Wonder … the Reward for Paying Attention
Early in my career I learned if you want to gauge the effectiveness of your lessons just ask your students! They will tell you! And they always have valuable feedback!
Integrating Language Arts and Literacy
I’d been playing with bridging language arts & science so that we were “Thinking Literacy in Science.” And on this particular day, my integrated lesson involved reading about “The Earth’s Supply of Water” in science and developing related questions that connected to the content of the text. I was exploring the overlap in skills used in both of these subjects, recognizing that critical thinking, questioning and comprehension skills honed in our language arts time could significantly enhance students’ understanding of science concepts. By using both blocks of subject time we were building foundational skills in language arts and then seamlessly applying them in science to create a more cohesive and enriched learning experience. Homework for my grade 8s that night was to continue reading the text that we had been discussing in class and jot down further questions that came to mind for them.
David’s Insights
That’s when David came up to me at the end of class and said, “So, Miss. M. Let me get this straight. Tonight. For homework. All we have to do is write down the questions that come up for us as we are reading?”
“Yes, David,” I responded, “Is that ok?”
“Yes, for sure,” he replied, “I have lots of questions! But no one has ever asked me for them before!”
I’ve told this story often but I still remember the feelings his response evoked in me that day. On the one hand I was sad. Sad that as teachers we are often in control of all of the questions that get asked in our classrooms. Why wasn’t I asking my students what questions they had more often? On the other hand, I had a gut feeling we were onto something important here!
David’s reaction affirmed his thinking was being validated, his curiosity was engaged and he was feeling empowered within our classroom to be a more active part of the learning. Being open to student feedback was helping me refine my teaching methods and ensuring that my lessons resonated with and benefitted all learners.
The “Observe & Wonder” Thinking Routine
I’ve shared this same story with teachers in our Science Literacy Network as we introduced the “Observe & Wonder” Thinking Routine to them. Moving students from “answering questions” to joining us in “asking questions” can stimulate wonder and lead to curiosity while also validating students’ own interests within the context of the curriculum. Wonder, or that initial sense of amazement driven by observation, sparks students to ask questions and become curious about exploring those questions to learn more. Wonder is also a key component to learning because children need to recognize a gap in their own knowledge to be motivated to seek out more information (Da-Jung D., Hyun J., Glona L., and Sung-il K., 2019).
Much like the root of the word “question,” wonder leads to curiosity which propels our “quest” for answers forward. As adults we tend to move from observation to wonder and asking questions quite naturally. It’s automatic. So it is easy to see how this would be a worthwhile thinking routine to develop with students. Our teacher colleagues shared that implementing this shift in pedagogy immediately resulted in increased engagement and helped students better process what they were thinking as they observed objects and events in science.
As we share in our book, Fail-Safe Strategies for Science and Literacy, what students pay attention to is what will eventually be learned as it has the greatest chance of making its way into long term memory. So our first challenge is to get students to pay attention to the right things by removing distractions in our classroom environments. Then, we need to help them focus their time and thinking by supporting active participation with the learning materials. This is what our Fail-Safe Strategies do. The “Fail-Safe Strategies are designed to support students to select the correct information and organize it in a manner that supports them in integrating their new understanding into their long-term memory.” (Mirabelli, S. and Sandner, L., 2023, p. 20) They can really be used across the curriculum. So what might we get students to observe?
Materials and Prompts to Spark Wonder
In a previous blog I talked about what we should have students look for when they are observing. Now let’s consider expanding the list of what students can look at? What types of texts and materials can provide a basis for observation and spark wonder?
Luckily there are so many real world, multimodal texts (videos, podcasts, blogs, cool experiments, infographics, interactive maps, digital magazines and stories etc.) available to us today that finding a curriculum-related initial spark for engagement in the “Observe & Wonder” Thinking Routine is quite easy..
Consider using some of the following suggestions from across different subject areas as catalysts to spark “wonder”:
- Language Arts: Use excerpts from compelling short stories and novels, picture books, articles on current events, news reports, videos, infographics, charts, tables and graphs. Consider both fiction and non-fiction texts. Ask students to observe character actions and reactions, settings and plot twists. Prompt students to wonder about how new information on a topic compares to their prior knowledge?
