Teaching Students to Develop Ideas Through Experimentation
Teaching Students to Develop Ideas Through Experimentation is a free printable teacher resource for GCSE and A Level Art & Design. The editable worksheets and planning grids help students ask useful questions, compare materials and techniques, learn from unexpected results and use their findings to develop stronger ideas.
Free for classroom and educational use. Please retain the copyright notice included in each file.
What is Included?
This 18-page printable pack helps teachers connect practical experimentation with purposeful idea development. Use individual sheets for whole-class teaching, project planning, tutorials or sketchbook reviews. Teacher guidance includes modelling suggestions, support prompts and ways to reduce scaffolding for more independent learners.
The resource includes:
How to Use the Experimentation Pack
Start with an idea, drawing, photograph or design that students are already developing. Select the sheet that best fits the next decision, then use it to turn a question into a practical test and compare the results. Encourage short explanations that identify what changed and how the finding will inform the next experiment.
Suitable for GCSE and A Level Art & Design
The pack supports Fine Art, Photography and Graphic Communication. Adapt the prompts to the project and materials available. Offer GCSE students focused choices and sentence prompts; challenge A Level students to justify their comparisons and develop a more independent response. Print the whole pack or select only the pages needed for a lesson, tutorial or intervention.
Classroom Use and Copyright
This resource may be printed, edited and used with students within your own school, college or educational setting. It must not be sold, repackaged, uploaded to another website, shared publicly or distributed commercially. Copyright remains with Portfolio to A Star and Ian Bradbury.