An inquiry based approach I would take to a lesson with Senior Infants would be to discuss how wearing a coat in winter helps to keep us warm.
I would start with a question- Is it better to wear a light jacket or a thick coat on a cold winter’s day? Children will think/pair/share and explain their thoughts to the class. A good time to do this is when Autumn is coming to an end and Winter is approaching as a lot of the children will start to wear warmer coats to school.
Children will be provided with a template and have materials to choose from to make a warm winter coat, it’s a good opportunity to observe and assess children, can they justify their choice? Are they choosing the materials for the correct purpose- i.e, it’s warm, rather than I like the colour, etc.
Key Objectives are that the children will learn that it is their body that is warm and that they are trying to block their bodies heat from moving to where it’s colder. A thick, woolly coat will do this better than a light, thin jacket.