7/28/2019 Dimensions of Learning Trainer Marzano http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/dimensions-of-learning-trainer-marzano 1/484 Dimensions of Learning 2 Edi T r a i n e r’s MANUAL Robert J. Marzano and Debra J. Pickering with Daisy E. Arredondo Guy J. Blackburn Ronald S. Brandt Cerylle A. Moffett Diane E. Paynter Jane E. Pollock Jo Sue Whisler
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When the first edition of the Dimensions of Learning Teacher’s Manual was
published in 1991, the authors, led by Dr. Robert Marzano of the Mid-
continent Regional Educational Laboratory (McREL), hoped that it wouldprovide a tool that educators could use as they pursued restructuring and
reform efforts in their schools and districts. Specifically, the Dimensions of
Learning model was offered as a tool to help educators focus their efforts
more on student learning than on the implementation of specific programs
and strategies. Since 1991, Dimensions has been used by teachers and
administrators in this way. The model has helped them to maintain this
focus on learning both as they plan curriculum, instruction, and assessment
and as they evaluate the impact of their efforts on student learning.
One of the reasons that the vision for Dimensions is being realized is that
districts and schools have taken ownership of the model by developing thecapacity to offer training and support within their own systems. We hope
that the Trainer’s Manual that accompanied the first edition contributed to
this local approach to implementation. In order to continue to support this
trend, we have revised and updated the Trainer’s Manual so that it is now
aligned with the second edition of the Teacher’s Manual . The training scripts
and overheads have been significantly modified, and new training activities
and overheads have been added. We have maintained elements from the first
edition that have been used successfully but also have enhanced the training
with additions and modifications. This manual should continue to be a
valuable resource for trainers and for other district and school leaders as theywork with people who are interested in using the Dimensions of Learning
model.
Before you read the remainder of this section, we recommend that you turn
to the Teacher’s Manual and read (or reread) the Introduction on pages 1-12.
Reading this chapter should help to refresh your memory about some
important points related to the assumptions from which the Dimensions of
Learning model was developed, the resources available to you as you study
the model, and the ways in which the model has been used in districts,
schools, and classrooms.
The second edition of the Teacher’s Manual incorporates much of what was
contained in the first edition, but those familiar with the first edition willnotice significant revisions, deletions, and additions that have been made. If
you are providing training for people who are familiar with the first edition,
you might want to review these changes with them, which are described
briefly below.
1. “Systems analysis” has been added to the list of reasoning processes
in Dimension 4. This addition provides a way of helping students
use their understanding of systems (e.g., ecosystems, systems of
government, and number systems) to engage in tasks that require
them to analyze the interactions among parts of a system or to
predict what might happen when the parts of a system are altered in
some way. Like the other reasoning processes in Dimension 4 (i.e.,
decision making, problem solving, invention, investigation, and
experimental inquiry), systems analysis can be applied across content
areas and at any developmental level.
2. There is an increased emphasis on the importance of clearly
identifying declarative and procedural knowledge during unit
planning. The chapter covering Dimension 2, “Acquire and Integrate
Knowledge,” provides direction for identifying and organizing
declarative knowledge using common organizational patterns:descriptions (organizing very specific facts and organizing
information important to identified vocabulary terms), time
notes to the trainer that either provide examples of answers that
participants often give to this question or that include a “target
answer.” This target answer cues the trainer to an important point that
needs to be made during the discussion.
Planning Activity. This cue appears at the end of the section on eachdimension and signals an activity in which participants practice planning
a unit. This activity can be done individually or in small groups.
Closure. At the end of major training segments, the trainer is cued to
select a method of closure for that segment. Closure gives participants
an opportunity to reflect on what they have learned during the training
activities. You will notice that in the script we suggest that the trainer
select from three different styles of closure: table talk, pause and reflect,
or learning logs. However, as with any portion of this training, we
encourage the trainer to develop his or her own style. Each of the
suggested styles of closure might be structured (by providing a specific
question or assignment for participants) or unstructured (by giving
participants the freedom to talk, think, or write about what they wish).
Briefly, the three suggested styles are
Table Talk. Encourage participants to verbalize to a partner, or
within a small group, specific things that they have learned
during the training segment and what those things mean to them.
Pause and Reflect. Ask participants to sit quietly for a few
minutes to reflect on their experiences in the training. They maywant to skim over their notes, review pages of the Teacher’s
Manual , or simply sit and think.
Learning Logs. Ask participants to dedicate several pages of their
notes to a learning log (or provide them with prepared forms).
Provide time for them to write down their thoughts about the
ideas in the training or about possible uses of the material.
Trainers and other decision makers who are planning training should
remember an important principle of staff development: Training should be
delivered and supported over an extended period of time and not be treated asa one-shot workshop. There are unlimited variations to offering this training.
We have provided a brief description of one format: the four-day initial
training followed by study team support. Study teams will be explained
further in the next section, but we want to highlight that even a four-day
training is not sufficient for full implementation of the ideas in this model.
During training, it is important that the trainer’s behavior reflect the
assumptions about learning and the instructional processes presented in the
Dimensions of Learning Teacher’s Manual and in A Different Kind of Classroom:Teaching with Dimensions of Learning (Marzano, 1992). There are at least three
reasons that modeling the model is important. First, by “practicing what
they preach,” trainers demonstrate the very teaching techniques that they
advocate. Teachers frequently report that they become disenchanted when
trainers propose innovative teaching methods and then violate these methods
by spending the majority of their time lecturing. In addition to avoiding
negative participant attitudes, modeling the model provides participants
with first-hand experiences that give them insight into using Dimensions
of Learning strategies in the classroom. Dimensions of Learning is as valid
a model for adult learning as it is for student learning. Thus, it follows thatan effective adult learning experience must be structured around the five
types of thinking inherent in the model.
Although the scripts in this manual are designed to help the trainer model the
model throughout the training, a number of experiences and practices that we
recommend are not described in the scripts. We describe these below as
options the trainer might consider while planning the training. (For additional
examples of modeling the model, see Appendix A.) These experiences and
practices should not be considered inclusive; there are many other things that
can be included in a training that will model what is recommended. Of course,
the sequencing, timing, and emphasis placed on these experiences may vary
according to the disposition and preferences of the trainer.
