See, Think, Wonder

15-20 Minutes

The See-Think-Wonder strategy is an artful thinking routine from Harvard’s Project Zero. The purpose of this routine is to allow students time to thoughtfully consider not only what they’re observing, but also what those observations mean. This also becomes a way for students to begin asking thoughtful, probing questions – which is a hallmark of the STEAM approach.

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STEP 1: Begin by looking at an image or a problem and asking students “What do you See” . Give them at least one full minute (if not more) to really take in the entire image or problem.
STEP 2: Have students write down everything they observe in the “see” column. You can also just use the phrase as a prompt for discussion, but giving students the opportunity to write down their observations allows for processing time.
STEP 3: Then, ask students “What do you think?” about anything they noticed. This probes them to look a little deeper at what they noticed on the surface to see if there is any significance to it. Have them write down their thoughts in the “think” column.
STEP 4: Finally, you ask students “What do you Wonder?“, which allows them to take what they thought about the image or problem and let their imaginations run wild. They could consider things like: what is the setting, what happened to cause this problem, why did the author/painter/creator set it up this way, what are we supposed to take away from this? These are all high-level inquiries that propel our students into discovering the “answers” for themselves. Make sure they write these questions down in the “wonder” column.
Supporting Doc: DOWNLOAD THE HANDOUT FOR STUDENTS