ABSTRACT
At first children have limited expertise and understanding particularly in the area they may choose to inquire into, but by the time a child starts school they already have an enormous amount of expertise as a learner creating new knowledge. They have learned to communicate, explore, inquire, test hypotheses, create theories, observe, analyse, synthesise, evaluate, and cognitively and critically engage to improve what they are doing. They have survived and learned from bruises, confusion, uncertainty and having to start over. They have sustained attention, persisted and have developed a wealth of expertise as inter-dependent learners and creators of valued knowledge open to the creative opportunities for deep learning. Most of the learning in school has predetermined goals directly related to the National Curriculum. All schools are now expected to run extended schools activities and this is an ideal opportunity to establish a research group.