1. Participants might be encouraged to reflect on their learning
by keeping learning logs.
Throughout the training, not just during closure, participants might
periodically be asked to make entries in personal learning logs to
encourage them to reflect on what they are learning. These entries
might be both free responses and structured responses.
Free responses are unrestricted and unguided comments related toany aspect of the training or the model. A trainer might cue a free
response in the learning log by simply saying to participants, “Take a
few moments now and write in your learning logs your reactions to
what we just did or anything we have done.” Or she might ask,
“What insights have you had so far that you would like to record in
your learning logs?” Participants can be asked to generate free
building had monthly meetings with the principal to exchange information and
resources and to coordinate their efforts.
The team leaders were teachers who had volunteered or had been selected by the group
to handle logistical arrangements and accountability procedures. They were viewed
first and foremost as peers, learning together with the team. The district paid the teamleaders a stipend in return for the additional responsibilities they assumed. Although
team leaders were responsible for logistics and for liaison work between the team and
the district, they did not always act as individual meeting facilitators. The group
decided in the beginning that the roles of facilitator, recorder, and timekeeper should
rotate each meeting. All members received training in meeting management skills from
the district staff developer, who had also been trained and done advanced work in the
Dimensions of Learning model.
The district staff developer analyzed each summary sheet that the team leaders
produced, looking for common themes. She provided technical assistance and resource
materials, and she sometimes taught demonstration lessons based on the information
she read in the summary sheets regarding team members’ questions and concerns. In
addition, she periodically met with the teams to present additional concepts from the
Dimensions of Learning model and to facilitate the process of teachers’ becoming more
familiar with all five dimensions and creating instructional units.
Team Focus and Norms
Most of the teams selected one or two of the dimensions for in-depth study over several
sessions. One team spent four sessions looking at the habits of mind and then
integrated the concepts into unit plans. Each team established a set of norms for itsmeetings that incorporated the habits of mind. For instance, the team members asked
themselves, “Are we being clear and seeking clarity? Are we open-minded when
considering new ideas? Are we responding appropriately to the feelings and level of
knowledge of others?” Other team norms focused on active listening, open and
supportive communication, beginning and ending meetings on time, staying focused on
each meeting’s objectives, and completing assignments on schedule.
Team Activities
Teams were encouraged to begin experimenting with the unit planning guides
immediately following the initial workshop. Members first tried developing a mock unit together and then began to work in smaller teams and individually following the steps
outlined in the planning sections of each dimension. The process they followed included
• writing a new curriculum unit or revising an existing one using the
Dimensions of Learning unit planning guides;
• implementing the unit plans in their classrooms;
• evaluating as a team how each plan was working and identifying where
changes were needed to meet students’ needs;
• revising plans, or expanding them, using additional instructional strategies
from the Teacher’s Manual;
• implementing, reflecting on, evaluating, and revising lessons on a continuing
basis;
• assessing the effect of their work on students; and
• celebrating successes.
As the interest and need for a broader repertoire arose, teams also opted to learn
additional teaching strategies from the Teacher’s Manual and A Different Kind of
Classroom. As trust and rapport developed among the members of each study team,
they invited one another to observe their classes. At the suggestion of the Dimensions of
Learning trainers and the district staff developer, peer observations were not mandated
by the district nor forced on team members by administrators or team leaders.
Progress Evaluation
Periodically and at the end of the year, each study team evaluated its progress in
implementing various aspects of the Dimensions of Learning model. Benefits cited
included the opportunity to learn and interact with peers, time to address common
instructional problems, and the chance to identify common learning objectives and
students’ needs across disciplines. A number of teachers said that their students were
more engaged in learning and that discipline problems seemed to be decreasing. They
also noted that having the principal involved in the learning process with the teams gave them the sense that their work had high priority and was valued.
There were also comments about the downside of the experience. Teachers mentioned the
frustration involved in “not being able to learn the Dimensions of Learning
framework fast enough,” the extra time it took to consciously plan using the five
dimensions, the competing demands on their time, the pressure to “cover the
curriculum,” the sense of awkwardness they still felt with various parts of the
Dimensions of Learning model, and a general feeling of frustration at “how long it
takes to learn something new.”
Despite these factors, most teachers believed the benefits of the experience outweighed thecosts, and a sense of commitment to the process prevailed. Ten of the twelve teachers
involved in study teams volunteered to continue in their study teams the next year.
During the summer, they had an opportunity for three days of review and follow-up
training that focused on clearing up confusions they had encountered during their
study sessions, refining units of study, and developing classroom-based assessment tasks
using the Dimensions of Learning model. The district staff developer also addressed
This section of the training is an overview of the Dimensions of Learning
model. This Overview can be a stand-alone presentation or an introduction
to an extended training. In either case, participants are gaining a familiarity
with each of the five dimensions as they develop an initial understanding of
the theoretical foundations of the model, examine sample classroom
activities, and consider potential uses of Dimensions of Learning.
< As explained in the introduction to this Trainer’s Manual, throughout the training
session, every effort should be made to “model the model.” In other words, it is
important to attend to each dimension as you plan and present the training. For
example, try to encourage positive attitudes from participants by establishing a positive
social and psychological climate. This might be done, for example, by making personal
contact with as many participants as possible before the training begins, helping
participants get to know one another, and demonstrating respect for participants by acknowledging that they already know a great deal about the learning process as a
result of their experiences in the classroom. You can refer to these behaviors later as
examples of attending to Dimension 1.>
<After formal introductions, start with a warm-up activity like the one below.>
Before we get started on the specifics of the Dimensions of Learning model,
let’s try a little warm-up activity.
<Write the following question on a blank overhead: “If the day before the day before
yesterday was Tuesday, what is the day after the day after tomorrow?” Or, you may
use another problem or puzzle.>
Take a minute to see if you can come up with the answer to this puzzle.
