I Notice, I Wonder, It Reminds Me Of - WordPress

I Notice, I Wonder, It Reminds Me OfTEACHING NOTESMake adjustments for the needs ofyour students. For more energetic groups,consider introducing each sentence starter,then giving students a chance to run outand find an intriguing object to practiceon. Once they’ve worked off some energy,they can return to the group to share whatthey’ve learned. Students can also share“blab school style,” where everyone shoutsan observation all at once.Listening and responding to students.How you respond to student observationsmatters. Create a culture in which studentsfeel safe sharing ideas by respondingenthusiastically and equitably to theircomments and letting them know that alltheir ideas are important, even if thereisn’t time to hear them all.Don’t be too strict about the format.Students may come up with “I notice”statements during the “I wonder” time,because they noticed something new ortheir question inspired an observation.That’s good stuff! Don’t be strict about thecategories–engaged student observation isalways a good thing.Assign a “question master.” Someinstructors ask one student or chaperon tobe the “question master” of the day or theweek. This person has the responsibilityof writing down any questions askedby members of the group and to lookfor opportunities throughout the day toinvestigate them further.3. Provide some examples of observations.PPHere are some examples of observations: “I notice this is yellowish-green incolor, oval-shaped and about the size of my thumb, it’s rough in some placesand smooth in others.”4. Tell them they’ll be saying their observations out loud, taking turns witha partner. Describe how to make observations about the object out loudwith a partner—taking turns sharing observations with each other.PPIf you get stuck, try observing your object from a different perspective or usingdifferent senses. Listen to what your partner says, and see if that helps younotice different things.5. Tell them to partner up with someone standing next to them in thecircle.6. Give students 1 minute to make observations about their object outloud. Say they will have about a minute to observe, and to keep sayingtheir observations out loud until you say “stop.” After about a minute, callfor everyone’s attention.7. Pairs share observations with neighboring pair, then a few with wholegroup. Ask pairs to share a few observations with a neighboring pair. Thencall on a few individual students to share observations with the wholegroup. If students are stating opinions or making identifications, gentlypoint this out and ask them to make a concrete observation instead.8. Monitor student energy & keep things moving. Keep the energy up whenstudents are sharing in the large group. You don’t need to hear fromevery student or follow up on every idea. While many may want to share,they’ll get a lot of practice using the language while observing with theirpartners. The group will stay engaged and excited if you move on beforethey get restless.Asking Questions (I wonder.)1. Introduce asking questions with the second prompt: “I wonder ”. Saythey’ll now ask questions about their object out loud. Tell them to usethe sentence starter, “I wonder” with their partners, and to ask as manyquestions out loud as possible.2. Students ask questions out loud for 1 minute. Give student pairs abouta minute to ask questions out loud. Then call for the group’s attention.3. Pairs share questions with a nearby pair, then a few share with thewhole group. Ask pairs to share some of their questions with theirneighbor pair. Then ask a few to share some of their most interestingquestions with the whole group.Making Connections (It reminds me of.)1. Introduce making connections and the last prompt: “It reminds me4 Student Activity GuideAll materials created by BEETLES at The Lawrence Hall of Science.Find the latest activities and information at http://beetlesproject.org.

