Let’s Make a DOK 4!
From Chapter 9: “Let’s Make a DOK!” featured in Deconstructing Depth of Knowledge: A Method and Model for Deeper Teaching and Learning by Erik M. Francis)
In 2016, I wrote a blog that compared the demand and expectations of Webb’s DOK Levels to popular television shows. I called it “Let’s Make a DOK!”, a play on the title of the classic game show Let’s Make a Deal! The name has a double meaning, since we can adapt the format of game shows into our classroom to develop and deliver DOK teaching and learning experiences that are not only educational but also energetic, enriching, and enjoyable.
In this blog series, I will compare the goals and expectations of each DOK Level to the format of a familiar television genre. I will also establish and explain with examples how these shows can be emulated in the classroom and engage students in an active DOK teaching and learning learning that’s academic, affective, and authentic.
What Distinguishes a DOK 4?
The goal of a DOK 4 teaching and learning experience is for students to do one or more of the following:
- Expand on an answer for an extensive purpose (and / or for an extended period).
- Extend an answer for an extensive purpose (and / or for an extended period).
- Explore an answer for an extensive purpose (and / or over an extensive period).
These are the goals and expectations of a DOK 4 teaching and learning experience. Notice the DOK Descriptors feature the word “extensive”. They demand students to do the following:
- Delve deep into a subject area.
- Go through multiple texts.
- Go connect and compare multiple topics.
- Go across the curriculum.
- Go beyond the classroom.
The depth and extent students must comprehend and communicate their learning may also demand an extensive amount of time to accomplish or address. In fact, students will not complete a DOK 4 teaching and learning experience within a set class period (e.g., 45 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minute block). They can take hours, weeks, or even an entire quarter, semester, or year (or multiple years). Administrators will also not observe a DOK 4 teaching and learning experience for a classroom evaluation or walkthrough. Most likely, the observed experience will be an aspect of the overall DOK 4 teaching and learning experience – and most likely a reduced DOK Level.
However, extended time is a characteristic of a DOK 4 teaching and learning experience, not a criterion. Just because the expectation or experience takes students a significant period time of time to complete does not automatically designate it at DOK 4. Plus, time is a measure of difficulty, not demand. An expectation or experience at a reduced DOK Level – even one designated a DOK 1 – could take students a lot of time to complete depending on the capability and confidence of the student or the conditions under which the students must answer the question, solve the problem, complete the task, or read and respond to a text or topic correctly.
DOK 4 teaching and learning experiences are also individualized in that they engage and encourage students not only to comprehend and communicate in the following manner:
- insightfully
- innovatively
- inventively
- in their own unique way
This is also what distinguishes a DOK 4 teaching and learning experience
DOK 4 teaching and learning experiences typically take an extended period of time for students to accomplish or address. Y
Extensive time is a characteristic of a DOK 4 teaching and learning experience, not a criterion. Just because the expectation or experience takes students a great or large amount of time to complete does not mean it is a DOK 4. What makes a time-consuming teaching and learning experience is the extent of the goal and expectation.
Project-based learning experiences are also not always or automatically a DOK 4. For example, measuring and comparing the differences in the levels of precipitation in a location over a period of time is not a DOK 4. That’s a DOK 2 because it challenges students to use information and basic reasoning to explain how the levels of precipitation have changed over a period of time. A DOK 3 PBL experience would engaged to use complex reasoning to conclude, consider, or critique the impact or influence on the differing levels of precipitation based on evidence. However, measuring and comparing the differences in the levels of precipitation in a location to craft a plan to conserve water now and for the future would be a DOK 4 because the goal and expectation has an extensive purpose.
The purpose of a DOK 4 teaching and learning experience is for students to develop their learning into personal expertise they can transfer and use innovatively, inventively, or in their own unique way. With a DOK 4, the student now possesses a level of expertise that enables them to become a specialist or have a special set of skills in a specific subject. They are now the “expert”. DOK teaching and learning experiences also encourage talent development in that they encourage students to think extensively about what else they could do or how else they could understand and use their learning.
