It has been a practice at the University of Washington to begin their workshops on investigative sciences for preservice and inservice K-8 teachers with the discussion of variables. The teaching of the concepts of variables is important, as it provides students with the opportunity to understand other aspects of an investigation, such as the use of tables and graphs. In this article, the author describes a tool that has been successfully used at the university in highlighting the role of variables in an experiment with inquiry boards. Adapted from "Making Sense of Primary Science Investigations," inquiry boards consist of eight "boards" that sequentially lead students through the experimental process: (1) Brainstorming variables; (2) Choosing variables; (3) Asking a question; (4) Predicting an outcome; (5) Setting up the experiment; (6) Table of results; (7) Looking for patterns and graph of results; and (8) Answering the question. (Contains 9 figures and 2 resources.)