<Allow a couple of minutes for participants to work on their solutions. Walk around
and find someone who has come up with the correct answer (Monday), and ask if he
or she is willing to share his or her thinking in coming up with the answer. A
diagram such as the following might be shared by one of the participants.>
We are going to be talking about teaching students strategies for the different
types of thinking represented in the dimensions. Before we do, in your small
groups consider another question that looks at the issue from the other side:
“What are some good reasons for not teaching thinking?” After all, some
would argue, “Nobody taught us how to think when we were in school, and
we did just fine.” Consider for a few moments why we should not teach
students various types of thinking. Be ready to report back to the large group.
< Participants’ answers usually include, “There really isn’t time to teach thinking,”
“Standardized tests don’t evaluate thinking,” “Our job is not to teach students to
think,” and “We need to teach content.”>
The reason I asked you to discuss the first question—“What kind of
thinking do you wish you would see evidence of more frequently in
students?”—is to emphasize the broad range of needs in any student
population. One motivation for the development of Dimensions of Learning
was to help people clarify what they mean when they say, “We want our
students to improve their thinking skills.” The diversity in your answers to
the first question highlights the fact that when discussing “thinking skills,”
different people refer to very different behaviors. Dimensions of Learning
clearly puts the emphasis on thinking that facilitates learning. As we begin
to better understand the relationship between thinking and learning, we can
set clearer goals for improving both.
The second question—“What are some good reasons for not teaching
thinking?”—was designed to emphasize some important issues that will
naturally arise as we get further into the model. The Dimensions of Learningmodel has strong implications for curriculum planning, instruction, teacher-
student interactions, classroom structures, and assessment. Many educators
would agree that these areas can always be improved. Change comes with a
price, however. Improving how we teach the types of thinking that are
identified in this model might require changing how we use resources such
as time, money, and people. If it becomes necessary to significantly change
how we are presently using these resources, the challenges that come with
trying to effect these changes will quickly provide us with additional reasons
for not teaching these types of thinking. We have to ask ourselves if we are
ready to commit to overcoming these challenges.
Actually, it is an exciting time to be in education because there are many
effective and useful innovations available to us. Some of these innovations are
a result of using the research in cognition and learning and translating it
• Is this information useful or interesting to me?
• Can I do this?
• Do I know what is expected?
If the answer to any of these questions is “no,” students probably will turn
much of their attention to the issue implied by the question. As a result,
learning is interrupted because learners are now expending much of their
mental energy trying to resolve the issue.
Try to think of a situation when you were a learner and your attitudes and
perceptions influenced your learning, either positively or negatively. Share
your experience with a partner.
<Give participants time to discuss their experiences, and then ask a couple of people to
share their experiences. Then put up Overhead O.6, and categorize some of their
experiences as examples of parts of the outline. For example, if someone shares an
anecdote about a teacher who was rude to him or her, point out that it is an example
of not feeling accepted by teachers.>
Notice that this dimension has been divided into two general categories:
attitudes and perceptions about classroom climate and attitudes and
perceptions about classroom tasks. As we have seen, your personal anecdotes
exemplify parts of this outline. If you were given enough time, you probably
could think of personal anecdotes for each part of this outline. In other
words, you could think of times that your learning was influenced by your
positive or negative attitudes and perceptions related to teachers, peers,
comfort and order, your interest in the topic, your belief in your ability, andhow clear you were about what you were learning.
Given that these attitudes and perceptions influence learning, what does this
imply about instruction?
<Target answer: Teachers who want to enhance learning need to use strategies that
help students develop positive attitudes and perceptions in these areas. Participants
might also mention the point that students must also take some responsibility for their
own attitudes.>
Although teachers should help students to develop positive attitudes andperceptions, it is also important for students to take responsibility for their
own attitudes and perceptions. The Dimensions of Learning Teacher’s Manual
includes many strategies that will help teachers influence students’ thinking
related to attitudes and perception. It also includes strategies to share with
students so that they can increasingly take responsibility for their own
cannot see either of them. The message is that if we want students to see
patterns in information, we should use strategies that help them. Many of
you are familiar with strategies that help students organize information,
strategies like graphic organizers or graphs and charts. Again, the Teacher’s
Manual offers explanations of these and other strategies to help students in
this critical phase of acquiring declarative knowledge.
< Put up Overhead O.8 again.>
Once you have constructed meaning for and organized your knowledge, you
still have one more step to consider. Do you need to use storing strategies to
ensure that you will remember any specific pieces of knowledge?
Some educators become uncomfortable when this topic is raised. They might
be thinking, “Surely, you are not emphasizing memorizing in this model. It
is important for students to learn to access information, not memorize it.”
The Dimensions of Learning model highlights the importance of
remembering what you have learned. Certainly, accessing information is
critical, but in classrooms and in the workplace it is also important to have a
great deal of information “in your head” ready to use at any time. The good
news is that by attending to constructing meaning for and organizing
information, you have already influenced what will be remembered.
However, there are times when there is a need to commit to memory very
specific pieces of information. This is when storing strategies should be used.
Prior to the invention of the printing press, the mark of scholars was their
ability to recall information by chapter and verse (e.g., from The Iliad , TheOdyssey, or the Bible). Current education practice sometimes does not make
use of strategies that have been around for hundreds of years. As with the
other phases, you can provide students with strategies that, when used
efficiently, can reduce the amount of time needed for storing information.
Let’s try one strategy right now.
Create a picture in your head of a Jersey cow (which is brown). Name this
Jersey cow “Georgette.” See her standing up on one hind leg, balancing on
top of the Empire State Building. She is wearing yellow underwear. She is
singing Christmas carols. Hear them.<Go back and review. Ask, “What kind of cow?”, “What was she wearing?”,
“What’s her name?”, etc.>
Under what is now her right arm is a Virginia ham. Smell and taste it. In
her left hand is a pen. With this pen she is connecting dots in the air.
Now the picture formed by the dots is becoming clear. It’s a long winding
road. On the road is Marilyn Monroe going to Mass, so see a big cathedral at
the end of the road.
