Hi, my name is Niamh and I will be teaching first class this year. An inquiry based lesson style that I have found successful in the past is creating a challenge as a stimulus. I sometimes use books, videos or something that has come up in classroom discussion for this. One lesson creating ramps and the goal is to figure out how to make it go the furthest. The children are free to use materials in the classroom (once they check it with me first) and they have autonomy over what way they design it. They have opportunities to trial it and make adjustments before the final test. It was really great to see the children take charge and work together to solve this. They came up with such inventive ideas and really thought outside the box.
A space fact I found interesting is you wouldn’t be able to walk on Jupiter as it does not have a solid surface.