DOK 4: The TV Business Competition
DOK 4 teaching and learning experiences resemble TV business competitions. On these television shows, participants have already developed and established themselves as “experts” in a specific subject or skill. Like a reality skills-based competition, the participants on these shows are “experts” who are engaged to draw upon and use their learning to accomplish or address a challenging and complex task. However, what distinguishes these shows from the reality skills-based competition is that the experience can be complicated with so many circumstances, factors, and situations to address and overcome. The goals and expectations are also purposeful and personal, demanding the participants to be insightful, innovative, and inventive not only in how they transfer their learning but also transform the scenario or situation. They also typically take an extended period of time to complete.
One example of a TV business competition that emulates and resembles a DOK 4 teaching and learning is Kitchen Nightmares. On this show, Gordon Ramsey draws upon his expertise as a world renowned chef and entrepreneur to guide and support a struggling restaurant in becoming successful. However, the task is neither easy nor simple. Each issue impacting the restaurants Ramsey tries to help are what’s known as a wicked problem. The solution and the steps to take to get there are not simple or straightforward. There are so many circumstances and constraints he encounters ranging from fiscal to operational to even personal and psychological. However, the goal and expectation is purposeful. Ramsey seeks to support the restaurant owners not only to turn around and transform their restaurant but also be able to sustain their success. He is engaged and encouraged not only be resourceful but also resolute in his efforts. However, Ramsey’s expertise also enables him to be realistic in that he realizes that the solutions and success are temporary because the circumstances and conditions of the restaurant business are so temporeal. He also recognizes when and why his efforts to address, handle, or resolve the issues impacting the restaurant may become futile and cause him to walk away. That’s not only what makes the task on this show a wicked problem. It’s also what makes this a DOK 4. Ramsey needs to be insightful not only in his supporting the restaurant but also when the situation and stipulations are so severe they prevent possible solutions.
Kitchen Nightmares is an example of a problem-based learning experience at would engage and encourage students to comprehend and communicate their learning at a DOK 4. While solving the problem is goal – and also ideal and preferable – it’s not the expectation. The expectation is for students to think extensively how they could understand and use their knowledge, understanding, and awareness as expertise to address, explain, or respond to a real world scenario or situation. Students must also use extended reasoning to justify their actions, conclusions, and decisions for how and why they addressed and responded to the problem as they did. They must also recognize and realize any solution they offer may only be a temporary one, that the problem continue to be monitored, and that accommodations or adjustments may need to be made. If they choose to walk away from the problem and conclude it is insolvable (no clear explanation) or unsolvable (no ultimate solution), the student must use extended reasoning to justify their responses, results, or reasoning.
Below is a video clip of one of the most infamous episodes of Kitchen Nightmares. Notice not all the complicated obstacles Ramsey encounters and how he attempts to address them. What’s also unique about this episode is how Ramsey’s insight into the issues cause him come to his conclusion regarding what needs to happen and what he needs to do. This is the prime example of a wicked problem – and also what makes this a DOK 4.
(Warning: There may be inappropriate language that is not suitable for work).
Another TV business competition that emulates and resembles a DOK 4 is The Apprentice. Just to clarify – I’m talking about the original premise and purpose of the show. Participants with a specific expertise in various areas and aspects of business come together, form a corporation, and work collaboratively to complete business-related tasks such as selling products, raising money for charity, or creating an advertising campaign, with one corporation selected as the winner based on objective measures and subjective opinions of the host and the host’s advisors who monitor the teams’ performance on tasks. The original intent and purpose of The Apprentice was twofold: to address and accomplish the challenge successfully and to showcase personal expertise. It was also once a great example of a project-based learning experience that encouraged not only innovation but also the behaviors of collaboration, leadership, and self-reliance – which are essential dispositions students develop and demonstrate in a DOK 4 teaching and learning experience. Unfortunately, the intent of the show devolved from offering an opportunity to show the best of people to exploiting and showcasing the worst of people as they collaborate to complete a task.
The Apprentice is an example of a project-based learning experience that would engage and encourage students to comprehend and communicate their learning like a DOK. The goal and format of the experience is similar to a DOK 4 problem-based learning experience. Students must address a good driving essential question that identifies the focus and informs the purpose for learning. However, unlike a DOK 4 problem-based learning experience, the expectation is that the students must and will bring the task to fruition. They cannot conclude or decide the project is so complicated that is insolvable or unsolvable — or wicked. The project also does not stop until the task is completed. The measure of success depends on both the quality of the results produced by the experience and how the students participated collaboratively and individually in the project-based learning experience.