<Go back and quickly review once more.>
Here is the situation. You are my fifth graders. We are studying the 13
original colonies. I want you to be able to list them, but I don’t want you to
spend a lot of time memorizing them. What we just did was use a memory
strategy to achieve this goal. Remember that with actual fifth graders, they
would know what they are memorizing. I didn’t tell you at the beginning
because it is kind of fun to find out after you have done it. The strategy I used
is called the link strategy. You simply generate a symbol or substitute (a word
that sounds like the target word) for each item you are memorizing and then
link them together. Let’s check to see what symbols and substitutes I used.
< Provide the first few colonies for participants so that they understand how symbols,
substitutes, and the link strategy work. Then ask them to identify the rest of the
states. Jersey cow=New Jersey; Georgette=Georgia; Empire State Building=New
York; Christmas carols=North and South Carolina; yellow underwear=Delaware;
Virginia ham=Virginia and New Hampshire; pen=Pennsylvania; connecting
dots=Connecticut; road=Rhode Island; Marilyn=Maryland; and
Mass=Massachusetts.>
Some people might say that this is just a gimmick or a trick. Actually it is a
very powerful strategy that is used effectively by students to remember lists.Because memory strategies are highly engaging, they can convince students
that other kinds of thinking—such as comprehension and problem
solving—also involve strategies that they can use.
To see if I have been clear, before we move on, take a few minutes to jot
down the key ideas we just covered in our discussion of acquiring and
integrating declarative knowledge.
< Allow time for participants to write.>
Based on what you wrote down, are there any questions you would like toask? Is there any information that needs to be clarified before we move on?
< Allow several seconds of “wait time.” Respond to questions. Then, if it is not
already up, put up Overhead O.8 again.>
To review, acquiring and integrating declarative knowledge involves three
phases: constructing meaning, organizing, and storing. Acquiring and
just for a particular unit, the majority of time is spent practicing and shaping;
the time required for the learner to construct models is relatively short. This
illustrates that not all classrooms will look—nor should look—the same.
In general, which subject areas are heavy in procedural knowledge? Which
are heavy in declarative knowledge?
<The general opinion is that industrial arts is an area that consists largely of
procedural knowledge, that social studies consists mostly of declarative knowledge, and
that mathematics seems split. Keep in mind that not everyone will agree with this
categorization; other positions certainly are defensible.>
<If this is an introduction to a longer training, go to the discussion of
Dimension 3.>
<If this is a stand-alone overview , ask participants to read the unit planning
guides for Dimension 2, which are part of the handout you created. Acknowledge that they may not be familiar with all of the strategies included in the planning guides. The
main point is that planning for the acquisition and integration of knowledge requires
careful consideration of the processes involved in learning both types of knowledge.
Then go on to the discussion of Dimension 3.>
Dimension 3
< Put up Overhead O.11.>Learning, of course, involves more than just acquiring and integrating
declarative and procedural knowledge. In truly effective situations, learners
engage in mental processes that help them gain new insights about
information, see new connections, and make new discoveries. In short,
learners extend and refine their knowledge. Few would deny that teaching
students to use processes that help them to extend and refine knowledge is a
desirable educational goal. That goal, however, sometimes gets lost.
< Put up Overhead O.12.>
Consider the list on this overhead for a moment. Students need instruction inhow to perform these processes, as well as specific opportunities to apply
them to content. Keep in mind that the goal is not just to “do” these
processes periodically or on a particular day of the week. (One school
designated a thinking day, which was called “Thinking Thursdays.”) The goal
is for students to use the processes to extend and refine their knowledge.
We have discussed the types of thinking required for establishing positiveattitudes and perceptions (Dimension 1), for acquiring and integrating
knowledge (Dimension 2), for extending and refining knowledge
(Dimension 3), and for using knowledge meaningfully (Dimension 4). Now
we’re going to discuss Dimension 5, Habits of Mind.
The most effective learning is done when the learner is operating at a higher
level of thinking. But what is “higher level thinking”? Some researchers
assert that thinking and learning is “higher level” when learners are
exhibiting certain habits of mind. This suggests that the phrase “higher level
thinking” is not something that is demanded from specific types of tasks; it
is a phrase that describes what a learner exhibits, or does not exhibit, whenengaged in any type of task. For example, from a Dimensions of Learning
perspective, it is not accurate to say that someone who is solving a problem
is engaged in thinking that is “higher level” than a person who is trying to
comprehend something; problem solving can be done rather mindlessly,
whereas comprehending can demand rigorous concentration. Again, as
defined in Dimensions of Learning, higher level thinking does not describe
what a task demands; it describes what the learner brings to the task.
< Put up Overhead O.16.>
In the Dimensions of Learning model, the fifth dimension, Habits of Mind,offers a list of specific mental habits that characterize higher level thinking.
Let’s examine this list with a technique frequently used by teachers to
encourage students to self-assess their own use of these mental habits.
Imagine a classroom of students working hard on a long-term Dimension 4
task. Periodically, the teacher asks them to stop their work and respond to
one or more of the following questions. Consider what effect being presented
with these questions might have on students.
<Put up Overhead O.17, then O.18, then O.19. Allow time for participants to read
each set of questions. Participants commonly like these questions. You might includethem in a handout.>
Then put up Overhead O.16 again.>
The sets of questions you just saw are simply these productive habits of
mind turned into questions with a rating scale. No matter what the task,
learners are engaged in higher level thinking to the extent to which they are
exhibiting appropriate mental habits like those listed here under the three
categories of habits of mind: critical thinking, creative thinking, and self-
regulated thinking.
Some would argue that these habits, sometimes referred to as dispositions,
are what students need to succeed in the 21st century. Assume that youagree. How can we communicate to students that these habits of mind are
important?
<Elicit responses. Examples: We help students learn how to develop the habits; we
model them; we tell students that the habits of mind are important; we point out
instances that demonstrate that such habits are integral to the success of some of their
heroes.>
Some would argue that although there are many ways of communicating the
importance of mental habits, the message we give students is that what is
graded is what’s important. I’m going to paint a scenario that asks you toexplore this assertion and that also asks you to generate a new way of
viewing a situation that is outside the boundaries of standard conventions.
Suppose there is a school in which the report card students take home
includes only these 15 habits of mind. These are the only things for which
students receive actual grades; the curriculum stays the same. Students are
given assignments and feedback on how well they are doing, but grades are
limited to these 15 habits of mind. Would you want to work at this school?
