Understanding by Design

1. Understanding by Design A recap of a process described by Wiggins and McTighe

2. Three Stages of Backward Design • Stage 1: Identify desired results • Stage 2: Determine acceptable evidence • Stage 3: Plan learning experiences and instruction

3. The six facets permeate our thinking • 1. explanation • 2. interpretation • 3. application • 4. perspective • 5. empathy • 6. self-knowledge (p 103)

4. A design template

5. Things to Consider • Background Knowledge • Key Vocabulary • Real Life Connections • Grouping Strategies • Assessment Techniques • Resources • Structures

6. Understanding by Design Video • Start with the importance of collaboration “the school improvement process” • Next look at the “Middle School Science Class” While watching it: Culminating Activity/Project Group Work EQ: “How do we know?” “What is the connection?” WOD: (Frayer Model) HW: (Choices) Sponge Activity: (used to enhance background knowledge) Student Movement: Closure: • Finally look at the Overview

7. Is it possible to use this with Core Standards? • Discussion • Is it a way of “thinking”? • Time and Tasks • What Assessment Tools are required of us? How can we check for understanding (formative)? • How can I use a multi-level approach to teaching? (Centers, Group Work, Whole Class)

8. The Importance of Asking the Right Questions • W - Help the students know Where the unit is going and What is expected? Help the teacher know where the children are (prior knowledge, interests) • H- Hook all students and hold their interest • E – Equip students help them experience the key ideas and explore the issues • R – Provide opportunities to Rethink and Revise their understanding and work • E – Allow students to Evaluate their work ad its implications? • T – Be tailored (personalized) to the different needs, interests, and abilities of learners? • O- Be organized to maximize initial and sustained engagement as well as effective learning

9. Today’s Learning Outcomes • Learn the importance of effective questioning • Explore Webb’s Depth of Knowledge • Review Low, Medium, and High levels of Complexity from District Science Formatives • Engage in collegial dialogue with situational starters • Apply newly acquired knowledge of effective questions • “Take Aways” will include tools and protocols to use for school based training DCPS Science Office

10. Effective Questioning

11. Why are good questions important?Isidore Rabi, winner of the 1944 Nobel Prize for physics, was once asked why he became a scientist. "for his resonance method for recording the magnetic properties of atomic nuclei"

12. He replied: "My mother made me a scientist without ever knowing it. Every other child would come back from school and be asked, 'What did you learn today?' But my mother used to say, 'Izzy, did you ask a good question today?' That made the difference. Asking good questions made me into a scientist."

13. From the National Science Education Standards (1996) • Students who use inquiry to learn math and science engage in many of the same activities and thinking processes as scientists who are seeking to expand human knowledge of the natural world. • Inquiry is intimately connected to questions—students must inquire using what they already know and the inquiry process must add to their knowledge.

14. Essential Features of Full Inquiry • Learner engages in mathematically-oriented questions • Learner gives priority to evidence in responding to questions • Learner formulates explanations from evidence • Learner connects explanations to mathematical knowledge • Learner communicates and justifies explanations

15. Webb’s Depth of Knowledge Levels

16. Webb’s Depth of Knowledge Levels • Level 1: Recall and Reproduction • Recall of a fact, information, or procedure • Level 2: Skills and Concepts/Basic Reasoning • Use of information, conceptual knowledge, procedures, two or more steps, etc. • Level 3: Strategic Thinking/Complex Reasoning • Requires reasoning, developing a plan or sequence of steps; has some complexity; more than one possible answer • Generally takes less than 10 minutes • Level 4: Extended Thinking/Reasoning • Requires an investigation; time to think and process multiple conditions of the problem or task • Usually takes more than 10 minutes to do non-routine manipulations

17. Recall and Reproduction • Recall of information, such as a fact, definition, term, or a simple procedure • Performing a simple science process or procedure • well defined and typically involves only one-step • Only requires students to demonstrate a rote response, use a well-known formula, follow a set procedure (like a recipe), or perform a clearly defined series of steps. • Verbs such as “identify,” “recall,” “recognize,” “use,” “calculate,” and “measure” • Verbs such as “describe” and “explain” could be classified at different DOK levels, depending on the complexity of what is to be described and explained. • Student answering a Level 1 item either knows the answer or does not • If the knowledge necessary to answer an item automatically provides the answer to the item, then the item is at Level 1. • If the knowledge necessary to answer the item does not automatically provide the answer, the item is at least at Level 2.

