No Easy Answers Board

‘NO EASY ANSWERS BOARD’

Skills: Thinking

What is it? : This activity encourages pupils to record any thoughts and feelings around topics for which, as the name suggests, there may be no easy answers. The method aims to demonstrate to pupils that nobody has all the answers!

Implications for classroom lay-out: A large wall space may be needed.

How does it work?

1. A particular area of the room is dedicated as a ‘no easy answers board’ where pupils can write and record their thoughts on the issues which they cannot find answers to.

These recordings may, for example, be formulated as rhetorical questions.

2. At various points during the course of a topic, questions may be revisited in order to see if pupils’ thoughts, ideas and opinions have developed.

3. At the end of a topic, pupils might discuss and consequently decide if the question has been answered or not. If yes, the question might be removed from the board. If

no, the question may remain and pupils may wish to return to it at a later time.