Why or why not? Think about this, and then buddy up with someone and
share your thoughts.< Allow time for participants to think and then to pair up. Then ask several
participants to share their conclusions. You will probably get people who would like to
work there because these habits are so important. Many, however, will say that they
would not like to work there because assessing these habits would be difficult and the
assessments would be so subjective.>
You are highlighting the issues that consistently surround the habits of mind.
Most people believe they are important. But they disagree about the role of
the school and the possibility of assessing them. We are not suggesting that
schools grade these habits. This activity simply highlights the issues thatsometimes surface. It is important to not let disagreements related to these
issues distract from addressing this dimension in the classroom.
Remember that in the Dimensions of Learning model this dimension, habits
of mind, is part of the backdrop of the graphic representation of the model.
This implies that these habits influence the learning of the knowledge that
is the focus in Dimensions 2, 3, and 4. These habits of mind are important
because they can dramatically influence learning. Even if a school has a very
“back-to-basics” curriculum, if students are also developing these mental
habits, their learning will be enhanced. How, then, might you communicate
to students that these habits are important, and how might you help
students develop them?
The Teacher’s Manual suggests a number of ways to do this, including
suggestions for assessing these habits. However, the manual defines
assessment very broadly. Student self-assessment, as modeled with the self-
assessment questions we examined a few minutes ago on the overhead, is a
useful and effective method for maintaining students’ awareness of the
importance of mental habits.
<If this is an introduction to a longer training, move on to the Wrap-Up
Section.>
<If this is a stand-alone overview, ask participants to read over the Dimension 5 Planning Guide, which is part of the handout you created. Point out that the teacher
has decided how to reinforce or introduce various habits within the unit. Then move
on to the Wrap-Up Section below.>
Wrap-Up
We have now examined all five of the dimensions of learning. Each
represents a type of thinking distinct from the others, and yet, as the graphic
implies, each interacts and overlaps with the others. For example, when
students engage in activities that are designed to extend and refine their
knowledge, they have not stopped acquiring and integrating knowledge. In
fact, they continue to acquire and integrate knowledge as they work on tasks
in which they use knowledge meaningfully.
The Dimensions of Learning model can be used in a number of ways. There
are four major ways described in the introduction to the Teacher’s Manual ,
pages 8-11. Turn to those pages now.
<If this is a stand-alone presentation and participants do not have the manual, you
could either omit the directions in this section that ask them to read, or you might
provide them with a handout of these pages from the manual.>
<Put up Overhead O.20.>
First, it has been used as a resource for instructional strategies that are keyed
to the effect that those strategies should have on the learning process. Take a
minute to read the section on page 8 that describes this use.
Second, Dimensions of Learning is used to plan staff development. No one
wants staff development opportunities to be perceived as one-shot inservice
workshops focused on “hot topics” that are here today and gone tomorrow.
The reason that schools and districts plan staff development opportunities isto help teachers learn so that they can help students learn. The Dimensions
model can provide a way to focus staff development efforts so that it is clear
how selected programs and strategies will affect students’ learning. Take a
look at the matrix on page 10.
< Again, if participants do not have the Teacher’s Manual or a handout, you can use
the overhead of the matrix to make the following points.>
<Put up Overhead O.21.>
Down the left-hand side of the matrix is an outline of the Dimensions of Learning model. This indicates that the person using this matrix has decided
that Dimensions represents what he or she believes to be important in the
learning process. The first step in using this matrix to plan staff
development is to determine what part of the learning process you are trying
to improve. This means that you should first identify your “learning goals.”
Do you, for instance, want to improve students’ acquisition of procedural
knowledge? Do you want to improve students’ attitudes toward learning?
Perhaps you want to help students extend and refine knowledge through the
use of specific reasoning processes. You might decide that you have several of
these goals in mind.Once you have decided what part or parts of the learning process you would
like to affect, you would move to the top of the matrix and begin to identify
“resources for improvement,” that is, programs, strategies, techniques,
experts, or any other type of resource that would help you to achieve the
learning goal you have set. Notice that you do not have to identify only one
resource; there are multiple resources that can help you to achieve your goals.
As you identify resources, you also will discover that a resource identified for
one specific learning goal will influence other parts of the learning process as
well. Cooperative learning approaches, for example, might be selected as aresource for enhancing students’ attitudes toward each other. However,
depending on how these approaches are used in the classroom, they also can
potentially influence many aspects of the learning process.
< As you make these points, you might demonstrate the use of the matrix by filling in
a couple of resources at the top and then putting a mark in the appropriate square
across from the aspect of learning that the resources influence. This will show
participants how one resource can influence multiple parts of the learning process and
how a single part of the learning process can be influenced by multiple resources.>
Of course, you do not have to use a matrix like this to use the Dimensions
model as a framework for planning staff development. The point is that staff
development opportunities should always be focused on a clear learning goaland that Dimensions provides a framework for setting these goals.
< Put up Overhead O.20 again.>
The third use of the model is as a structure for planning curriculum and
assessment. The planning guide that accompanies each dimension provides a
structure that encourages teachers to ask themselves key questions related to
each dimension as they plan curriculum units. The practice of asking
questions in each dimension is more important than filling out the planning
guide itself. However, the guide provides a place for teachers to answer each
of the questions. Using a model of learning to plan curriculum unitscommunicates that students’ thinking and learning is more important than
the activities that students experience or the strategies and techniques that
will be used.
As people use the model to plan curriculum, they also realize that their
planning for assessment is influenced. They discover, for example, that the
tasks generated in Dimensions 3 and 4 can be used for assessment as well as
for instruction. Further, because the planning in Dimension 2 encourages
them to clearly identify the declarative and procedural knowledge that
students will be learning, teachers have found that it is easier to designconventional forced-choice assessments that clearly assess the knowledge that
is important in the unit.
