The 5 Whys

1. The teacher makes groups of 2-5 before the lesson and write them down on the virtual whiteboard.

2. The teacher draws five boxes – one below the other – on the virtual whiteboard and explains the use of the 5 Whys.

3. The students, or the teacher, define a problem with a product and create a draft statement for the challenge.

4. The groups rewrite the challenge as a ‘Why’ question and put it in the first box e.g., if the challenge is how can we stop the icecaps melting? This should be rewritten as ‘Why are the icecaps melting?’

5. The groups answer the question and write it as a ‘Why’ question.

6. The students repeat the process 5 times to reach the reason for the problem in the challenge.

7. The students review the ‘Why’ answers which will identify the nature of the challenge.