"Notice and Wonder":

The Secret Sauce to Sparking Learning

"NOTICE AND WONDER": THE SECRET SAUCE TO SPARKING LEARNING

Just recently, I discovered the two greatest questions EVER for unlocking learning. After having spent years of instructing via lectures (serving as the proverbial sage on the stage), my recent use of these two questions have sparked more student insight and student curiosity than all my thousands of hours of lecturing over the past decade and a half ever did.

There are a number of significant problems with merely telling kids what they need to know by lecturing at them. First and foremost, they usually don’t agree to that part about their needing to know it... :) They often fail to see the relevance of the concept to their lives. Secondly, students are typically being told facts, concepts, and answers out of context. They’re told, “This is the answer, this is how you find it, this is the way it is.” Then they’re told to learn it, just because they’re "supposed to." Third, lecturing on a topic doesn’t necessarily help students connect that concept to their prior knowledge. It doesn’t honor the students’ backgrounds or their personal experiences on the subject. Lastly, when students are spoon-fed material, it doesn’t usually arouse a curiosity within them. As they mindlessly listen and take notes, rarely do they develop a thirst to dig deeper into the subject.

So what are these two magical questions that will lead to a better student interaction with the concept to be learned/explored? What question will cause potential learners to reflexively activate their brains to connect the topic at hand to what they already know about the subject? What question will provoke within students a desire to further explore and investigate a topic? What question honors and respects students prior knowledge, and meets them where they are?

I suppose I’ve teased you long enough… Without further ado (unless you think I should throw more ado at you!), here are the questions I have started regularly using when exploring topics with students:

“What do you notice?”

What do you wonder?”

Before you pooh-pooh the notion, let’s try something. Take a look at the picture below. Then, take a minute to note all the things that you notice about the picture. Then take another minute to think contemplate what you're curious about in regards to the picture.

As I look at the picture, here are some things that I notice:

Alligator

Sharp teeth

Small bird

Predator/prey

Food

Swamp

Dinner

Smelly breath

Long tongue

I could go on and on…

As I look at the picture, here are some things that I wonder:

Will the bird get eaten?

Do alligators eat birds?

What kind of bird is it?

Did the alligator lure the bird in there?

Why is the bird in there?

What is the bird looking at?

If the alligator is not going to eat the bird, why would it allow the bird to be in there?

Is the bird looking for food?

How long will the bird stay in there?

Is the reptile an alligator or crocodile?

What’s the difference between an alligator and crocodile?

I could go on and on…

As you can see, even without someone lecturing to me about the animals presented in the situation, I already have a lot that is going through my head… If someone would only ask the right questions to unlock those thoughts and spark that curiosity.

At its core, math is ultimately about the study of patterns. We find patterns. We figure out how they work. We figure out why they work. We figure out how we can use those patterns to solve problems and to make our lives easier.

Our brains are wired to look for patterns in the world around us. When you pose the questions of “What do you notice?” and “What do you wonder?”, you are inviting the brain of the learner to engage with the pattern. It’s an invitation that is typically very well received. During a lesson, when students start saying to me:

"I notice that these numbers are repeating in this particular way..."

"I notice that when lines are parallel, there is something interesting going on with the slope of the lines..."

“I wonder how I can make exponents produce a negative answer...”

“I wonder what would happen if I dilate this figure by a negative scale factor…”

“I wonder if there can be an exponent of zero…”

These phrases are like glorious music to my ears. It tells me the student is interested, engaged, and invested. I couldn’t ask for anything more.

Try starting conversations about new topicswith these questions (any topic, not just math). Asking someone what they notice or wonder about something is a great way to start an engaging and exploratory dialogue. Alternatively, try using the phrases “I notice” and “I wonder” more often. You will find that when you seek to use those phrases, it inevitably changes how you look at the world (in a very good way). It brings about a learning mindset.

For more on “Notice and Wonder”, check out this Ignite talk from Annie Fetter of The Math Forum.

* In an “Ignite Talk,” presenters get 20 slides, which automatically advance every 15 seconds. The result is a fast, fun information-filled presentation that lasts just 5 minutes.

Page updated

Report abuse