If you’re looking to understand how The Apprentice emulates and simulates the demand of the goals and expectations of a DOK 4 teaching and learning experience, I recommend you watch the first season or watch the season where Martha Stewart was the host of the show (and try to keep it pedagogical, not political).
Another show that emulates and simulates a DOK 4 teaching and learning experience is Shark Tank. This show offers entrepreneurs and inventors a forum where they can showcase the depth and extent of their thinking and talent. Participants must think extensively how they could pitch their innovative or inventive business, ideas, products, or services to a group of investors with the hopes of developing a fiscal and professional partnership. They must also use extended reasoning supported by strong examples and credible evidence to justify the value and viability of what they are pitching. That’s how Shark Tank emulates a DOK 4 teaching and learning experience. It demands the participants to draw upon and use multiple kinds of knowledge and skills from different disciplines not only to accomplish a task but also present their results or reasoning to others.
Shark Tank is an example of how a DOK 3 teaching and learning experience promotes talent development. The goal and expectation is for students to plan, present, or produce something so innovative or inventive that it transforms conventional or traditional knowledge, thinking, and disposition – or learning. We are also encouraging students to be entrepreneurial, recognizing and realizing how they can take and transfer the depth and extent of their learning to benefit them not only academically but also professionally and personally.
Below is an episode of Shark Tank featuring a child who developed his own business based on a experience he had trying to earn money to buy himself a Lego Death Star. Notice the depth and extent he engaged in the experience. Also, he understood and used his learning at a variety and over a range of DOK levels before he achieved the DOK 4 goal and expectation. However, he did not have to start at a DOK 1 to get to a DOK 4. In fact, the experience started as a DOK 3 with Jack and thinking strategically (DOK Skill) how he could earn enough money to purchase the toy he wanted. He researched the examples of businesses children his age could have before deciding to set up a lemonade stand to earn the money (DOK 2). Once he started earning beyond his target goal of funding, he was stimulated to think extensively not only how he could earn more money but also create a business based on his experiences that would help other children who sought to start their own business. That’s what led to the goal and outcome of the DOK 4 teaching and learning experience.
Suggestions for DOK 4 TV Business Competition Style Experiences
The following are examples of teaching and learning experiences that would engage and encourage students to comprehend and communicate their learning at a DOK 4. However, these experiences are not always and automatically a DOK 4. What will make them a DOK 4 depends on the extent of the purpose and the period of time it takes students to engage in the experience.
Project-Based Learning: Project-based learning is a process in which students take and transfer their learning to address, explain, or respond to a real world scenario or situation. They also learn the essential dispositions that will benefit them both professionally (brainstorming, planning, experimenting, producing, presenting) and personally (collaboration, self-reliance, individual responsibility, leadership). The expectation is the students will complete the task – or “project” – assigned to them. Student learning is evaluated based on both the quality of the project produced and how they performed as a member of the group or team throughout the process. To learn more how to plan and provide a DOK 4 teaching and learning experience, check out PBLWorks from the Buck Institute or the works of John Larmer, Jorge Valenzuela, and Ross Cooper and Erin Moriarty. All offer ideas and strategies that will engage and encourage students to comprehend and communicate their learning at a DOK 4.
Problem Based Learning: Problem-based learning follows the same dynamic and format of a project-based learning experience. The key difference, however, is that the problem that serves as the focus and purpose of the DOK 4 teaching and learning experience DOES NOT necessarily need to be solved — although that would be ideal and preferable. It could be addressed, handled, resolved, settled – or even walked away from or avoided. The expectation is students will think extensively how they could understand and use their learning to address or respond to the scenario or situation. However, if the problem proves to be insolvable or unsolvable, they must use extended reasoning with examples and evidence to support their arguments, conclusions, or decisions. Examples of the type of problems students could explore and explain in a DOK 4 teaching and learning experience are wicked problems, which are the type of problems they will typically encounter in their professional and personal lives. These experiences will teach students that every problem cannot be solved easily or simply. However, it’s how they address and respond to the problem is the essential lesson that’s worth learning.
