ABSTRACT
This approach is designed to be a ‘dramatic’ introduction to an object or living organism. It works best if the ‘object’ is something that children are likely to be unfamiliar with, e.g. a pitcher plant (see Figure 2.1) or a 1930s tennis racket. Objects that they have not seen or come across before can effectively pique their interest. Seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary can be effective, too (e.g. magnifying different seeds and asking for predictions about how they may develop; slowly revealing inner parts of various fruits; or exploring the inside of a helmet and probing how they think it might be used and why). The approach is intended to be a strategy that hones children’s observational skills as well as arousing their curiosity to ‘want to find out more’ and ‘ask more questions’.