of ” to describe what it looks like, an experience, or information. Tellstudents they have one more tool to practice that helps make connectionsto things they already know: “It reminds me of ” This can be somethingthe object looks like, an experience it makes them remember, or someinformation they know about it. Give examples of different kinds of “Itreminds me of.” statements so they get the idea. For example:TEACHING NOTESPPThe veins on this leaf remind me of the lines on the palm of my hand.PPThis leaf reminds me of the time I collected leaves at my grandmother’s house.PPMy leaf reminds me of a TV show about uses for native plants.2. Tell them it can be helpful to focus on one part of the object. Explain thatsometimes you can think of more comparisons if you focus on one partof the object, like the edge of a leaf, the petal of a flower, the shaft of afeather, or the bottom of an insect’s abdomen.3. Students say “It reminds me of ” statements out loud for 1 minute.Challenge pairs to come up with and say out loud as many “It reminds meof.” statements as possible. After a minute, get the group’s attention.4. Pairs share connections with a neighboring pair, then a few share withwhole group. Invite students to share some interesting connections, firstwith their neighboring pairs and then with the whole group.Applying the Strategy & Inquiry Fever1. Help students think about how much they can discover in nature. Askstudents to look at their leaves/objects. Point out how much they learnedin a short time about one leaf! Then invite them to look around at howmuch more there is to discover in nature.2. Explain that they’ll look for anything they find interesting in nature,then make observations, ask questions & make connections out loud.Tell them to hold onto the mindset they now have, and to get ready touse it more. They’ll look for anything they find interesting, then use theobservation routine they just learned.3. [Optional Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) crosscuttingconcept] Ask students to pay attention to patterns. If you’d like toemphasize the NGSS crosscutting concept of Patterns in this activity, tellstudents to pay attention to patterns, and explain that this is one wayscientists focus their observations in nature.PPWhen scientists observe and investigate nature, they often look for patterns.PPThis leads to more observations and interesting questions about why thepattern occurs.PPTry to find interesting things to practice observation/investigation skills withand look for patterns.4. [Optional NGSS crosscutting concept] Provide examples of patterns fromthe field. It’s important to provide examples here of the kinds of patterns The Regents of the University of CaliforniaNot for resale, redistribution, or use other than classroom use without further permission.Creating Inquiry Fever. “Inquiryfever” happens when a group of studentsis enthusiastically investigating nature,feeding off of each others’ discoveries,ideas, and excitement. I Notice, I Wonder,It Reminds Me Of is designed to setstudents up with an inquiry mindsetand skills. Add the other 2 ingredients,and your students can catch the fever.The 3 ingredients for inquiry fever are:inquiry mindset and skills; permission andencouragement; interesting stuff or ideasto explore.Internalizing the process. Encouragingstudents to use these prompts to explorethings they find in nature will help theminternalize the language & routine. Thispractice with exploring independentlyhelps them build their investigation skills,so they’re more likely to keep exploringwhen they are on their own without aninstructor telling them what to do or howto engage with nature.Introducing the Optional NGSSCrosscutting Concept. The optionalsteps here are for instructors who want tointegrate the NGSS crosscutting concept ofPatterns into this activity. For students toappreciate this big idea of science, they’llneed to have multiple experiences withusing this lens to explore nature. Seethe Instructor Support section for moreinformation about making connectionsbetween this activity and the NGSS.I Notice, I Wonder, It Reminds Me Of 5

I Notice, I Wonder, It Reminds Me OfTEACHING NOTESQuiet or shy students. Some studentsmay be reluctant to say their observationsout loud in the whole group. Opportunitiesto use the routine in small groups, pairsor individually encourages more sharingfrom students who might be reluctant tospeak.Observing as if it’s the first or lasttime. You may need to “trick” studentsinto observing more deeply. Ask them toimagine they’ve never seen an object ororganism like this, or imagine that thisis the last time they’ll ever see it, so theyneed to take in as much as they can. Orchallenge students to come up with anobservation no one else in the group hasmade, or if its something they are familiarwith, something they’ve never noticedbefore.field scientists might look for. Many students have only been introducedto the idea of patterns in the context of math, so they think of them asrepetitive sequences of numbers or shapes. Provide these or other relevantexamples:PPIs there a pattern to the height of woodpecker holes on trees? Is there mossgrowing all over the rocks, or only on the tops, or another growth pattern?Is there a general rule about where we can usually find water striders in thestream and where we don’t?5. Explain boundaries for inquiry fever; students practice strategies inpairs or small groups. Tell students that now that they know thesestrategies for investigating nature, they can observe and find outinteresting information about anything. Take them to a nearby area richfor exploration, explain boundaries, and send them out to explore. Saythey can explore in pairs or in small groups. Encourage students to usetheir new tools to talk to and learn from one another.6. Give students at least 5–10 minutes to explore & offer materials ifavailable. Allow enough time for exploration, so students can find andengage with something that interests them. Offer tools like cups, bugboxes, nets, or hand lenses to enrich their exploration experiences.7. Circulate, model strategies, help students engage with each other’sdiscoveries. Help focus students who may be disengaged by temporarilypartnering with them or drawing their attention to something interesting.Try to engage students with each other’s discoveries. Model how to makediscoveries and use observational and questioning language as youexplore.8. Lead the whole group in practicing strategies together. At the site ofsomething particularly cool or easy to see, call the whole group over. Givestudents the opportunity to make observations, ask questions, and comeup with connections out loud—but one at a time instead of all at once.Wrapping Up1. [Optional NGSS crosscutting concept] Ask students what kinds ofpatterns they noticed, and how this impacted their investigations. Ifstudents don’t answer right away, try asking some specific pattern-relatedquestions that follow up on their observations. For example: “I noticed youwere looking at those orange flowers–did you notice a pattern in wherethey grow and where they don’t? How did that help you learn about theflowers?”2. [Optional NGSS crosscutting concept] Explain that looking for patternscan help us get more out of science investigations. Let students knowthat focusing on patterns is something all different types of scientistsdo, and students can practice looking for patterns and coming up withinteresting questions no matter what they’re looking at. If possible, givethem a chance to look for patterns in another context during their fieldactivities and discuss how it impacted their experience.6 Student Activity GuideAll materials created by BEETLES at The Lawrence Hall of Science.Find the latest activities and information at http://beetlesproject.org.

