'Big Questions' for KS1 and KS2 Geography

At Developing Experts, we know that great learning starts with great questions. Our ‘Rocket Thinking’ questions that appear in our KS1-KS3 Science curriculum are ‘big question’ style prompts that are designed to be open-ended and exploratory. If you enjoy using these questions in your teaching and you’d like some ideas for geography, keep reading. 

Geography is full of exciting concepts, real-world connections and global challenges, which makes it a great topic for this style of thinking. Here are some examples of ‘big question’ discussions for KS1 and KS2 geography. 

KS1 Geography 

• What would happen if maps didn’t exist? 
• Is it better to live somewhere hot or cold? 
• What would the Earth be like if everywhere were hot all the time? What if everywhere were cold all the time? 
• What makes a place special? 
• If you could build a town anywhere in the world, where would you put it and why? 
• Why do we need to know where things are? 

KS2 Geography 

• How do people change the Earth? 
• Can a map tell the full story of a place? 
• What would happen if rivers disappeared? 
• Is it fair that some places have more resources or fewer natural disasters than others? 
• How can geography help us solve problems? 

The great part about using this style of questions is that there are no right or wrong answers - just interesting ideas and new thoughts to discuss. Give your pupils time to think, talk and challenge one another - you could also revisit the question at the end of a lesson or later on in the unit to see how their thinking has changed! 

At Developing Experts, ‘big question’ prompts are built into lesson plans and presentations in our science curriculum. You can explore our resources by clicking here, and have a look at some examples of our rocket thinking here.