- Science: Use natural phenomena, experiments, videos, demonstrations, simulations, infographics and scientific articles on grade level science topics. Ask students to observe and record changes, behaviours, and outcomes. Our book, Fail-Safe Strategies for Science and Literacy has all sorts of support for you, including 25 cool hands-on science activities that are perfect for the “Observe & Wonder” Thinking Routine! You can also use our “Making Good Observations” anchor chart as a support and any of the first 5 Fail-Safe Literacy Strategies in our book to scaffold the “Observe & Wonder” Thinking Routine. Or try some of our quick Fail Safe 5 activities! Five 5 minute activities, one for each day of the week, will have your students observing, wondering, sorting and categorizing their questions to make sense of real world phenomena we’ve captured in a photograph while building their vocabulary and background knowledge!
- Math: Present students with real-world problems and current events (i.e. economics, the Olympics, sports), infographics, charts, tables and graphs and news reports or articles that include statistics and numbers. Encourage students to look for patterns, trends and anomalies. Prompt students to wonder why certain numbers and statistics are included. What other numbers or statistics would they have also wanted?
- History: Use primary source documents, artifacts, historical paintings, videos, news reports and political cartoons. Prompt students to notice details and wonder about the historical context of the time. What might these artifacts tell us about a society or culture? What other information do we need to better understand these artifacts?
- Geography: Use photographs of landscapes, interactive maps, topographical maps, infographics on population density or climate change, documentaries on ecosystems or natural disasters, virtual tours of national parks, cities or historical sites, weather reports, podcasts, online articles and blogs, charts and tables presenting statistics about a country or region. Prompt students to wonder about how the physical landscape affects settlement patterns, migration and quality of life.
- Visual Arts: Use paintings, photographs and sculptures from a variety of artists, time periods and cultures around the world. Ask students to make observations about colour, texture, balance, composition. Prompt students to wonder about the artist’s choices of materials and technique as well as the message or intent of the artist in creating the work of art.
Harnessing Wonder: Bridging the Curiosity Gap for Deeper Learning
Observing and paying attention naturally leads to wonder. But why is wonder important? George Loewenstein’s (1994) information gap theory explains that curiosity arises when we become aware of a gap in our knowledge. This gap creates a need to seek out new information in order to close it and satisfy our curiosity. Identifying an information gap between what we know and what we want to know keeps students engaged, strengthens memory retention, and helps them make sense of their observations. Encountering something surprising, unexpected, or outside our prior knowledge is a great motivator for learning.
By integrating observation and wonder as a Thinking Routine in our classrooms, we can help students pay closer attention and engage deeply with new material. When students identify an information gap, they are naturally motivated to fill it. It’s this motivation that leads to more memorable and impactful learning experiences. Think about how the curiosity sparked by an unfamiliar trivia question or the suspense of a “whodunit” mystery novel propels us to seek answers. The drive to fill an information gap keeps students engaged and attentive because the anticipated reward of satisfying their “need to know” is gaining knowledge. Wonder is not just the reward for paying attention; it is the gateway to profound learning and comprehension!
Sandra
References
Gruber, M. J., Valji, A., & Ranganath, C. (2019). Curiosity and learning: A neuroscientific perspective. In K. A. Renninger & S. E. Hidi (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of motivation and learning (pp. 397–417). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316823279.018
Da-Jung Diane Shin, Hyun Ji Lee, Glona Lee, and Sung-il Kim (2019). The Role of Curiosity and Interest in In K. A. Renninger & S. E. Hidi (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of motivation and learning (pp.443-464). Cambridge University Press.
Mirabelli, S. and Sandner, L. (2023). Fail-Safe Strategies for Science and LIteracy. Pembroke Publishing.
Popova, Maria. (2023). How To Be More Alive: Herman Hesse on Wonder and the Proper Aim of Education. TheMarginalian.org.
