3.2 Wondering
Wonder is another word that is often overlooked in discussions about inquiry. Yet, wondering brings together what already exists with what does not, affording us an opening into the new (Maclure, 2013, pp. 228–229). Wondering can sometimes be considered a cognitive process. We sit and wonder about what could be. Yet, Maclure argues, it is as much a material and bodily response as it is of the brain, where heightened physical feelings (emotional responses) are significant in how we wonder, and what we wonder about. In many ways, wondering can be considered alongside ‘possibility thinking’ (Burnard et al., 2006), where our wonderings don’t have to all align with each other, but instead we can wonder about multiple possibilities that may or may not be compatible with each other.
Activity 3 ‘I wonder’
For this activity, you may choose to use the poem(s) you wrote in Activity 2, or you may go back to the original story/stories from Session 2. Spend some time re-reading the texts and complete a series of 10–15 statements that start ‘I wonder’. The sentence starter can be used in different ways, including:
- I wonder if ...
- I wonder whether ...
- I wonder how we can …
- I wonder what would happen if ...
- I wonder what it would feel like for …
- I wonder who might …
- I wonder what accessing … might do to ….
Once you have written your statements, identify five that excite or intrigue you the most. Allow yourself to ‘wonder’ about the statements and their implications for a different practice in the future. How do these statements relate to the fictitious context you created a collage about in Activity 1?
Comment
You may find that your ‘wonder’ statements differ significantly from the collage you created. In that activity we asked you to free yourself of all existing constraints in your context. Doing so allowed you to imagine a radically different future. In Activities 2 and 3, we have asked you to start from your stories about your context and develop new ideas from existing strengths. This is an important distinction in appreciative approaches to inquiry, where we are aiming to build from what is already positive and possible, rather than what has sometimes been called ‘blue sky thinking’. This means that we are more likely to be able to make and sustain changes in practice as a result of our inquiry.
It is also worth considering the process of wondering. When do you allow yourself to wonder about issues? It isn’t unusual for us to allow ourselves to wonder, allowing our minds to wander, while we are actively engaging our bodies in something else (walking, driving, cooking, gardening, playing sport). Consider when, as part of inquiry processes, you have time to wonder deeply (a difficult task as a busy educator).
We will now go on to consider the role of hope within an appreciative approach to inquiry.