Notice & Wonder Strategy (Inquiry)
The Notice & Wonder Strategy is an inquiry-based learning method that fosters students' ability to observe the details closely and seek questions about a particular theme or text. Using this strategy students develop their critical thinking, curiosity, and engagement that enable them to delve into and work together on the topics deeply.
The most important factors that comprise the Notice & Wonder Strategy are the two major operations which include noticing observable details in a text, artwork or phenomenon and wondering, which is to form questions that are based on those observations. For instance, noticing colors and shapes may be the first steps for students to observation a painting and after that they might wonder about the artist's intention or historical background of the artwork.
The Notice and Wonder strategy is a tool that teachers can employ by initiating with a text or a visual stimulus and subsequently leading students through the noticing and wondering process. For instance, teachers can show a video that relates to a science topic and can then ask the students to share their observations and the questions they have, thus, generating a classroom discussion that is based on their curiosity and promotes exploration.
Engaging and owning the educational process promotes the use of the Notice & Wonder Strategy, therefore greatly improving school learning. This strategy is also providing the students with a chance to link themselves to the topics by giving their personal values to them, building their critical skills, and promoting inquiry-based learning. Such as, students who actually participate in this strategy are inclined to seek greater understanding and as a result, would learn and remember information better.
Certainly, the Notice and Wonder strategy is multiplicative, and is therefore applicable to a variety of subjects like science, literature, and social studies. By means of a science class, students could potentially notice patterns in data and wonder about their implications, even if in literature, they can observe themes and ask about the character motivations. Such an interdisciplinary method promotes the learning process entirely.