I was participating in a science professional development session when I first heard those words: Don’t steal the wonder. They hit me like a gut punch.
For years, I believed I was on the right track. My students were highly engaged and often told me how much they loved science, and yet I had been doing exactly that — stealing the wonder, year after year, without even realizing it. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had unintentionally let them down.
That moment was a turning point. It changed the way I understood my role in helping kids experience science, the way I planned, and the way I taught.
For too long, we’ve been telling kids what to see. But science doesn’t begin with answers. It begins with questions.
When we teach our students how to look and how to ask questions, we create the space where the magic happens:
- Their thinking
- Their questions
- Where wonder unfolds
- Where connections ignite
I’ve learned that even our youngest learners are capable of deep scientific thinking when we slow down and create space for it.
Wonder is where science begins. Let’s protect it.