ABSTRACT
Children are using enquiry skills whenever they are gathering evidence and using it to develop their understanding. Enquiry does not always involve practical (hands-on) work, it can be conducted using ‘second-hand’ evidence, in the form of information from books, CD-ROMs, the Internet or other, including human, sources. Indeed, topics such as ones relating to the Earth and space have to rely on such evidence. We recognise that ‘thinking’ is as important as ‘doing’ in learning science and that children can test their own and others’ ideas by using evidence that they could not themselves collect directly. However, there is no doubt that direct manipulation of material and objects is important for primary children because they tend to think in concrete rather than abstract terms, and whenever possible we use the real thing (or models of it, as in the case of the solar system). So enquiry skills of all kinds have a central part to play in learning science.
