Choose the subject area

Think about something you are personally interested in OR something that you want to know more about: 

A scientific discovery? A scientist? An inventor?

A period of history? An ancient civilisation? A big event?

A person with an interesting life story?  A work of art or an artist?

An interesting place in the world? A book or film?

An aspect of nature? Plants and animals, interesting environments and ecosystems?

A debate or issue that is important to you?

Your personal hobby or interests: music, sport, fashion, technology…. Anything!

Start with background reading and searching.

If you can, use a mixture of books and online research.

• This is a great search tool:  https://www.researchify.co.uk/

• Look at https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize  for great video clips and information

• Wikipedia is a good place to start for lots of projects but there can be an overwhelming amount of information:  https://www.wikipedia.org/

• Use Youtube as a search tool. https://www.youtube.com/  e.g type in “How did dinosaurs become extinct?’ or ‘Who was Frida Kahlo?’

Check to see if you think the material feels like it’s aimed at the right age-group as best you can. Always ask an adult for help and tell them immediately if you seen something that you are not sure about.

Zoom in further:

Set yourself a question.

Once you have read around a subject, decide on a question that your project will answer. This helps to give your project a sense of purpose and achievement: Give your project a title that is a question like one of these. 

• Who was Nelson Mandela and what did he achieve?

• Where was Mesopotamia and what was life like there?

• How does the International Space Station work and what does it do?

• What are the 10 most endangered species and how can we protect them?

• Who discovered electricity and how did they do it?

• What is the Turner Prize and who has won it?

• How has the Olympic Games changed in the last 100 years?

• How have computers/calculators/bicycles/cars/shoes/food changed over time?

Collect your evidence and information

Before you write anything, collect lots of information. It can be annoying to lose things after you find them so make lots of notes, collect website links in your favourites, cut pictures out of magazines or download them on your computer or tablet.  A good project is likely to have a nice mix or images and text so try to create a visual record of the story you will tell, like a scrapbook.  

Produce a project outcome in one or more styles  

Decide how to present your information. There are so many possibilities and you can do one or more of them for the same project:

• A newspaper report or magazine article

• A personal diary or first person account of your exploration and ideas.

• A report to inform readers about what you found: a booklet or a traditional essay.

• Fact files:  Scroll through these examples.  Decide what the most important information is and record it for your readers. 

• Include a timeline for anything historical

• Include maps, graphs, tables and diagrams. 

• Use some technology: make a video or a powerpoint presentation.

• Set up your own blog: it’s easy once you get started. 

• Make a piece of work inspired by the research e.g. a piece of art.

• Make it into a scrapbook, folder or booklet using simple paper and pen. 

Write your own quiz based on your research - giving questions and answers. Use this to test your family members after they’ve read your project.