Let's Make a DOK!

The framework designed by Norman Webb (1997; 2002) categorizes depth of knowledge into four levels.

DOK-1 questions require students to recall or reproduce knowledge and/or skills to come up with an answer that is either correct or incorrect. Questions at this particular level usually involve working with facts, terms, and/or properties of objects.

DOK-2 questions challenge students to think deeper about how to answer questions by applying the knowledge and skills they have acquired and developed. Such teaching and learning experiences involve students working with or applying skills and/or concepts to tasks related to the field of study. They also require students to follow a set of principles, categories, and protocols in order to answer a question, address a problem, or accomplish a task.

A DOK-3 question engages students to think critically and strategically how to answer a question acceptably, accurately, appropriately, and authentically. They challenge and engage students to demonstrate and communicate higher levels of thinking such as analysis and evaluation but also communicate their thinking and reasoning behind their responses and results.

A DOK-4 question encourages students to examine and explore concepts and content deeply and think creatively how they can use their knowledge, understanding, and awareness to answer questions or come up with new ideas, knowledge, perspectives, and ways of thinking about what they are learning. Such questions encourage students to examine and explore how to address, handle, settle, or solve real world circumstances, issues, problems, and situations through research, investigation, experimentation, and creative design.

Sounds simple, right?

Then why is there so much confusion as to what qualifies as deeper knowledge, understanding, thinking, and awareness?

• How would you explain this academic concept to a new teacher who has just entered the profession?
• How would you explain this cognitive schema to a veteran teacher who is used to aligning their instruction to the categories within the Cognitive Domain of Bloom's Taxonomy?
• How would you explain this instructional focus to parents and students who for years have been instructed, assessed, and evaluated based upon how much they know, understand, and can do rather than how deeply they know, understand, and are aware of a concept or content?
• How can we develop instructional activities and assessments that not only stimulate student thinking and deepen their knowledge, understanding, and awareness but also measure and monitor the level of thinking and depth of knowledge they can demonstrate and communicate?

We can teach them like game show contestants.

Now wait a minute. I am not suggesting we turn our classroom into entertainment centers in which students compete with their classmates for a prize or reward. I am suggesting that we can use the format of questions, problems, and tasks on various game shows to challenge and engage students to demonstrate and communicate different levels of knowledge, understanding, thinking, and awareness.

DOK-1 activities generally resemble the kind of questions contestants are asked on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? or Jeopardy! — multiple choice or short answer questions that require demonstrating and communicating factual knowledge of specific details, elements, and information correctly. Such questions are more difficult than complex, requiring students to work hard at remembering so many details correctly. However, such questions can help students develop the background knowledge and foundational understanding they will need to think deeper about what they are learning.

DOK-2 activities are similar to the competitive tasks presented on shows such as Top Chef or Hell's Kitchen. These shows are like a lab experience in which students actively apply their knowledge, understanding, and skills to complete tasks and are evaluated based upon their ability to produce a correct, desired, or specific result. DOK-2 learning experiences focus heavily on skills-based performance, expecting students to demonstrate their ability to use the factual, conceptual, and procedural knowledge they have acquired in a specific area, discipline, or subject.

DOK-3 activities are similar to the problems and tasks presented on game shows such as Survivor or The Apprentice. Both shows are prime examples of problem-based learning that challenges students to think critically and strategically about how to answer a question, address a problem, or accomplish a task. They also emphasize collaboration in that the questions, problems, and tasks posed cannot be answered, addressed, or accomplished alone or immediately.

As a whole, these shows expect competitors to be strategic in their approach and process, thinking critically and creatively in how they can use their knowledge and skills to "win" or "survive." They also expect competitors to defend and justify their actions and decisions. That is what a DOK-3 learning experience expects students to do — think critically about how and why something can or could be done, think creatively about how could something be done or what else could be done, and make choices and defend their decisions.

DOK-4 activities are like the products pitched on Shark Tank. A student would be challenged to think deeply about how to design and develop an innovative or inventive plan, project, or product that addresses a particular circumstance, issue, problem, or situation; plots out the plan or produces a prototype; tests their idea or design; and then presents their conclusions to a panel, defending, explaining, and justifying their reasoning and results.

DOK-4 learning experiences can resemble Shark Tank by having students pitch and present what they have designed, developed, or done and have their project evaluated by the teacher and their peers as to whether it answers the essential question of the unit or class, addresses a particular objective, and teaches them something new about the concept or content they are learning.

So when you are planning your DOK activities this year, consider which game show your question, problem, or task will appear and how it expects students to demonstrate and communicate their thinking — and let's make a DOK!

Erik M. Francis, M.Ed., M.S. is an author, educator, and speaker who specializes in teaching and learning that promotes cognitive rigor and college and career readiness. He is the author of Now That's a Good Question! How to Promote Cognitive Rigor Through Classroom Questioning published by ASCD. He is also the owner of Maverik Education LLC.

#DepthofKnowledge #DOK