<If it is not already up, put up Overhead O.20 again.>
Finally, the most ambitious use of the model is as a focus for systemic
reform. Some district administrators have concluded that so much is going
on in schools and classrooms that at times the focus on students’ learning
gets lost. They do not want to stop people from using diverse resources or
stifle the enthusiasm people have for what they are doing, but they believe
they must focus efforts and energies on ensuring that enhancing students’learning is always the goal. As stated in the Teacher’s Manual (page 11), “Just
as curriculum planners ask questions in reference to each dimension during
planning, people in every part of the school system ask similar questions as
they create schedules, select textbooks, create job descriptions, and evaluate
To conclude this overview, I’d like to see if you can briefly summarize some
of the main points. Here’s how we will do it. Get a partner. One of you will
be A, and one of you will be B. After you have had a little time to reflect,
A’s, see if you can identify and briefly describe each of the five dimensions
of learning. After each dimension, B’s, identify one thing that was clear, or
validating, and one thing that was perhaps confusing, or of concern. I will
ask several pairs to share to the whole group when you are finished.
< Allow time for participants to interact, and then have several people share aloud.
Try to clear up any confusions that can be clarified quickly. If there is a major area
of confusion or concern, explain how the complete training will provide clarifications
and explanations.>
<If this is an introduction to a longer training, emphasize the fact that
when used to plan curriculum, the model can increase the likelihood that students
will be engaged in increasingly complex thinking as they learn content knowledge.
Additionally, it can help teachers and students become more aware of what is
necessary for efficient and effective learning. Explain that during this training,
each dimension will be explored in some depth. This will include brief summaries
of theoretical foundations, demonstrations, and examples of content and planning
units that address the five dimensions of learning.>
<If this is a stand-alone overview, reemphasize the fact that this model
was developed to help clarify the types of thinking involved in learning. When
the Dimensions of Learning model is used to plan curriculum, it can increase the
likelihood that students will be engaged in increasingly complex thinking as they
learn content knowledge. Additionally, the instructional activities and strategies inthe Teacher’s Manual can help teachers and students become more aware of what is
necessary for efficient and effective learning. Review the resources available to those
who are interested in learning more about Dimensions of Learning. These are listed
<Allow a few minutes for discussion, and then ask for several examples.>
Now, recall a time you were a student and you consciously did something to
improve your attitude in some way. For example, you may have done
something to improve your relationship with your instructor or with your
peers or to improve your attitude about your abilities. Determine how takingthis action enhanced your learning. Share this example with a neighbor.
<Again, allow a few minutes for discussion, and then ask for several examples.>
Both of these experiences illustrate that many teachers and students are aware
of the influence that attitudes and perceptions have on the learning process.
However, although a number of examples were just generated in this group,
we also know that many times teachers, even master teachers, may be
unaware of specific strategies that help students enhance or maintain positive
attitudes and perceptions or may forget to use what they know works.
Even when teachers use a variety of strategies, they cannot always meet the
needs of all students. Therefore, the responsibility for establishing positive
attitudes and perceptions should be shared; that is, students should be
taught strategies to cultivate their own positive attitudes and perceptions
about learning. Successful students may consciously or unconsciously use
strategies to establish and maintain positive attitudes and perceptions, but
too many students are not knowledgeable about how to take responsibility
for this type of thinking.
Although the role of positive attitudes and perceptions is widely known and
acknowledged, viewing attitudes and perceptions as a type of thinking—infact, a thinking skill —may be a different perspective for some people. This is
a useful perspective because it emphasizes that we can have an impact on our
own attitudes and perceptions; that is, we can change negative ones and
cultivate positive ones. In addition, understanding that people can become
skilled at enhancing and maintaining positive attitudes means that we as
teachers can teach students how to develop this skill. This skill helps
empower students as they learn important content knowledge.
For example, a middle school student might learn to say to herself, “One of
the reasons that I have been doing poorly in one class is that I know theteacher does not like me. That affects how well I do in her class. I don’t try
as hard in that class as I do in others. I’ve decided to consciously go out of
my way to interact with the teacher in a positive way and put forth the
same—if not more—effort in her class as I do in others.” Many students do
not realize that they can take responsibility for their thinking. However, as
they begin to do so, they often discover just how strongly they can motivate
Working with one or two other people, look again at the two basic
categories of attitudes and perceptions on page 14 of your Teacher’s Manual :
those related to classroom climate and those related to classroom tasks.
<Put up Overhead 1.1.>
On this overhead is a list of teacher and student behaviors. For each
behavior, try to determine if the goal is to affect attitudes and perceptions
about classroom climate or about classroom tasks. Then go a little further,
and identify the specific aspect of classroom climate or tasks that the
behavior affects. For example, if you think a behavior affects students’
attitudes and perceptions about classroom tasks, determine if it influences
their perceptions of the value and interest of the tasks, their attitudes and
perceptions about their ability to complete the tasks, and/or their
understanding of and clarity about the tasks.
<Allow time for participants to do the matching, and then review the list together as a group. To facilitate this activity, it is useful to write the two general categories of
Dimension 1 and the subcategories (see Overhead O.6) on a piece of chart paper or on
a board. You might also want to briefly explain each of the subcategories within the
two general categories of attitudes and perceptions. Note that some of the behaviors
may impact several aspects of classroom climate or tasks and that different people
might see different benefits for the same behavior.>
An activity like this illustrates how a simple behavior can influence students’
attitudes and perceptions about multiple aspects of climate and tasks. There
are many strategies and activities that have been specifically designed foreach part of Dimension 1. The Teacher’s Manual describes a number of these
Let’s spend some time now looking at a few of these more closely. Turn to
page 15 in the Teacher’s Manual . Note that the first strategy describes how to
help students understand that attitudes and perceptions related to classroom
climate influence learning. Take a couple of minutes to read over this
strategy and to think about why it might be important.
<Allow time for participants to read and reflect.>
Let’s address the second point under this strategy and create a hypothetical
situation right now. How many of you had a negative experience today? Did
anyone oversleep? Did anyone wake up to a car that would not start? Did
anyone not want to come to the training this morning? Any of these
situations could lead to someone in this workshop having a negative
attitude. Working with one or two other people, create a hypothetical
situation in which a participant could have a negative attitude. Then
identify several things that he or she could do, given this hypothetical
situation, to create a more positive attitude. Then, using the same situation,
identify some things that an instructor could do to help this participant have
a more positive attitude about the workshop.
