Using open-ended practical challenges in the sciences

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photo of a boy wearing safety goggles and a lab coat pouring liquid from a beaker into a funnel.

Open-ended challenges involve practical tasks that require pupils to think for themselves, often using trial and error to solve problems. Instead of practical work being recipe driven, in challenges pupils have the opportunity to explore their own ideas with the process of the challenge being as important as the outcome.

The development of analytical as well as practical skills is intrinsic in such learning experiences. Open-ended practical challenges improve pupils' learning in a similar way to the use of open-ended questioning.

Such learning experiences contribute to the development of the four capacities in the learners: successful learners, effective contributors, confident individuals and responsible citizens. They provide an opportunity for involving the learner in the learning process in a number of ways, for example deciding what success will look like, providing scope for personalisation and choice, and introducing challenge and enjoyment.

Incorporating open-ended practical challenges in the sciences provides learners with opportunities to think like scientists. Many practical activities in the sciences involve the learner following instructions that have been supplied by the teacher in which the result has been predetermined. Real-life scientific investigations are not always like this.

‘Through involvement in a wide range of open-ended experiences, challenges and investigations, including those related to the applications of science in areas such as engineering, medicine and forensics, children and young people develop skills of critical thinking and appreciate the key role of the scientific process both in generating new knowledge and in applying this to addressing the needs of society.’

Sciences - principles and practice paper

The following short videos show teachers exploring the use of open-ended practical challenges in the sciences.