilities to apply new skills in novel contexts. Within STEM environments, children learn how STEM claims are generated, evaluated and shared and inquiry provides opportunities for learners to question their own ideas and thinking. The Rocard report (2007) recognised that inquiry develops valuable skills such as creative and critical thinking. This chapter explores episodes from two different projects, Strategies for Assessment of Inquiry Learning in Science (SAILS) and Ninja Science fostered creativity within inquiry classrooms. Vignettes are presented, identifying how science inquiry created opportunities for learner creativity. Children were called upon to make decisions and anticipate outcomes based on the evidence collected. They demonstrated possibility thinking (Craft A. Creativity and early years settings. In Paige-Smith A, Craft A (eds) Developing reflective practice in the early years (2). Open University Press, pp 93–107, (2011)) through inquiry activities that encouraged discursive, negotiated classrooms, resulting in learners being better able to govern their own thinking. We found that this creative dialogic approach to teaching through challenging inquiry activities, supported divergent thinking, and led to a range of pathways towards children’s’ achievement of learning outcomes.
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Harrison, C., Howard, S. (2022). Working with Inquiry Activities to Encourage Creative Thinking. In: Murcia, K.J., Campbell, C., Joubert, M.M., Wilson, S. (eds) Children’s Creative Inquiry in STEM. Sociocultural Explorations of Science Education, vol 25. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94724-8_7
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