Wonder-Full Education: The Centrality of Wonder in Teaching and Learning Across the Curriculum

摘要

As an early childhood professor, I employ the word "wonder" frequently. In a research methods class, senior undergraduates are asked at the beginning of the semester to identify what they wonder about. Their early questions lead to self-directed research projects. When I assign students to do observations, I use "wonder" differently. Students first describe what they see in the classroom. Then they share wonderings - commentary, inferences, questions, and reflections. I have been ambivalent about exactly what I mean when I ask my students to wonder, and I have debated whether "wonder" or "wondering" is the term I want to use. Over many semesters, I have stuck with it primarily because of the richness of my students' responses when they are asked to wonder. Based on these experiences, I leapt at the opportunity to review Wonder-Full Education: The Centzality of Wonder in Teaching and Learning Across the Curriculum. As I will discuss, the book took me far beyond my initial questions and left me wondering about quite a bit.