Reading and inquiry pedagogy
From Retrieval to Reasoning
Year 6 Reading · Social Sciences · Critical thinking
A Year 6 questioning sequence that uses reading as the knowledge base for explanation, evidence-informed reasoning, and transfer.
THE TEACHING QUESTION
How can I move learners from locating information in a text to explaining relationships, using evidence, and transferring an idea to a new context?
EVIDENCE I USED
The sequence used texts about Athens and Sparta, retrieval questions, sequenced why-questions, prompts for textual support, and a familiar hypothetical context for persuasive argument.
TEACHING DECISION
I used retrieval as the entry point, then selected the next prompt from learner responses: extend the reasoning, request textual support, revisit background knowledge, or invite revision.
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT
Initial responses frequently stopped at factual retrieval. Follow-up prompts requiring ‘why?’ and ‘what makes you think that?’ produced longer explanations and greater use of information from the text. No individual result or percentage is published.
REFLECTION & NEXT STEP
I use retrieval as the entry point to comprehension, not as the endpoint of thinking. My next step is to keep making the move from answer to explanation explicit.
RELEVANT PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE