The See-Think-Wonder routine is a powerful tool for image visual analysis, paintings, or photos. While the method may seem simple, it can be powerful for inspiring creative and critical thinking in students. This strategy guides students to observe the visual content, interpret what they see, and ask questions while supporting students in making connections with prior knowledge and using their own language to express ideas. It makes creativity better and boosts cognitive and linguistic ability.
The See-Think-Wonder Strategy: Core Components
Their strategy revolves around three basic and unchanging questions:
- What do you see?
At this point in the process, the students observe details in the visual material. Teachers allow students a moment or two of quiet reflection and then write down their observations. This activity hones students’ attention to detail, training them to describe what they see using precise terms. That means that in a picture of the outdoors, students may recognize features such as mountains, woods, clouds, or cars.
- How do you feel about what you see?
Here, students think critically to read between the lines of their observations. It requires making inferences, using prior knowledge, and forming an opinion. A student, for example, might conclude that the landscape is spring because it is green or identifies personal connections, such as remembering a family vacation or connecting with environmental issues like deforestation.
- What does it make you wonder?
In this stage, students ask questions inspired by the visual stimulus, expressing curiosity. Engagement at this depth often leads to generalizations or predictions about the lesson, and these questions are indicators of exactly that. Students might ask where the place is, or who lives there, or why it is important.
Sitting With Uncertainty: The Pedagogical Promise of See-Think-Wonder
This approach is not only between observation and interpretation but also fosters participation, ensuring that students have the freedom to experiment and to be creative without fear of critical evaluation. Teachers are skillful in creating this supportive environment by focusing on listening, accepting all answers, and paraphrasing responses as they model accurate language use.
Even better, this strategy is flexible and customizable. It can be used in any lesson part — as a warm-up activity, a discussion point, or a jumping-off point for writing assignments. Visual material can be selected to support effectively achieving the learning objectives, making this strategy meaningful and fun!
Post in Action: Work through the Environment
For example, here is a lesson on environmental awareness. A teacher might show a photograph of a lush landscape in the mountains. Using the See-Think-Wonder strategy, students would:
- Take note of things like a blue sky, green trees, and parked cars.
- Explain the scene, relating it to topics such as the need to protect nature or contemplating the effects of climate change.
- Question where it is, what the people in the shot are doing, or the hurdles of keeping such perfect spaces clean.
From these steps, students could then guess what they would be learning about the lesson and transition naturally into listening or reading tasks to deepen their learning of environmental issues.
Evolving the Strategy: Original Variants
There are a number of formats creative teachers can use to modify the See-Think-Wonder strategy, such as:
- Posters: Students work in groups to create posters that present their observations, interpretations, and hypotheses and then share and discuss with the class.
- Flashcards: The three prompts can be placed on flashcards for individual or group discussion. No student sits quietly raising their hand like a good little boy or girl.
- Jigsaw Activities: Each group tackles one of the three questions and then shares with others to stimulate peer-to-peer interaction and idea synthesis.
This strategy can also be differentiated to meet the students’ levels. Questions can be reformulated earlier in a poor-quality format with more basic language for less advanced students and keep the cognitive demands for more advanced levels.
Real-World Applications Outside the Classroom
The See-Think-Wonder routine can be used well beyond language learning. It can be applied across different subjects, like history (historical photos), science (diagrams or ecosystem photos), or art (paintings). The strategy promotes critical observation, analytical thinking, and open-ended inquiry in each real-life context.
Teachers and Reflective Practice
To employ this strategy effectively, teachers might consider the following:
- What kind of visual material is most appropriate to lesson objectives?
- Choose a lesson stage to focus on — when can the strategy make the most difference?
- What types of observations, interpretations, and questions might students offer and how can they be steered toward the central focus of the lesson?
The See-Think-Wonder routine gets students invested in their learning journey. Fostering careful observation, reflection, and creative inquiry, helps to create a classroom environment of curiosity, engagement, and creativity.
That goes to show just how important of a role visual thinking will play in education throughout the years, and even in early education, paving the way for young students and infants to have all the same opportunities to grow, learn, and, of course, express themselves.