3. Ask, “Did you learn anything that surprised you when you wereexploring and observing?” Listen to responses, and ask others if they hadsimilar experiences.4. Ask students to reflect on how they’ve learned to be better observers,what kinds of things they noticed, and how there are interesting thingseverywhere. Ask: “Do you feel like better observers now? Why or why not?”Remind them that even parts of nature that at first might not seem coolor interesting, like a leaf, can become exciting if they take the time toreally look.5. Say they can use these strategies with anything they are curious aboutin nature—or anywhere. Tell students that when they find anything coolduring their field experiences, they can all observe, ask questions, andmake connections so they can learn together as a group. Remind themthat even if there is only a brief sighting of an organism, like a snakeslithering away or a hawk flying by, saying observations out loud will helpthe whole group notice more and remember the experience more deeply.TEACHING NOTESCodeword “observation.” You mightwant to come up with a phrase orcodeword you or a student can use tosignal that there’s something cool to checkout—when anyone in the group hearsthe code word, they know to use theseobservation tools.Optional Extension: Focus on Asking Scientific Questions1. Explain that questions can be sorted into “testable,” “researchable,”and “not testable, but interesting to think about.” Explain that somequestions are “testable” (or “investigable”), and can be answered throughconducting tests or investigations in science. There are also questionsthat can be looked up in books or online, that we can call “researchable”(or “look-up-able”). And then there are questions that are not knowablethrough science, but are interesting to think about and could be exploredthrough the lenses of literature, philosophy, religion, or other fields.2. Sort some of students’ questions into “testable,” ”researchable,” and“not testable, but interesting to think about.” Ask students to volunteersome of the questions they had, and to say in which category they thinkthe question belongs. You might choose to write down the testable ones.3. Sort their “testable” questions into “testable right now through furtherobservations,” & “testable through longer investigations.” Take a fewof the questions they labeled as “testable,” and ask whether they thinkthey could be answered through further observations right now, or if theymight require longer investigations to answer.4. Try to answer some of their questions through immediate observations,and consider answering other(s) through longer investigations. Ifstudent interest is there, try answering one or more of their questionsthrough further observations. You might also choose to have themconduct longer investigations either now, or later in their field experience(consider the BEETLES activity, Exploratory Investigation for guidance withthis). The Regents of the University of CaliforniaNot for resale, redistribution, or use other than classroom use without further permission.Examples of sorting questions. Here’ssome examples of how an instructor mightapproach sorting questions:“Some questions can be answeredthrough further observation, likeJordan’s question about whether thecolor was the same underneath his leaf.What are some other questions likethat? (let students respond)“Elisha’s question about whether allleaves of this kind have spines couldn’tbe answered by observing this leaffor more time- it might take a moreplanned investigation that includes other leaves. How could we work togetheras a group to investigate this?” (letstudents respond)“Juan wondered how long these leavestake to break down into soil. That wouldbe hard for us to figure out right now,but maybe someone else has wonderedthe same thing and studied it. Let’swrite down that question and look it uponline or in a book.”“Tina’s question, ‘What do dragonfliesdream about?’ is pretty fun to thinkabout, but it’s not something we caninvestigate or ever know because wecan’t talk with a dragonfly.”I Notice, I Wonder, It Reminds Me Of 7

