Depth of Knowledge It’s NOT the VERB, It’s the ACTION! Portions of this presentation were taken from

Quotes for Thought “He who learns but does not think, is lost. He who thinks, but does not learn is in great danger.” Confucius

Let’s Start Thinking! 0 Icebreaker 0 Pre-Assessment

What is Depth of Knowledge (DOK) 0 Webb's Depth of Knowledge (DOK) provides a vocabulary and a frame of reference when thinking about our students and how they engage with the content. DOK offers a common language to understand "rigor," or cognitive demand, in assessments, as well as curricular units, lessons, and tasks. Webb developed four DOK levels that grow in cognitive complexity and provide educators a lens on creating more cognitively engaging and challenging tasks. 0 The DOK level should reflect the complexity of the cognitive processes demanded by the task outlined by the objective, rather than its difficulty. Ultimately the DOK level describes the kind of thinking required by a task, not whether or not the task is “difficult”. NYC Department of Education

DOK is NOT 0 a taxonomy (Bloom’s) 0 the same as difficulty 0 about using “verbs”

Webb’s Four Levels of Cognitive Complexity 0 Level 1: Recall and Reproduction 0 Level 2: Skills & Concepts 0 Level 3: Strategic Thinking 0 Level 4: Extended Thinking

What comes after the verb is more important than the verb itself.

Same Verb—Three Different DOK Levels 0 DOK 1- Describe three characteristics of metamorphic rocks. (Requires simple recall) 0 DOK 2- Describe the difference between metamorphic and igneous rocks. (Requires cognitive processing to determine the differences in the two rock types) 0 DOK 3- Describe a model that you might use to represent the relationships that exist within the rock cycle. (Requires deep understanding of rock cycle and a determination of how best to represent it)

DOK is not about difficulty... Difficulty is a reference to how many students answer a question correctly. 0 “How many of you know the definition of exaggerate?” 0 DOK 1 – recall 0 If all of you know the definition, this question is an easy question. 0 “How many of you know the definition of prescient?” 0 DOK 1 – recall 0 If most of you do not know the definition, this question is a difficult question.

Why Use DOK? 0 CCGPS requires our students to think about content in a more in depth, complex way.

Depth of Knowledge/Level of Cognitive Complexity

Key Points 0 DOK 1 + DOK 1 + DOK 1 = 1 0 Depths of knowledge classification is based on the task, not the student 0 DOK is different from task/item difficulty 0 DOK ratings aid in alignment of standards and assessment, and therefore instruction

In Conclusion… 0 The purpose of using DOK is to ensure that we, as educators, are teaching to a level that will promote student achievement “A mile wide and an inch deep”

Thank You! Enjoy the rest of your day!