Golden Butterfly Books

See, think, wonder.

For those not familiar, this is one of the thinking routines developed by Harvard School of Education’s Project Zero (PZ). It all centers around the concept of Visible Thinking. Rather than focusing on teaching content, the emphasis is on teaching how to think. These routines and thinking skills can be applied to all subjects and content areas.

I’m currently in the planning phase of my daughter’s homeschool curriculum. In becoming familiar with PZ’s Visible Thinking routines, I’ve found that I already practice some of these subconsciously, but am now hyper aware of every opportunity to apply them, though not always in the exact sequence.

Since we haven’t started formally schooling, instead of asking Nusayba what she sees, I let her spontaneous observations trigger the thinking process.

The other day, unprompted, she shared an unexpected reflection with me:

“Caribous are the worst animals I’ve ever seen.”

“Why do you say that?” I posed.

“Because they have wobbly antlers that could poke you.”

Nusayba might have been content to leave it at that, but this is where I try to nudge her into the wonder phase. Get her to dig deeper.

Truth be told, I was actually doing a lot of the wondering myself. Why did she describe their antlers as “wobbly?” I’ve never really seen caribou, let alone noted them having particularly unstable antlers. I googled it, of course. Apparently…

“Caribou antlers can become wobbly when they loosen in midwinter and the calcium in them retreats back into the body. The base of the antler becomes brittle and porous before it falls off. This process is called “shedding” and usually happens between January and March.”

From there, we were able to draw connections. Nusayba understands shedding from her pet shrimp Bonnie, so she was able to understand the caribou shedding its antlers. We talked about the importance of calcium in our own bones. We both learned something new.

My book, “Are Butterflies in the Qur’an?” incorporates See, Think, Wonder—I think—quite seamlessly. In following the inquiry and discovery process of my protagonist, my hope is that readers (the parents of curious young minds) will feel inspired to encourage and marvel at their children’s curiosity and equip them with the right tools to become strong thinkers. We can all start with those teachable moments in seemingly mundane everyday interactions.