18. Skills and Concepts –Basic Reasoning • Includes engagement of some mental processing beyond recalling or reproducing a response • Content knowledge or process involved is more complex than in Level 1 • Items require students to make some decisions as to how to approach question or problem • Keywords include “classify,” “organize,” ”estimate,” “make observations,” “collect and display data,” and “compare data” • These actions imply more than one step. • Level 2 activities include making observations and collecting data; classifying, organizing, and comparing data; and organizing and displaying data in tables, graphs, and charts. • Some action verbs, such as “explain,” “describe,” or “interpret,” could be classified at different DOK levels, depending on the complexity of the action. • For example, interpreting information from a simple graph, requiring reading information from the graph, is a Level 2. • An item that requires interpretation from a complex graph, such as making decisions regarding features of the graph that need to be considered and how information from the graph can be aggregated, is at Level 3.

19. Strategic Thinking – Complex Reasoning • Requires deep knowledge using reasoning, planning, using evidence, and a higher level of thinking than the previous two levels • Cognitive demands at Level 3 are complex and abstract • Complexity does not result only from fact that there could be multiple answers, a possibility for both Levels 1 and 2, but because multi-step task requires more demanding reasoning • In most instances, requiring students to explain their thinking is at Level 3; requiring a very simple explanation or a word or two should be at Level 2 • Activity that has more than one possible answer and requires students to justify their response would most likely be Level 3. • Experimental designs in Level 3 typically involve more than one dependent variable. • Other Level 3 activities include • drawing conclusions from observations • citing evidence and developing a logical argument for concepts • explaining phenomena in terms of concepts • using concepts to solve non-routine problems

20. Extended Thinking/Reasoning • Requires high cognitive demand and is very complex • Students required to make several connections—relate ideas within content area or among content areas—and have to select or devise one approach among many alternatives on how situation can be solved • Many, but not all, performance assessments and open-ended assessment activities requiring significant thought will be Level 4 • Requires complex reasoning, experimental design and planning, and probably will require an extended period of time either for science investigation required by an objective, or for carrying out multiple steps of an assessment item • However, extended time period is not a distinguishing factor if required work is only repetitive and does not require applying significant conceptual understanding and higher-order thinking • For example, if a student has to take water temperature from a river each day for a month and then construct a graph, this would be classified as Level 2 activity. • However, if the student conducts a river study that requires taking into consideration a number of variables, this would be Level 4.

21. FCAT Cognitive Complexity • Low Complexity • Recall and recognition of concepts and principles • Carry out mechanical procedures • Moderate Complexity • More flexible thinking and choice among alternatives • More than a single step or thought process • Bring together skill and knowledge from various domains • High Complexity • Heavy demands on student thinking • More abstract reasoning, planning, analysis, judgment, and creative thought • Involve multiple steps • Let’s look at some questions from the Week 25 Grade 3 Science Formative…

22. What is the level of cognitive complexity? Jayde is telling her brother what she is learning about matter in science class. Which of the following best describes matter? • anything that is big and heavy • anything that you can see around you • anything that is too small to be seen • anything that takes up space and has mass

23. What is the level of cognitive complexity? • Brent’s teacher set up a demonstration of evaporation in science class. Mrs. Thomas measured and poured the same amount of water into two identical cups. She sealed one cup with plastic wrap and tape. She left the other cup open. Then, Mrs. Thomas put the cups on a shelf near the window. • Each day the students in Brent’s class observed the amount of water in each cup and recorded their observations. After a week, the water in the open cup was gone. The amount of water in the sealed cup had not changed. • Part A: What should Brent do if he wants to do this demonstration at home? • Part B: What should Brent tell his class about his evaporation demonstration he did at home?

24. What is the level of cognitive complexity? A cook in a restaurant is trying to create a better barbecue sauce. He uses ketchup, mustard, and spices. He plans to make three different sauces using different amounts of each ingredient. What should he do as he experiments? • Guess how much of each ingredient he uses • Try to remember later how much of each ingredient he used • Use the same amount of each ingredient in each different sauce • Measure and record the amount of each ingredient he uses for each different sauce

25. Questioning Strategies • Attention Focusing Questions • Measuring and Counting Questions • Comparison Questions • Action Questions • Problem-Posing Questions • Reasoning Questions • Metacognitive Questions

26. Fortune Cookie Activity • First person draws a “fortune” from the envelope, reads it aloud, and responds. • Each person in group has a chance to respond to that situation in order. • Second person draws a “fortune” and follows Step 1 • The rest of the group repeats Step 2. • Repeat Steps 1 and 2 until each group member has drawn a “fortune.”