Differentiated Instruction to Individualize and Personalize Learning: DOK 4 teaching and learning experiences also support and shift instruction between differentiation, individualization, and personalization. Differentiation is how a teacher engages students to learn individually or personally at a DOK 4. They provide choices or options for students to comprehend and communicate their depth and extent of their learning insightfully and innovatively. This doesn’t mean the teacher has to create multiple complex activities or tasks for individual learners. The instructional delivery can be as simple as posing a good affective or driving question that not only stimulates deeper levels of thinking but also piques individual and personal curiosity, imagination, interest, and wonder. The good question should be open-ended yet personal enough to encourage the student to address, explain, or respond to it insightfully and in their own unique way.
One way to differentiate instruction to individualize and personalize learning is to place the question stem “How could you…” in front of a learning expectation, objective, or target. Not only will this transform the standard into a good question that promotes student inquiry. It could also encourage students to think extensively how they could comprehend and communicate the depth and extent of their learning in their own unique way. However, the goal and expectation established by the good question must have an extended purpose and also engage students to go deep within a subject, through multiple texts, compare or connect multiple topics, across the curriculum, or beyond the classroom. (You can click here to learn more about how to rephrase learning expectations and objectives into good questions that demand students to comprehend and communicate their learning at deeper DOK Levels).
Talent Development for Innovation and Invention: DOK 4 teaching and learning experiences also encourage students to develop their learned knowledge and innate skills into applicable talents they can use to innovate and invent. This philosophy and practice for teaching and learning follows the theories of Francoys Gagne, who discusses and distinguishes what impacts and influences the development of skills into levels of talent (e.g., well-trained versus giftedness). Below is a visual that outlines Gagne’s theory for talent development.
DOK 4 teaching and learning experiences that promote and encourage talent development also align with the theories of Joseph Renzulli offered through his Three Ring Conception of Giftedness and his Schoolwide Enrichment Model. Below is an outline of how Renzulli’s Conception of Giftedness supports talent development.
While both models address and explain teaching and learning to support students who are identified as gifted, they can also be applied to DOK 4 teaching and learning experiences that promote talent development. The idea behind both theories is that everyone is born with a degree or level of innate skills. What makes someone talented is not necessarily the level or “gifts” of the skills they possess. It’s also extraneous (e.g., socioemotional and intrapersonal) and extrinsic factors (e.g., environment, chance, “right place, right time”) that strengths and supports the depth and extent of the development of skills into talent.
DOK 4 teaching and learning experiences should also not be the expectation or target for students who are identified as gifted. In fact, gifted students typically comprehend and communicate their learning at a DOK 1 and DOK 4 because of their innate ability to answer (DOK 1) and think extensively (DOK 4). However, gifted students often struggle to communicate why they comprehend how they comprehend what they comprehend (see Davidson Institute). Conversely, students who struggle to learn may also be engaged and encouraged to apply their talents to comprehend and communicate their learning over a range of DOK Levels. That’s how and why DOK 4 teaching and learning experiences should be considered as a means and method to encourage students to comprehend and communicate their learning by applying and augmenting their knowledge, skills, and dispositions into talents.
Important to Understand About DOK 4
Keep in mind that DOK 4 teaching and learning experiences are not “better” or “more desirable”. It describes a distinct way students can engage with the subject or skill they are studying. It also encourages students to comprehend and communicate their learning at a particular level of depth. All the DOK Levels are essential as a means to address as part of a student’s learning experience and a method to support the success of the whole child.
Would you like to learn how to develop and deliver your own original DOK 4 teaching and learning experiences or other DOK 4 activities, items, problems, questions, or tasks for your students? Click here to visit Maverik Education AI TM) to learn more.
Erik M. Francis, M.Ed., M.S., is an international author, educator, presenter, and professional development provider with over 25 years of experience in education. He is the author of Inquiring Minds Want to Learn: Posing Good Questions to Promote Student Inquiry (Solution Tree), Deconstructing Depth of Knowledge: A Method and Model for Deeper Teaching and Learning (Solution Tree), and Now That’s a Good Question! How to Promote Cognitive Rigor Through Classroom Questioning (ASCD). Erik is the owner of Maverik Education, providing professional development, guidance, and support on how to plan and provide teaching and learning experiences that are standards based, socially and emotionally supportive, and student responsive. He is also consistently ranked as one of the World’s Top 30 Education Professionals by the international research organization Global Gurus and the Top 10 Global Thought Leaders in Education by the organization Thinkers360.
Email:Â [email protected]
Twitter: @maverikedu12
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/maverikeducation/
Calendly: calendly.com/maverikedu/schedule