<Allow time for participants to think of a situation. Ask them to share ideas with
the large group. Take the opportunity to share a real story of your own, that is, to
share things that have happened to you that could potentially influence your attitudes
and perceptions, such as having difficulty travelling to a location, experiencing arough morning with your children, etc. Usually this section is one in which you can
joke about a few of the mishaps of the day so far.>
The next section includes strategies (2-10, pages 16-22) for helping students
feel accepted by teachers and peers. Let’s look at strategy 2: Establish a
relationship with each student in the class. Please read this.
<Allow time for participants to read.>
The suggestions under strategy 2 are similar to the things you mentioned
when you described the teacher from your past who you knew accepted and
respected you. Think about how you feel when someone remembers your
name. All of us perhaps would agree that when someone makes an effort to
get to know us, it has a positive effect. For example, I might be so impressed
that the manager at the dry cleaner calls me by name that I am motivated to
keep giving him my business. Now remember, if you go out to lunch today
and someone calls you by name, it is because you forgot to take off your
from the teacher that their answers were wrong. They often react by giving
up, tuning out, or acting out.
There are, of course, many effective ways of responding to incorrect responses
that communicate respect and help maintain students’ dignity. It is useful to
build a repertoire of responses. A few are offered in the bulleted items onpage 19. Take a minute to skim these.
<Allow time for reading.>
However, simply knowing these approaches is not enough. It takes practice
to make sure that your body language and tone of voice communicate that
you believe that students can correct or improve their responses. Let’s
practice.
Get a partner. One of you turn your back to the screen. The person facing
the screen is the “teacher.” The teacher is to begin asking the “student” someof the questions from the list on the screen. Think of it as playing “Trivial
Pursuit” without the competition. The teacher should try to use a number of
different ways of responding when the student fails to provide the correct
answer.
<Put up Overhead 1.4 only when the participants who are “the students” have turned
so they cannot see the screen. Expose only the first half of the questions. Let
participants know that the questions were selected to elicit incorrect responses or no
responses by intelligent adults so that they could practice the strategy.
Allow time for this activity. Then, if you have time, you might want to ask participants to trade places and do this activity again with Overhead 1.5
(the second half of the questions).>
Did you notice that in general you were consciously looking for positive
ways to help each other give the correct answer? What is difficult about
responding positively to incorrect responses in the classroom? How do
students react to different kinds of responses?
<Target answer: Participants will probably report that different students like
different kinds of responses. Some like to have help. Some prefer cues from the teacher.>
There is nothing new about these strategies. The difficult part is to
remember to use them, especially on a day when you are frustrated by
students’ answers. Some faculties have made a commitment to play this little
“Trivial Pursuit” game periodically at faculty meetings just to remind
Now compare your list with several other people. Pay attention to the
reasons given for liking to do things alone and with others.
<Allow time for sharing in small groups.>
You probably discovered that people have different preferences in terms of thedegree to which they like to do things alone or with others. You probably
also discovered that people have different reasons for their preferences. Notice
that strategy 8 suggests that teachers structure opportunities for students to
work with peers. Keep in mind that this is suggested as a way of enhancing
positive attitudes among peers. Just as participants in this workshop vary in
the degree to which they like to interact with others, remember that students
in your classroom will also differ greatly. To ensure that working together
enhances attitudes towards peers, you need to make sure you understand how
to make cooperation and collaboration work.
Although some teachers feel less in control when students are working ingroups, students can benefit from experiences that help them get along and
work with others. There are some valuable suggestions offered in the
bulleted items on page 20, but much more is needed to become skilled in
this area. Many teachers have received extensive training in cooperative
learning models and strategies. For those of you who would like to learn
more about this area, some of the notable authors and researchers are listed
in the margins of your Teacher’s Manual .
Although students work, play, and interact with their peers, they may not
have had opportunities to learn to work well together. For some of your
students, it will come naturally, just as it does for some of you. For others, it
will be important for you to be experienced at setting up and facilitating
group interactions. One way of preparing students to work together is to use
the suggestions listed under strategy 9 to help them get to know and accept
each other. Take a couple of minutes to review these suggestions.
<Allow time for participants to read and reflect.>
The last strategy in this section—strategy 10, “Help students to develop
their ability to use their own strategies for gaining acceptance”—highlights
an important issue about students taking control of their own thinking and
learning. An underlying theme throughout this manual is the importance of
students taking more responsibility for the thinking addressed in each
dimension. This means that students must increasingly use many of these
strategies on their own and that they must develop their own strategies as
they become independent learners. Strategy 10 describes how you can help
students learn to accept increasing responsibility for gaining acceptance from
Read the suggested strategies for students to use in gaining acceptance from
teachers and peers. Then make two lists. Entitle one, “What positive things do
I do to be accepted by others?” Entitle the other, “What positive things do I
see other people do to gain acceptance from others?” Tailor the lists to your
particular grade level. Then try to create an activity that you might use in
your classroom to help students generate their own lists of strategies for
gaining acceptance. You might start with an event or a piece of literature to
prompt the activity. How would you follow through and monitor whether
students actually used one of their strategies in an attempt to gain acceptance?
<Put up Overhead O.6 again.>
The second main subsection under classroom climate refers to attitudes and
perceptions related to experiencing a sense of comfort and order. If students
perceive the classroom as comfortable and orderly, they learn more efficiently
because they do not have to put much effort into thinking about their
discomfort or about creating a sense of order for themselves in what they
perceive as a chaotic situation. The challenge is that different people have
different criteria for what is comfortable and orderly. Therefore, it is
important for teachers and students to work together to achieve positive
results for everyone.
You probably have noticed that we take regular breaks during this
workshop. Why do you think we do that? Actually this is a rhetorical
“why?”. We all know that it can be difficult to sit still for long periods of
time. The first strategy on page 23—”Frequently and systematically use
activities that involve physical movement”—addresses this reality.
Many educators have noticed that the higher the grade level, the less
physical movement there is in the classroom. What has been your
experience? If you agree that there is less physical movement in classrooms
as students get older and older, discuss why this is the case and whether you
believe this is appropriate. Be ready to share aloud after you have discussed
this with your partner.
