Arguably, the most basic skill underlying real science is observation. In the 18th and 19th centuries a proper education almost always included training in sketching and drawing. The outcome, if not the intention, of this training was to produce patient and effective observers. In the 20th century the camera became the observer's tool. Taking the time to observe and compose through a viewfinder is a discipline that helps us attend to detail and see in new ways.
Many photographers speak of making photographs to see how the world looks.
Examples of assignments in an exploratory mode might include having students begin a unit on ecosystems by finding and photographing examples of relationships in the natural world. A math class might photograph examples of geometric shapes occurring in the classroom. A language arts class might use photographic images as a basis for clustering or other pre-writing activities. A history unit might benefit from having students make images of their city to compare with old photographs from similar vantage points. In the exploratory mode we evaluate photographs not on the basis of aesthetic quality or expressive power but by asking ourselves what we know now that we didn't know before we made the image.