This study looked at initiation in a multiage (Grades 1-3) classroom, and the curriculum, design tools, and inquiry acts believed to be necessary precursors of design and planning phases whether the inquiry in which young children engage is archival or laboratory investigation. These are the skills of initiating and planning, performing and recording, analysing and interpreting, and communication and teamwork that map onto what Hodson calls the five phases of scientific inquiry in school science: initiation, design and planning, performance, interpretation, and reporting and communicating. Inquiry in school science, as conceived by the authors of the Common Framework of Science Learning Outcomes K-12, is dependent upon four areas of skills.
