What do you think you know about this artwork or topic?
2.
What questions or puzzles do you have?
3.
What does the artwork or topic make you want to explore?
WHY
To help students connect to prior knowledge, to stimulate curiosity and to lay the groundwork for independent inquiry.
WHEN
Use Think/Puzzle/Explore when you are beginning a topic and when you want students to develop their own questions of investigation.
HOW
There are three questions in this routine. Begin by giving students a few quiet moments to consider the artwork or the topic at hand. Then, work as a whole class or in small groups and brainstorm ideas in all three areas. Make sure to give adequate time between each question for students to think up and articulate their ideas. In some cases, you may want to have students do the routine individually on paper or in their heads before sharing ideas as a class.
Keep a visible record of students? ideas. If you are working in a group, ask students to share some of their thoughts and collect a broad list of ideas about the artwork or topic on chart paper. Or students can write their individual responses on post-it notes and later add them to a class list of ideas.
Note that it is common for students to have misconceptions at this point?include them on the list so all ideas are available for consideration after further study. Students may at first list seemingly simplistic ideas and questions. Include these on the whole class list but push students to think about things that are truly puzzling or interesting to them.
