This week, a set of questions about being an expert.
Plus, get your Sticky Questions for next academic year.
Lots of schools are ordering their Sticky Questions for September (see more below), so to tie in, we’ve created a sequence of questions below to help you extend the one above. It features in the Year 3 pack but is interesting for anyone.
You might wish to begin with some light warm-up questions…
- What might you be an expert in? (Star Wars? Animal trivia? Annoying your little brother?)
- What makes you an expert in that?
…before investigating the concept of expertise:
- What makes someone an expert in something? (Knowledge? Doing things faster? Passion for their subject? You could gather ideas and create a “Concept Cake” – where students work out what ingredients are necessary).
- Do all experts have something in common?
- Can you be an expert in something without knowing it?
- Is everyone an expert in something?
- Can anyone become an expert in anything?
And perhaps finishing with a discussion about expertise and the wider world:
- If you’re the only living expert in something, do you have an extra responsibility to pass your expertise on?
- If you’re the only living expert in something, does the world have any extra responsibilities to you?
- What might be the downsides of being an expert?
Like this? Try this
These questions might lead to discussions about fame – so you might want to also use our Fame-Ometer resource, made in June 2023, which asks students to discuss whether some kinds of fame are “better” than others.
Get your Sticky Questions for September
The easiest way to embed oracy across your school is Sticky Questions. And we’re so sure you’ll love them, we offer a 100% money-back guarantee.
“At the beginning you could see the quality of their answers was quite limited. But by using the different Sticky Questions strategies you could see how they’re critically thinking and able to articulate their reasoning and developing their answers – to the point that my assistant and I would look at each other and say ‘wow that was really good!’ You can see the progression really clearly especially in the lower years.” Becca Paul, Head of Lower School
There’s a different question to take home every week for the entire 7 years of primary school and we also sell an extra set aimed at Year 7+.
£299 per 210 children for 39 weeks equates to 3.7p per child per week. Maybe one for the PTA if the coffers are really bare?
What’s new in the Philosoverse?
We’ve have just finished eight school/conference days on the bounce, running workshop days at Eltham College, Dulwich College, Mayfield School, Rosemead Prep and Winterbourne Girls, as well as exhibiting at the NACE Conference at Pangbourne School, and speaking at the Association of Essex Secondary Headteachers (below).
Jason’s now running a DofE expedition before running his annual Outdoor Challenge week with boys from Sutton Grammar School, where he used to teach. Both through his other company, Outspark.