I Notice, I Wonder, It Reminds Me OfNOTESAn abbreviation for the long activityname. When this routine becomes integralto a program, and comes up in discussiona lot, it can be cumbersome to refer to it as“I Notice, I Wonder, It Reminds Me Of ”all the time. Instead, some affectionatelyabbreviate it by pronouncing the acronymINIWIRMO as “innie worm-o.”Someinstructors call this routine “The 3 ‘I’s’ ofa scientist” which includes a play on theword “eyes.”Instructor SupportTeaching KnowledgeProcessing Information. We are surrounded by huge amounts of information,and our brains are capable of taking in and making sense of much of whatwe are exposed to in our environment. Yet, processing every bit of availableinformation all the time would be overwhelming. We continually makeunconscious decisions about the appropriate level of detail and priority ofthe information we attend to. We often ignore details that are not necessaryfor our immediate goals. In our deep history, this sorting system has beenan efficient way to sift through large amounts of extraneous input in orderto prioritize what might be useful for the survival of the species. For ourancestors living more closely with nature, the most important informationwas probably often simplified to, “Can it hurt me?” and “Can I eat it?”One way to improve our ability to make observations is to remember thatour brain is constantly tuning out “unnecessary” observations, but wecan intentionally broaden or focus our attention to try to unearth newobservations. Using the “I notice” prompt to pay attention forces your brain tocontinually make new observations.Scientists who study memory function in the brain have found that makingconnections is what keeps our memories stable and accessible. Accessingmemory involves making associations between new information and whatwe already know. The more connections made to prior knowledge, the morestable the memory, as it is more firmly placed within an existing conceptualframework. The “It reminds me of” exercise specifically helps students makeconnections to what they already know. This creates relevance for students byallowing them to bring in their prior knowledge and connect to the experienceof their own lives. Creating metaphors and analogies also helps to generatemore interesting questions. It can also be easier to remember things thatyou’ve said out loud, because information is processed in both the speech andthe auditory centers of the brain.For Spanish speakers. For those whowork with Spanish-speaking studentswho are struggling with English, “INotice, I Wonder, It Reminds Me Of ” isparticularly useful because it has sentencestarters that can help out an EnglishLanguage Learner. But for students whospeak very little English, you might wantto share Spanish versions with them. Hereare some suggested translations: I notice:“Yo noto.,” or “noto.,” or “observo.” Iwonder: “me pregunto.,” It reminds meof: “Me recuerda a. “ or “me parece,” or“me hace pensar.”8 Student Activity GuideDeep observation is a skill that must be learned, and a field experiencewith students is a perfect opportunity. You may find that you can observe abird with a group of students until it flies away, and when you ask them whatthey saw, they give only a few superficial responses. Telling them to “lookcarefully,” or “look hard” is generally not very helpful advice. It’s not justa matter of looking “harder,” it is a matter knowing how to look- or in thecontext of this activity, how to use the three prompts.Developing these skills can change the way you and your students experiencethe world. When you move through the natural world making deepobservations, generating questions and making connections, you experiencewonder and curiosity. You are directly engaged and interacting with nature.Providing students with opportunities to spend time focused on one thingin nature tends to help students forge emotional connections with nature.Naturalist/field guide author/instructor/great guy John Muir Laws says, “auseful definition for love is sustained compassionate attention.” Giving studentsthe tools to focus deeply on different aspects of nature helps them build theirown emotional connections, and “fall in love” a little with whatever they’reAll materials created by BEETLES at The Lawrence Hall of Science.Find the latest activities and information at http://beetlesproject.org.

spending time with. Do this with different aspects of nature, and students buildemotional connections with the natural world and environmental literacy, ingeneral.”Saying observations, questions & connections out loud can be powerful.Students (and adults) may become bored in nature if they don’t have the skillsto make observations. The simple act of stating your observations, questionsand connections out loud can be very powerful. Students (and you) will findthat they’re actively engaging with an organism or object, and noticing morethings. They’ll also tend to remember much more after using these prompts.Even when alon

the sentence starter, "I wonder" with their partners, and to ask as many questions out loud as possible. 2. Students ask questions out loud for 1 minute. Give student pairs about a minute to ask questions out loud. Then call for the group's attention. 3. Pairs share questions with a nearby pair, then a few share with the