Rigor and Higher Order Thinking

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Rigor and Higher Order Thinking
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Rigor is

• Stretching students thinking.
• Supporting and challenging students to do things
  they didnt know they could do.
• Engaging students in learning that has a purpose
  beyond getting a grade.
• Making the learning relevant and
  interdisciplinary so that students make
  connections and are engaged.
• (REDEFINING RIGOR by Ingham Intermediate SD)

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Rigor is NOT

• More worksheets in less time.
• More facts and figures or more generals and
  battles.
• Making grading scales more difficult so that more
  students fail.
• Creating excessive rules and regulations that
  distract students from learning.
• (REDEFINING RIGOR by Ingham Intermediate SD)

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And finally, rigor is

• Helping students to become self-determined.
• Providing opportunities for students that make
  them viable, employable, and global.
• Creating opportunities to interact positively
  with others.
• Placing students at the center of the educational
  process.
• (REDEFINING RIGOR by Ingham Intermediate SD)

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Classroom Resources for Rigor

• Blooms Taxonomy of Higher Order Thinking Skills
• Costas Levels of Questions
• The Depth and Complexity Icons
• WRAITEC
• The Content Imperative Icons

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The Quest for Learning The Questions That Start
Us Off

• Late night college dorm questions
• Blooms Taxonomy
• The Skyscraper approach to notes revision
• Thinking Maps

• Think-Alouds
• Learning Logs
• Scholarly Questions
• Reciprocal Teaching
• Tiered Tests

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Three Types of Students

• The High Achiever
• The Gifted Learner
• The Creative Thinker
• And Four Learning Profiles (I, II, III, and IV)
• This is a job for tiered assignments and project
  menus!

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Student Learning Profiles 4-MATBernice McCarthy
(University of Chicago)
TYPE 4 LEARNERS Learn by creating something new. (Inventors, Artists) PROJECTS! They ask what else? TYPE 1 LEARNERS Learn when its personally meaningful. (Philosophers) Relevant DISCUSSIONS! They ask why?
TYPE 3 LEARNERS Learn from hands on practice. (Scientists, Athletes) LABS, PRACTICE, ACTIVITIES! They ask how? TYPE 2 LEARNERS Learn from systematic presentations of information. LECTURES, NOTETAKING, READING! (Little Professors) They ask what?
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Critical Thinking Skills

• distinguish fact from opinion
• prove with evidence
• note ambiguity
• sequence
• judge with criteria
• compare and contrast
• discover the concept embedded within a novel
  problem

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Problem Solving Skills

• define the problem
• ask and research relevant questions
• create a hypothesis
• predict
• gather and assess data
• identify relevant decision-making values
• identify alternatives
• verify a solution

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Creative Thinking Skills

• combine idea with other understandings
• transfer concept to other appropriate settings
• create analogies, models, metaphors, symbols of
  the concept
• pose and answer hypothetical questions
• redesign
• generate new hypotheses and ideas

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Gardners Nine Intelligences

• logical/mathematical
• verbal
• kinesthetic
• musical
• interpersonal
• intrapersonal
• spatial
• naturalistic
• existential

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Costas Levels of Questions

• A tool for supporting teachers and students in
  asking higher order questions.

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Costas Questions Level 1

• Define What is the definition of lunar eclipse?
• Identify Identify the states that seceded from
  the Union to form the Confederacy.
• Describe Describe the setting of OF MICE AND MEN.

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Costas Questions Level 1 (Continued)

• List List three ways we can express the equation
  2x(4-5y)3y26.
• Name Name the main characters in ROMEO AND
  JULIET.
• Observe Make observations about the physical
  characteristics of this indigenous rock.

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Costas Questions Level 2

• Analyze Analyze how Bigger Thomass violence
  against his gang members in NATIVE SON might
  reveal his insecurity and fear of people.
• Compare and contrast Compare and contrast
  socialism and capitalism.
• Group Group these living things into several
  groups based on how they obtain nutrients, how
  they move, and whether they are single or
  multi-cellular.

