Top tips: Have You Ever? activities

The aim of the Have you ever? activity is to relate science learning to children’s prior experiences; to get them to all think about something they have experienced and use this as the starting point. They are deliberately chosen to try and ensure that most children will be able to easily relate to the question and those who would not normally see themselves as science-y can become the experts. The ideas are based on the Primary Science Capital Teaching Approach.

Explorify provides an image to discuss but these activities work even better if you use a local or more personalised photograph – a place or situation your pupils will recognise. Teachers who have used a local photo have found it led to higher engagement and excitement within the class. 

Have you ever? deliberately starts with the child and focuses on their personal experiences. The Primary Science Capital Teaching Approach aims to explicitly value children’s personal/family and cultural experiences and link it to the science curriculum. 

How to run Have you ever? activities 

Explain you want the class’s help. Present the question to the children. Ask has anyone had this experience, been with someone who has, or noticed a similar situation to the photograph? 

Try to encourage the pupils who rarely say anything in science to share their knowledge. You may be aware of a particular child who has an interest, or experience related to the question. Make sure you: 

• really welcome their knowledge 

• demonstrate how much you value what they are sharing, and  

• link it explicitly to what the class is learning. The aim is to make the child the expert, so they can see that science is for them and something they want to participate in

Here's an example from the activity Have you ever heard your neighbours in the next house or flat? 

1. Ask the children to discuss the question in pairs. 

2. Once they have had a brief chance to chat give them some prompts to help their conversation: 

• Where were you when this happened? 

• What did you hear? 

• Where were your neighbours? 

• Was the door or window open? 

• Does it happen a lot? 

• Has it happened to you anywhere else? 

• How do you think the sounds travel from your neighbour to your ear? 

5. As the children talk, try to spot children who normally don’t contribute that are sharing lots of ideas with their partner. 

6. Invite the children to share their experiences and try to pick some of the children you noticed who are normally quiet in science discussions. 

7. Once the children have shared their experiences, explain that this is really helpful because in science we are learning how sounds travel through different materials, like brick, wood and glass. Ask if their experiences could help us understand more about this. 

6. You could make a list of all their experiences on a large piece of paper to display whilst you are learning about this topic. This demonstrates how much you value their ideas. 

7. Regularly refer back to children’s contributions during the learning, to ensure they feel valued and encouraged to share their expertise. 

Image credits: University College London from the Primary Science Capital Project.