The Thoughtful School
or
Lynne Hinton
Seeking understanding and meaning
The discussion
Procedural skills
Exploring concepts
Intellectual process
• Inquiry skills

listening

summarising

giving reasons

paraphrasing

seeking alternatives

metaphor & analogy

questioning

uncovering assumptions

building on the ideas of others

identifying faulty reasoning

examples & counterexamples

hypothesising

making distinctions

inferring

seeking & giving clarification

reflecting
Prep
listening
questions/statements
reasons
hypothetical reasoning
reflecting (reporting)
Year One
giving examples
building on ideas of others
open/closed questions
listing criteria
exploring disagreement
summarizing
Reflection (responding)
Year Two
grouping questions
question quadrant
seeking and giving clarification
making connections
similarities and differences
quality of reasons
reflecting (relating)
Year Three
different points of view
definitions
counter-examples
drawing conclusions
reflecting (relating)
teaching sequence for inquiry skills
teaching sequence for inquiry skills
Buranda State School
Year Four
alternative possibilities
distinctions
analogies
inferences
assumptions
reflecting (reasoning)
Getting Started with
Philosophy in the
Classroom
Year Five
identifying faulty reasoning
testing analogies
testing counterexamples
relevance
reflection (reasoning)
Year Six and Seven
evaluating progress of discussion
formal deductive reasoning
generalisations
hypotheses
plausibility of evidence
Inferences
testing hypothetical claims
reasoning diagrams
reflection (reconstruction)
It is expected that these skills will be
explicitly and comprehensively taught
at the year level indicated. They
would then be revisited each
successive year.
Yr 1/2
I prefer …
 …box because you can sit on it.
 …box because you can put apples
in it.
 …box because it can be a foot
rest or a bus for toys.
 …basket because it is bigger and
it can fit more stuff.
 …basket because it has a handle.
Prep
listening
questions/statements
reasons
hypothetical reasoning
reflecting (reporting)
Year One
giving examples
building on ideas of others
open/closed questions
listing criteria
exploring disagreement
summarizing
reflecting (responding)
Year Two
grouping questions
question quadrant
seeking and giving clarification
making connections
similarities and differences
quality of reasons
reflecting (relating)
Year Three
different points of view
definitions
counter-examples
drawing conclusions
reflecting (relating)
teaching sequence for inquiry skills
teaching sequence for inquiry skills
Buranda State School
Year Four
alternative possibilities
distinctions
analogies
inferences
assumptions
reflecting (reasoning)
Year Five
identifying faulty reasoning
testing analogies
testing counterexamples
relevance
reflecting (reasoning)
Year Six and Seven
evaluating progress of discussion
formal deductive reasoning
generalizations
hypotheses
plausibility of evidence
Inferences
testing hypothetical claims
reasoning diagrams
reflecting (reconstruction)
It is expected that these skills will
be explicitly and comprehensively
taught at the year level indicated.
They would then be revisited each
successive year.
Inquiry skills… making distinctions
Inquiry skills… making distinctions
In which ways are the following pairs the same and in which ways are
they different?
• an apple and a pear
• me now and me in 10 years
• a fort and a prison
• a reason and an excuse
• a caterpillar and a butterfly
• imagination and thoughts
• watermelon and salami
• imagination and knowing
• sunrise and sunset
• imagination and believing
Inquiry skills… making distinctions
Yr 6/7
Wisdom is distinct from knowledge because…