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Costas Questions Level 2 (Continued)

• Infer If the moon was full on August 17, July
  18, and June 19, when was it full in April?
• Sequence Sequence the names of the first ten
  presidents of the United States in the order they
  were elected.
• Synthesize Synthesize your previous learning to
  explain how the term manifest destiny captures
  the essence of western expansion in the United
  States.

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Costas Questions Level 3

• Evaluate Evaluate using rhetorical criteria
  whether the speaker in Housework does a good
  job of convincing us that we should not believe
  actors.
• Apply a principle Apply the principle of the
  Superposition, explaining how you know which is
  the oldest rock in the cross section shown on the
  diagram.
• Hypothesize Based on the evidence in their
  checkbooks, hypothesize why Leslie and Paul might
  have moved to different addresses.

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Costas Questions Level 3 (Continued)

• Imagine Imagine how you would teach your
  children to cooperate.
• Judge Judge with criteria which of the
  characters in GREAT EXPECTATIONS suffers the
  most.
• Predict Using the sunrise and sunset data from
  the last month, determine the time of sunrise and
  sunset tomorrow.
• Speculate Using details from THE CATCHER IN THE
  RYE, speculate how Phoebe might, years later,
  describe Holden to her children.

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NOVELTY Making Learning Meaningful

• Connecting the area of study to prior knowledge
• Connecting the study to varied student interests
• Connecting the study to events in students own
  lives
• Demonstrating to students the past, present, and
  future value of what theyre learning
• Connecting the curriculum to students varied
  learning profiles
• Fostering personal interpretations in the area of
  study

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Project Menus

• Extend learning to students varied interests,
  learning styles, and learning profiles.
• Each project should include new and reinforced
  content to be mastered, processing skills,
  research resources, and a well crafted product.
• 4-MAT approach
• Gallery day

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Academic Vocabulary Play

• Denotation and connotation
• Style writing of word
• Picture
• Synonyms, antonyms
• A real world sentence or playful sentence
• A way to say the word
• A total physical response for the word
• Group practice of the word

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Students thrive on

• Creativity
• Collaboration
• Movement
• Problem solving
• Play
• And each of these can promote enduring
  understanding

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Play

• Is anything but trivial.
• Is a basic biological drive as integral to our
  health as sleep or nutrition.
• Sparks new insight and thought.
• Provides glue for our relationships.
• Fuels our creativity.
• (PLAY by Stuart Brown, M.D.)

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Scott Eberles Framework for Play

• Anticipation
• Surprise
• Pleasure
• Understanding (of new knowledge or synthesis)
• Strength (through mastery and survival)
• Poise (grace, contentment, composure, and balance)

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R.A.F.T. Projects and Assignments

• Role
• Audience
• Format
• Topic
• (See Age of Reason example.)

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Creative Sections of Tests

• These come after the part that asks for basic
  understanding of facts and the part that asks
  students to apply what they have learned.
• Ask for mathematical, scientific, historical, or
  artistic analogies of a concept.
• Ask students to name a natural metaphor that
  reflects a concept and then explain it.
• Ask students to create a short R.A.F.T. argument.
• Ask students to finish a half-completed analogy
  and explain it.

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Alphabetical Numerical Line-Ups (To Group Kids
Randomly in Pairs)

• Desert island film, TV show, musical artist
• A profession you wanted to pursue when you were
  six
• A name you would have given yourself
• A famous person you would like to dine with
• An animal you wouldnt mind being

• A year you would like to visit
• A virtue that you wish to be recognized for
• A word you like
• How much money you think you would want to make
  annually at the age of 30
• Someone famous you would consider changing lives
  with

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Concept Maps with Themes

• Video games
• Television shows
• Movies
• Books
• Board games
• Other disciplines

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Real World Problem Solving

• Project-based learning
• Story problems in math
• Action research projects