More Educational Buzzwords - Depth of Knowledge

If you are like me, you have applied Gardner's Multiple Intelligence Theory and Bloom's Taxonomy in your classroom on a regular basis. These theories just make sense, and are a good philosophy on which to build your classroom routines. Most teachers are no stranger to this way of thinking. So, all of a sudden we are hearing the term DOK or Depth of Knowledge. What's this? Am I missing something? Nope! Just more of the same, wrapped up a little differently! DOK and Bloom's Taxonomy align so closely that it is difficult to tell them apart! DOK was developed by Norman L. Webb in the late 1990's, and offer four comparative levels of demand that are required to demonstrate academic mastery. Depth of Knowledge is all about the complexity, or the level of understanding required to explain an answer and the thinking required to get there.

Webb's Depth of Knowledge:

Level 1: Basic recall of facts, concepts, info, procedures

This aligns with Bloom's foundation levels of Remembering & Understanding

Level 2: Skills & Concepts requiring 2 or more steps. Requires thinking beyond a habitual response.

This aligns with Bloom's level of Applying.

Level 3: Strategic Thinking. Requires reasoning, abstract and complex thinking. More than one possible outcomes.

This aligns with Bloom's level of Analyzing.

Level 4: Extended Thinking. Evaluating and Creating. Requires investigation and complex planning, developing, thinking and reasoning.

This aligns with Bloom's levels of Evaluating & Creating.

A few days ago I wrote a blog post on Tier 1, 2, and 3 vocabulary words, and the importance of teaching the Tier 2 academic vocabulary. So, let's tie the two together! How about a list of tier 2 vocabulary words that goes with each level of Depth of Knowledge? That would be helpful, don't you think?

Level 1: Recall and Reproduction arrange, calculate, define, draw, identify, illustrate, label list, match, measure, memorize, quote, recognize, repeat, recall, recite, state, use, tell who, what, where, why, when

Level 2: Skill and Concept apply, categorize, classify, collect & display, compare & contrast, determine cause/effect, distinguish, estimate, graph, identify patterns, infer, interpret, modify, observations, organize, predict, relate, sketch, show, solve, summarize, use context clues

Level 3: Strategic Thinking adapt information to make predictions, apprise, assess, cite evidence, create something new, critique, describe sequence, develop logical argument, differentiate, draw conclusions, explain concepts, explain relationships, formulate, hypothesize, identify facts to support, investigate, make interpretations, revise, solve non-routine problems

Level 4: Extended Thinking analyze, apply concepts, compose, connect, create, critique, defend, design, develop alternative explanations, draw conclusion from multiple sources, evaluate, judge, propose, prove, support, synthesize.

DOK 4 would be something like writing a research paper using multiple sources of information. Students would apply information from one text to another and develop a persuasive argument. This type of assignment requires time for extended thinking.