Knowledge in the 21 st Century

1. Knowledge in the 21st Century Why We Must Pay Attention to Content

2. QUESTION #1 Can you memorize all that you will ever need to know to be a productive and engaged citizen in the 21st century? QUESTION #2 How many students do you know that can memorize and “spit back up” any amount of information and yet do not have a true understanding of content? Knowledge in the 21st Century

3. Knowledge in the 21st Century • What does it mean to truly understand? • Explanation – can students explain, define, and tell you why and how things work? • Interpretation – can students tell you why something is important in the human experience? • Application – can students use the information in a new situation? • Perspective– can students critically tell you what others have said about the topic? • Empathy – can students understand the topic from the inside? • Self-Knowledge – can students investigate their own biases and gaps in knowledge?

4. Knowledge in the 21st Century • What skills do students need to process the massive amounts of information available to them? • Writing skills • Speaking skills • Listening skills • Reading comprehension skills • Critical thinking skills

5. Self-Evaluation • Have I taught my students well enough so they can develop a deep understanding of a topic without my being present? • Can my students successfully apply what I’ve taught them to new situations without my being present? • Have I taught my students skills so they can read, comprehend, analyze, and evaluate information to function without my being present?

6. BIG IDEA #1 Using CITW requires an understanding of how knowledge is categorized. BIG IDEA #2 Certain types of knowledge require different instructional strategies. CITW and Knowledge Structures

7. Do you want students to.... Knowledge Structures Use Knowledge? (Apply) Refine and Extend Knowledge? (Analyze) Learn New Knowledge? (Memorize) Specific General

8. Types of Knowledge- Declarative

9. Declarative Knowledge Vocabulary Terms Details Organizing Ideas Facts Time Sequences Cause/Effect Sequences Episodes Generalizations Cause/Effect Principles Correlational Principles Specific General

10. Should teaching center on the specific or the general? Declarative Knowledge SPECIFIC GENERAL

11. Watch the video. Is the situation in the video still true today? Declarative Knowledge

12. Vocabulary Terms • “names given to nouns” • Students must encounter words in multiple contexts to learn them • Direct instruction in vocabulary can help students to learn • Attaching a visual to a word is one of the best ways to learn it • Teachers should be highly selective about the words they choose as vocabulary

13. Dissecting a Chicken

14. Details • “specific pieces of information” • Facts = statements about people, places, things, and ideas • Time Sequences = list of events in order of occurrence • Cause/Effect Sequences = specific events which show a cause/effect relationship • Episodes= specific events that contain elements of a story

19. Organizing Ideas “general statements of knowledge” Generalization = statement which is proved by examples Correlational Principle = non-causal relationships Cause/Effect Principle = general cause/effect statement true in many different circumstances

21. At least FOUR experiences within 2 consecutive days are required to learn declarative knowledge at an adequate level. The experiences must be VARIED – not all students learn the same way! How can you revisit the same declarative knowledge over a two-day period and still get through your curriculum? Is there anything you must eliminate in order to use time wisely? Teaching Declarative Knowledge

22. Types of Knowledge- Procedural

23. Categories of Procedural Knowledge Procedural Knowledge Skills Processes Tactics Algorithms

24. Procedural Knowledge Skills • “specific parts of processes” • Algorithms = skills that must be performed in the same order each time to get the same result • Tactics = general rules that can be applied in a different order in different contexts

25. Procedural Knowledge • Processes • “complex activities dependent on a number of sub-skills” • Students must practice the sub-parts of a process in the context of the entire process • Teachers must emphasize that students need to be self-aware when using processes (metacognition)

26. Avoid teaching new content when you are teaching a new skill or process – teach the steps of skills and processes with familiar content. It requires20 to 24 practiceswith a procedure in order to become at least 80% proficient with the procedure. Teaching Procedural Knowledge

27. DECLARATIVE Facts Details Vocabulary Concepts “What” PROCEDURAL Skills Processes Steps Tactics “How-to” Review -- Types of Knowledge Two Types of Knowledge Specific General Specific General

28. DECLARATIVE Define “chair” Denver is in Colorado Golden retrievers are good hunters. PROCEDURAL Make a sandwich Solve a quadratic equation Read a data table Review -- Types of Knowledge Examples of Two Types of Knowledge Specific General Specific General

29. Self-Evaluation • To what extent: • does your class focus on memorizing discrete terms and facts? • do you provide enough experiences for students to learn declarative knowledge? • do you teach skills and processes that go along with your content? • is your classroom driven by activities which are disconnected from “big ideas” and deep understandings?

30. What you say...What they think Your assignment is to..... How long does it have to be? When is it due?

31. Activity Oriented Classrooms Read chapter 2 Complete a diorama Finish writing an essay Do 75 quadratic equation problems Complete the end of chapter questions Do Worksheet 11 Define all the boldfaced terms

32. What you say...What they think You will learn and understand.... How will I know when I’ve learned it?

33. Learning Oriented Classrooms Analyze the characters in... Understand oxidation-reduction Explain the passive voice Evaluate America’s foreign policy in the 1970s Categorize types of rocks

34. Pay attention to the knowledge structure of your discipline. Focusing on details and isolated facts DOES NOT PROMOTE transfer of knowledge. Essential Understanding

35. Transfer KNOWLEDGE APPLICATION Transfer NEW SITUATION

36. If you want students to be able to apply their learning in new situations, teach to the larger processes and generalizations rather than emphasizing memorization. Essential Understanding