The Man Behind the “Wheel”

1. The Man Behind the “Wheel” Depth of Knowledge DOK

2. Webb & DOK… • Created at the University of Wisconsin Center for Education Research and the National Institute for Science Education • Has been used to guide assessment development for classroom, school and state assessments • Provides a 1-4 scale of cognitive demands that help align standards with CCSS assessments • Can be used to help define what we mean by a “rigorous task” and/or “cognitively demanding” task

3. Depth of Knowledge: Science Level 1-Identify the tree Level 2-Explain the function of the leaves Level 3-Explain how a drought might affect the growth of the tree Level 4-Design an investigation of seedling growth to determine the best fertilizer for this type of tree

4. Webb’s Four Levels of Cognitive Complexity • Level 1: Recall and Reproduction Requires recall of information, such as a fact, definition, term, or performance of a simple process or procedure • Level 2: Skills & Concepts • Includes the engagement of some mental processing beyond recalling or reproducing a response • Items require students to make some decisions as to how to approach the question or problem • Actions imply more than one mental or cognitive process/step • Level 3: Short-term Strategic Thinking • Requires deep understanding exhibited through planning, using evidence, and more demanding cognitive reasoning • The cognitive demands are complex and abstract • An assessment item that has more than one possible answer and requires students to justify the response would most likely be a Level 3 • Level 4: Extended Strategic Thinking • Requires high cognitive demand and is very complex • Students are expected to make connections, relate ideas within the content or among content areas, and select or devise one approach among many alternatives on how the situation can be solved • Due to the complexity of cognitive demand, DOK 4 often requires an extended period of time.

5. Depth of Knowledge: Reading Level 1: Use a dictionary to find the meaning of words; identify figurative language in a reading passage Level 2: Use context cues to identify the meaning of unfamiliar words; describe how figurative language adds to an action or mood Level 3: Determine why an author chose to use certain phrases; critique an author’s choice of words to convey a mood or action Level 4: Compare/Contrast a specific author’s word choice/style across his texts, even those with different themes

6. Testing Our DOK I.Q. Math(Grade 4) Each day that Jasmine turns in her homework on time, she earns 5 points. Jasmine has turned in her homework on time for the last 8 days. How many points has Jasmine earned altogether? a)30 b)35 c)40 d)45 Science- (Grade 8) A scientist synthesizes a new drug. She wants to test its effectiveness in stopping the growth of cancerous tumors. She decides to conduct a series of experiments on laboratory mice to test her hypothesis. What should she do? a) Give half the mice the drug, the other half none, and compare their tumor rates. b) Give the drug to all mice, but only to half every other day, and record tumor rates. c) Double the dosage to all mice each day until tumors start to disappear. d) Give the drug only to those mice who have tumors and record their weights

7. Depth of Knowledge(Put the following in DOK order, 1-4) • Why do the main characters in this story conflict? • Identify the main characters in this story. • Which of the following best describes the main characters’ feelings about each other? • Interview your friends to find out how they deal with conflicts in their lives & compare/contrast with the actions of the character in focus