‘Looking back, I believe the most powerful aspect of this unit was not the activities but the environment they created. Students felt safe to wonder, investigate, disagree respectfully and learn from one another.’ In our latest reader submission Arushi Sikri, Primary Years Programme Coordinator at Prometheus School – an International Baccalaureate World School in Noida, India – shares how a simple 5-minute classroom sparked curiosity among her students and helped to drive deeper learning and understanding in a unit on the human body.
‘Can we have today's body fact before we start English?’ That became one of the most common questions in my PYP 3 classroom (students aged 8 and 9). What started as a 5-minute routine unexpectedly grew into the heartbeat of our How the World Works unit and changed the way my students approached learning about the human body.
Like many teachers, I had previously introduced body systems by explaining each system, discussing its organs and then asking students to complete activities that reinforced the concepts. While students remembered interesting facts, I noticed they often struggled to explain how different systems worked together, or why they were important.
More crucially, they were waiting for information instead of actively seeking it.
I wanted to shift that balance. Rather than positioning myself as the expert with all the answers, I wanted my students to become investigators who asked questions, searched for evidence and shared their discoveries with one another.
So, this academic year I decided to introduce one simple classroom routine: The Amazing Human Body Fact of the Day.
Each morning began with a surprising fact projected on the board.
Your heart beats about 100,000 times every day.
Your bones are constantly rebuilding themselves.
Before anyone reached for a book or a device, students were encouraged to think. Was the statement believable? Why might it be true? Could they explain it using what they already knew?
These conversations rarely ended after 5 minutes – they spilled into transitions, lunchtime discussions and among families at home. Students began arriving to school with facts they had discovered themselves, often eager to challenge the class with questions of their own. Curiosity had become part of our classroom culture.
Kath Murdoch (2015) describes inquiry as beginning with genuine wonder, and that is exactly what I saw happening. The daily facts were no longer just interesting pieces of information; they became invitations to investigate.
Once students had developed this sense of curiosity, they worked in teams to explore one body system in depth. Each group focused on a different system, including the digestive, respiratory, circulatory, skeletal or nervous system. Using books, teacher-selected websites and classroom discussions, they gathered information, compared ideas and decided how best to communicate their learning to others.
Instead of completing identical worksheets, every team made different choices. Some built simple models. Others designed labelled diagrams or visual presentations.
Although the fact a day routine had piqued their curiosity, their challenge was not simply to collect facts but to design a learning experience that helped their classmates make connections and deepen their understanding.
As I moved around the classroom, my role gradually shifted from instructor to facilitator. My questions changed too. Instead of explaining concepts, I found myself asking, ‘What evidence supports that idea?’ or ‘How does your system depend on another one?’
One afternoon, I watched a student ask a question about oxygen transport. Before I could respond, another child said, ‘Let's ask the circulatory team – they researched that’. It was a brief exchange, but it showed something significant. Students were beginning to value one another's expertise, rather than relying solely on the teacher.
This kind of collaborative learning reflects Lev Vygotsky's (1978) belief that understanding develops through interaction with others. As students discussed, questioned and refined their thinking together, they built knowledge collectively rather than memorising isolated information.
The impact of the inquiry became increasingly visible as the weeks progressed.
Students who had been reluctant to contribute during discussions were able to confidently explain how body systems interact. Scientific vocabulary that initially felt unfamiliar became part of everyday classroom language. Instead of describing the body as a collection of separate organs, students talked about systems working together to keep us alive.
As with the initial facts, the subsequent learning also extended beyond the classroom. Families shared stories of children discussing body systems during dinner or looking up additional information at home. Several students proudly arrived each morning ready to share something they had discovered. Their enthusiasm demonstrated that learning had become personally meaningful, rather than something confined to school hours.
Throughout the unit, I collected evidence through observations, student reflections, research journals and presentations. Comparing students' initial responses with their final explanations revealed much deeper conceptual understanding. They were no longer recalling isolated facts; they were making connections, asking thoughtful questions and explaining ideas with greater confidence.
Looking back, I believe the most powerful aspect of this unit was not the activities but the environment they created. Students felt safe to wonder, investigate, disagree respectfully and learn from one another.
This experience also reminded me that inquiry doesn't always require elaborate resources or complex lesson plans. Sometimes, it begins with a single question or an unexpected fact that encourages children to look a little closer at the world – and themselves.
Months after the unit ended, students still stop me in the corridor to tell me something new they have learned about the human body. For me, that is perhaps the greatest measure of success. The facts they uncovered mattered, but the curiosity that drove the deeper learning and understanding mattered even more.
References
Murdoch, K. (2015). The Power of Inquiry: Teaching and learning with curiosity, creativity and purpose in the contemporary classroom. Seastar Education.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.
Review a recent unit of work you’ve been involved in teaching and planning for.
How well did students make connections between ideas and concepts, and what would help deepen that understanding?
At what points were you the primary source of information? When did this shift to encouraging students to ask questions, investigate and learn from one another?
How did you create opportunities for curiosity and wonder in your classroom? What impact did this have on student engagement and learning?
