Have I Explicitly Supported Students in Developing the Skills I’m Looking For?

“It’s kind of round. It’s big. There’s a bruise on it.” — Observations of a potato by a Grade 8 student

When a student described their potato with such basic detail I knew something had to change. This simple observation highlighted a critical gap in my teaching practice. I realized that while I frequently asked my students to “make observations” in science, I had never explicitly taught them how to observe. Observations are more than just looking, they involve paying attention to details by using as many senses as possible to accurately describe the characteristics and changes in an object or event during an investigation. But how do students decide what they should pay attention to? What should they describe? In how much detail? What changes are important to note during an investigation? It became clear that time and attention supporting, modeling, sharing, and debriefing observations needed to be a regular part of our learning process in order to develop this foundational skill.

Bridging Language Arts and Science

In Language Arts, I often prompted students to describe what they were “noticing” about a character, setting, event or data when analyzing texts, visuals, and infographics. For example, when discussing a mystery novel I might ask, “What do you notice about how the author describes the crime scene? Why might these details be important?” Students might respond by noting, “There were papers scattered everywhere and several desk drawers were left open. This makes me think the suspect was looking for something specific and left in a hurry.”  It wasn’t long before students started drawing connections between our work in language arts and their scientific investigations. “It’s like being a detective in a mystery novel,” one student remarked, “We need to note important details just like a detective would in their investigation. Observations are the start of everything!”

This was a breakthrough. Students were beginning to “Think Literacy in Science,” understanding that keen observation is crucial in both fields and underpins other skills like asking good questions, making good inferences and drawing accurate conclusions. The very same skills they were using as they were reading mysteries in language arts! Together we realized that making good observations is an important starting point in all subject areas that helps us make sense of an experience. In history, observation skills can help us examine a primary source or painting from a particular era. In math our observation skills can help us identify patterns or anomalies in a set of data. In visual arts, keen observations help us notice fine details and techniques used by the artist that could otherwise be missed.

What activity brought this all together?

It was the “The Missing Potato Report” which you will find as an introductory activity for the “Observe & Wonder” Thinking Routine in our book, Fail-Safe Strategies for Science and Literacy. Students quickly connected to the task of describing their potato, quantitatively and qualitatively, in detail, as if it was a character in a story! Some envisioned describing Mr. Potato Head (the toy) which might be a good adaptation for younger students! Once their description of the physical characteristics of their potato were complete they created a story around the potato and filed their “Missing Potato” reports with me. Students then used a peer’s report to find the “missing” potato from a larger pile. This is an important second step in the activity that prompted students to use a classmate’s observation records and provided immediate feedback on the quality of those observations! The near perfect identification of all the potatoes from the pile based on the reports their peers had written was remarkable and underscored the value of detailed and clear observations and diagrams.

Creating an Anchor for Learning

To solidify our approach we created a “Making Good Observations” anchor chart that details criteria for making good observations like a scientist would.

Key points from the anchor chart include:

• Be specific: base observations on physical properties of matter; e.g., size, shape, colour, texture, odour
• Note changes: record any changes over time during the investigation
• Provide a visual: draw and label a picture of what you observe

Our anchor chart has been refined over the years and has proven itself invaluable in both classrooms and professional development networks. It is so much easier to support our students if we, as teachers, are clear on the criteria ourselves! We hope you’ll find the anchor chart just as useful.

The Cognitive Science Behind Focus and Attention

As teachers we know that there are a lot of stimuli competing for our students’ attention at any one point in time. So how do we get them to notice and pay attention to the important parts for learning? Cognitive science reveals that our sensory memory decides what we pay attention to, acting as a filter that lets through information we deem important while ignoring the rest.

To help students better develop their observation skills we can equip them with strategies to identify and prioritize what to pay attention to when they are reading or observing phenomena. Our Fail-Safe Literacy Strategies supporting the “Observe & Wonder” Thinking Routine encourage students to slow down, look longer, think critically and wonder about what’s important, surprising or unexpected. Slowing down to closely observe finer details fosters deeper engagement, and improves memory and higher-order thinking. Developing students’ observation skills can enhance learning in literacy, science and across all subject areas. Our first Thinking Routine activity,”The Missing Potato Report,” is designed to help students develop their observation skills.

We delve into this and more in our book, Fail-Safe Strategies for Science and Literacy. Discover how focusing students’ attention can transform your teaching. Start by trying out “The Missing Potato Report” activity and let us know about your experience in the comments below or via social media at @thinkfailsafe. Let’s create an interactive community of educators dedicated to improving students’ observation skills.

Sandra