A good friend shared his perspective with me over dinner many years ago:

First, you must observe.

After you think about what you have observed, you may eventually come to understand;

After you understand, you may eventually come to formulate a belief;

And after you believe, you may eventually come to act.

The true meaning of his words eluded me at the time, and would have continued to elude me had I not chosen to follow my passion for teaching.  I had been reflecting on the notion of “learning”, and how context seemed to bring out marked differences in identical processes.  It seemed to make sense:

• I have acted in response to some sort of belief I hold, or to achieve some sort of goal
• I have developed my beliefs and opinions based on my evaluations of what I have come to understand
• I have understood after taking the time observe and learn from the object and its surroundings

… but where does my motivation for making observations come from?  Why is that some children could memorize over 500+ Pokémon (the correct spelling and pronunciation of their names, their types, their stats, their appropriate usages, among other details) but not a 20 word spelling list?  Is kicking a ball over and over against the wall easier than figuring out math word problems?

At the moment, it appears that motivation, and by extension attention, plays a role in the process.  It makes logical sense — in order to observe, one must be paying attention.  Current teaching methods speak a lot to extrinsic (from an outside source) and intrinsic (from the individual herself) motivation.  I argue there exists another type of motivation that is neither internal nor external:  curiosity, or coincidental attention.

As an example, take the task of observing a butterfly —

• A teacher can offer extrinsic motivation by explicitly requesting that students watch for butterflies amongst the bushes, or indirectly by assigning it as an in-class task or as homework
• A student can be intrinsically motivated to find a butterfly because they like butterflies, or at the very least become interested after a friend shared their account of their butterfly-sighting
• Someone may be engaged in something completely unrelated to butterflies, bushes, or forests, but upon noticing a butterfly fluttering about, feels curious and begins watching it dance about in the sky

As an educator, I wish to catch my students at those moments when their curiosities are fully engaged such that I may facilitate their transformation into triggers for intrinsic motivation.

Pathway to Inquiry:  You are at INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION — Observation — Understanding — Belief — Action