knowledge is gained from learning and wisdom is gained
through experiences

knowledge is knowing something but wisdom is how to use that
knowledge correctly

knowledge is the core and wisdom is the dispenser

wisdom comes with age but you always have knowledge

not everyone has wisdom but everyone has knowledge

you can’t have wisdom and no knowledge but you can have
knowledge but no wisdom.
Prep
listening
questions/statements
reasons
hypothetical reasoning
reflecting (reporting)
Year One
giving examples
building on ideas of others
open/closed questions
listing criteria
exploring disagreement
summarizing
reflecting (responding)
Year Two
grouping questions
question quadrant
seeking and giving clarification
making connections
similarities and differences
quality of reasons
reflecting (relating)
Year Three
different points of view
definitions
counter-examples
drawing conclusions
reflecting (relating)
teaching sequence for inquiry skills
teaching sequence for inquiry skills
Buranda State School
Year Four
alternative possibilities
distinctions
analogies
inferences
assumptions
reflecting (reasoning)
Year Five
identifying faulty reasoning
testing analogies
testing counterexamples
relevance
reflecting (reasoning)
Year Six and Seven
evaluating progress of discussion
formal deductive reasoning
generalizations
hypotheses
plausibility of evidence
Inferences
testing hypothetical claims
reasoning diagrams
reflecting (reconstruction)
It is expected that these skills will
be explicitly and comprehensively
taught at the year level indicated.
They would then be revisited each
successive year.
Hypothetical reasoning
Prep class
If…
ears as
feet
as big
big
as
as an
doors
ox
… I had four
legs
instead
of two
then…
have
tomy
walk
like
a caterpillar
(Gabriel)shiver (Grace)
…
wouldlook
stomp
and
make
the ground
…IIwould
like
anfeet
elephant
(Grace)
… I could climb better (Noah )
Good reasoning
Drawing conclusions Yr 3/4
Does this follow?
No
friendly
dogs
cananimals
fly chew
like bite
birds
All dogs
like
to
Arthur
Some
is
adogs
dog are friendly
Arthurbig
is a
dog
So…Arthur
So
some bigcannot
dogs
fly
not
like bite
a bird
So…Arthur
likes
todo
chew
Good reasoning
Yr 5/6
To test…
If you eat all the time, then you’ll become
overweight.
… search for counterexamples …
My sister, who’s an elite swimmer, eats all
the time and she’s not overweight!
Year 2/3
Developing analogies
Loneliness
Yourmind
mindisislike
likeaa
Your
cloud
because…
crab because
they
computer
because…
bothboth
move
quickly.
hide
the
…they
have
words
sun.
in
them.
are both
away
…they both
tell you
from the world.
information.
make you
…they both have
feel a long way away.
energy.
…they can both be dark
and frightening.
Year 4
The truth is like the air you can’t
always see it but it is always there
(Isabelle)
A lie is like a bottomless sea you
have to keep lying and lying until
it crushes you and you tell the
truth
(Rosie)
Prep
listening
questions/statements
reasons
hypothetical reasoning
reflecting (reporting)
Year One
giving examples
building on ideas of others
open/closed questions
listing criteria
exploring disagreement
summarizing
reflecting (responding)
Year Two
grouping questions
question quadrant
seeking and giving clarification
making connections
similarities and differences
quality of reasons
reflecting (relating)
Year Three
different points of view
definitions
counter-examples
drawing conclusions
reflecting (relating)
teaching sequence for inquiry skills
teaching sequence for inquiry skills
Buranda State School
Year Four
alternative possibilities
distinctions
analogies
inferences
assumptions
reflecting (reasoning)
Year Five
identifying faulty reasoning
testing analogies
testing counterexamples
relevance
reflecting (reasoning)
Year Six and Seven
evaluating progress of discussion
formal deductive reasoning
generalizations
hypotheses
plausibility of evidence
Inferences
testing hypothetical claims
reasoning diagrams
reflecting (reconstruction)
It is expected that these skills will
be explicitly and comprehensively
taught at the year level indicated.
They would then be revisited each
successive year.

Reporting - saying what happened

Responding - saying something about what happened

Relating - saying how this relates to your experience


Reasoning - developing a reasoning process to show
learning about a topic
Reconstructing - showing how that reasoning process
has helped you to change your mind, uncover an
assumption or self-correct a misconception so you can
reconstruct the way you perceive a topic, issue,
situation or yourself
Activities to develop
inquiry skills: see index
pp 101,102
Australian Curriculum Studies
Association 2007