I Wonder Journals¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 2 claims (2 for) · 7 studies (3 quant-synthesis, 1 causal, 1 review, 1 associational, 1 theoretical), q1–q4 · 2 of 7 report an effect size

Description¶

I Wonder Journals are ongoing notebooks in which students record open-ended questions ("I wonder why…?", "I wonder what would happen if…?") sparked by observations, readings, or everyday experiences. The teacher periodically reads the journals (with student permission), harvests questions, and uses them to launch investigations, shape lessons, and model how curiosity becomes inquiry. The practice operationalizes student questioning as a routine rather than an occasional event.

Design Implications¶

Student-generated questions are a strong predictor of engagement and a lever for inquiry: when learners pose their own questions, they take ownership of the knowledge gap the lesson will close Student questions function as a resource for teaching and learning, particularly when teachers respond to them substantively. [+M]. The journal format lowers the social cost of asking — shy or slower-processing students can contribute questions they would not voice publicly — and creates a written record that supports self-explanation [+M] as students articulate what puzzles them. Curiosity itself is state-like and responsive to context: routines that invite question-posing increase the frequency and quality of curiosity-driven behavior Curiosity is operationalized as a state elicited by specific knowledge gaps, not a fixed trait. [+M].

Context¶

Requirements¶

• A low-stakes, regular time slot for journaling (e.g., after observations, field trips, or read-alouds)
• Teacher routines for reviewing journals and feeding questions back into instruction — questions that vanish into a drawer teach students that wondering is decorative
• Explicit modeling of question quality early on (testable vs. untestable, open vs. closed), without grading the questions
• A mechanism for connecting selected questions to active learning structures such as investigations, class discussion, or research projects

Constraints¶

• If journals are collected and graded for correctness or polish, question-posing becomes a performance and the authentic questions disappear [-M]
• Without teacher follow-through, the routine decays into busywork; the instructional payoff depends on questions actually shaping subsequent activities [~M]
• Young or novice students may generate only surface-level or untestable questions until question-posing is explicitly taught and modeled [~M]
• Logistics of responding to 25+ individual journals can overwhelm teachers; whole-class harvesting of a few questions per cycle is a common adaptation

Implementation Variability¶

• Science notebooks: "I wonder" as a standing section in lab notebooks, feeding the question phase of the inquiry cycle
• Class wonder wall: journal questions transferred to a shared display, then voted on or grouped for investigation
• Digital journals: shared documents or LMS forums that make questions visible to peers and enable commenting
• Home–school bridge: families contribute observations that seed journal entries, widening the source of phenomena

Target Learners¶

• Elementary and middle-grades students, for whom curiosity is high but question-formulation skills are still developing Curiosity is operationalized as a state elicited by specific knowledge gaps, not a fixed trait. [+M]
• Reluctant speakers and students who process slowly in whole-class settings, since writing removes real-time performance pressure
• Less effective as-is for advanced learners who need tighter constraints; their journals benefit from pairing questions with criteria for investigability

Target Learning Goals¶

• Question formulation: a core scientific practice and component of inquiry competence Student questions function as a resource for teaching and learning, particularly when teachers respond to them substantively. [+M]
• Curiosity and motivation: building the disposition to notice and pursue knowledge gaps
• Metacognition: articulating what one does and does not understand
• Ownership of inquiry: students see their questions driving the curriculum, supporting autonomy Autonomy supports intrinsic motivation. [+M]

Instructions¶

1. Establish the routine. Introduce the journal with a model: the teacher wonders aloud, writes a question, and explains why it puzzles them. Provide sentence stems ("I wonder why…", "I wonder what would happen if…").
2. Anchor entries in phenomena. Prompt journaling after shared experiences — observations, demonstrations, field trips, read-alouds — so questions attach to concrete events rather than emerging from a blank page.
3. Teach question quality lightly. Sort sample questions into "we could investigate this" vs. "we could look this up" vs. "this is a matter of opinion," building the distinction without penalizing any question.
4. Harvest and respond. Review journals on a predictable cycle; select questions (anonymously or with credit) to launch investigations, mini-lessons, or class discussion. Close the loop publicly: "Maya wondered why ice floats — today we find out."
5. Pursue selected questions. Turn chosen questions into structured inquiry using case-based learning, experiments, or research cycles, returning findings to the original questioner.
6. Reflect on the questions themselves. Periodically have students reread old entries and note which wonders they can now answer and which have grown — making learning visible and sustaining the disposition.

Related Strategies¶

• Question Formulation Technique — a structured protocol for generating, improving, and prioritizing questions; I Wonder Journals provide the ongoing capture that QFT episodes can refine
• Science Notebooks — the disciplinary container into which "I wonder" entries typically fit
• Activating Prior Knowledge — wondering surfaces what students already believe, exposing misconceptions the teacher can address

Examples¶

• Wonder Walls in elementary science classrooms — a widespread practice documented in science education literature: students post journal questions on a classroom display, and the class selects one per week for investigation.
• Learning-for-Use model — Edelson's design framework positions learner-generated questions as the motivation phase of inquiry; I Wonder Journals are a low-tech implementation of that phase.
• Exploratorium Teacher Institute — teacher professional development that models phenomenon-first observation followed by question-posing routines of this kind.

Key Sources¶

• Chin, C., & Osborne, J. (2008). Students' questions: A potential resource for teaching and learning science. Studies in Science Education, 44(1), 1–39. doi:10.1080/03057260701828101
• Jirout, J., & Klahr, D. (2012). Children's scientific curiosity: In search of an operational definition of an elusive concept. Developmental Review, 32(2), 125–147. doi:10.1016/j.dr.2012.04.002
• Edelson, D. C. (2001). Learning-for-use: A framework for the design of technology-supported inquiry activities. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 38(3), 355-385. doi:10.1002/1098-2736(200103)38:3<355::aid-tea1010>3.0.co;2-m
• Hakkarainen, K. (2003). Emergence of progressive-inquiry culture in computer-supported collaborative learning. Proceedings of the 2nd international conference on Computer support for collaborative learning - CSCL '97, 6(2), 171-175. doi:10.3115/1599773.1599794