<It is not important to come to a conclusion about this. You will probably hear
differing opinions. Typically, it is mentioned that students move from class to class every
40 to 50 minutes in middle school and high school and that this is where physical movement is allowed. It is sometimes worth mentioning that if high schools use a block
schedule, administrators may need to think about the issue of physical comfort.>
The second strategy is pulled directly from the Tactics for Thinking program,
which is referenced in the margin on page 24. Bracketing is a term used to
describe what people do to help them focus their thinking on the task at
hand, even when multiple things are going on in their mind. Take a minute
to read the description of the strategy and the suggestions for introducing
this to students.
<Allow time for participants to read.>
One suggestion is to identify for students examples of people who use
bracketing successfully or who could benefit by using it. Let’s see if we can
generate some examples together. Name some people or some fictional
characters—people students relate to or admire—who are probably good at
bracketing and have been successful, at least in part, because of this ability.
<Be ready with some examples from current events, perhaps an athlete, a business
tycoon, or an astronaut. Then have participants suggest some names.> The point is
that if students understand that the uses of bracketing go far beyond paying
attention in the classroom, they might be more interested in using it.
The next two strategies for helping students to experience a sense of comfortand order are fairly common. Establishing rules and attending to malicious
teasing are topics with which you are probably familiar.
Just as in the previous section on helping students to feel accepted,
suggestions are offered under strategy 15—“Have students develop their
own standards for comfort and order”—for helping students take more
responsibility for this aspect of classroom climate. Take a couple of minutes
to read the first classroom example on page 27 in which Mrs. Frost is
reminded of the benefits of involving students in establishing order.
<Allow time for reading.>
Share with a partner experiences in which, either as a learner or a teacher,
you experienced the teacher and students working together to set and
The next major section of Dimension 1 in the Teacher’s Manual offers
powerful strategies for developing positive attitudes and perceptions toward
classroom tasks.
<Put up Overhead O.6 again.>
Notice that, as with each section of the manual, the first strategy (on page
29) suggests ways of helping students to understand the importance of
maintaining positive attitudes toward classroom tasks. The remaining
strategies address the goal of helping students to perceive tasks as valuable
and interesting, to believe that they have the ability and resources to
complete tasks, and to understand and be clear about tasks. To become more
familiar with these strategies, as well as with the classroom examples
provided at the end of this section, we’re going to use a jigsaw activity.
Get into groups of three, and assign an A, a B, and a C. Each person will be
assigned several strategies and a classroom example to read. That person will
then share the key ideas with the other two members of the group. That way
everyone does not need to read every section. The assignments are as follows:
<Put up Overhead 1.7.>
A. Under the heading “Perceive Tasks as Valuable and Interesting,” read
strategies 2-5 on pages 30-32. Then read the first classroom example
on page 37 (the Mr. Snow example).
B. Under the heading “Believe They Have the Ability and Resources to
Complete Tasks,” read strategies 6-9 on pages 33-34. Then read the
second classroom example on page 37 (the Mrs. Fitzsimmons example).
C. Under the heading “Understand and Be Clear About Tasks,” read
strategies 10-12 on pages 35-36. Then read the third classroom
example on pages 37 and 38 (the Mr. Young example).
As you read, highlight what you consider to be the most important
suggestions. Be ready to share those ideas with the other members of your
group. You do not need to discuss the strategies in detail when sharing. Yourgoal is to familiarize other participants with the strategies they may want to
look at in greater depth at another time.
<Optional, if there’s time.> To prepare for this sharing, after you finish
reading, find another person with the same assignment and discuss your
situation related to the use of technology, either in the home or on the job.
Then generate a list of declarative knowledge (what you must know or
understand) and procedural knowledge (what skills or abilities you must
develop). Be ready to share your lists.
<Allow time for groups to work, then ask several groups to share. Listen carefully tomake sure that participants accurately identify examples of both declarative and
procedural knowledge.>
In many learning situations you could do this same thing, that is, you could
identify what you need to know or understand and what skills you need to
develop. We will soon see that people learn these two types of knowledge
differently and, therefore, that we must teach them differently. However,
first let’s look in more depth at declarative and procedural knowledge. Please
read about the relationships between declarative and procedural knowledge
on page 45.
<Allow time for reading.>
Now, here’s a mini-quiz I’d like you to take. With a partner, answer the
following questions.
<Put up Overhead 2.1. Allow time for this activity, and then ask several people to
respond to each question.
Target answers:
1. Think about the field of science. If you listed the declarative knowledge and
the procedural knowledge in science, which list would be longer?
Answer : The list of declarative knowledge would be longer. There are many
concepts and principles in all of the fields of science. Almost all of the
procedural knowledge is related to skills required to engage in scientific
inquiry. This procedural knowledge might be very important, and it might be
used every day in the science lab, but the quantity of declarative knowledge
is greater.
2. If you were trying to determine how well I understand music, why might I
justifiably object to your assessing my understanding by asking me to sing?
Answer : If you ask me to sing, you are also assessing my procedural
knowledge related to being able to sing. I might not want you to draw
conclusions about my understanding of music from your assessment of my
singing ability. If I sing well, you might correctly conclude that I
understand music. However, if I can’t sing, I would not want you to
conclude that I don’t understand music. I may understand a great deal.
Now I’d like you to try using these organizational patterns to plan for
teaching information to someone. At first, I’d like you to work alone on this
assignment. You will be sharing your work later.
Select a topic that is of interest to you, and use these organizational patterns
to identify and organize the information that you might teach to someone.Keep in mind that you are using the patterns to organize a list of
information—declarative knowledge—that you might teach someone. At this
point you are not making final decisions about what you would actually teach.
<Allow time for participants to work on their lists. Circulate as they work to answer
questions and to clarify any areas of confusion.>
Now turn back to page 48 in your manual. The last paragraph on that page
explains that these organizational patterns represent a hierarchy, from the
most specific to the most general. As explained, it is important to understand
that both concept patterns and generalization/principle patterns containinformation that is at a higher level of generality than the information in the
other patterns. As the first example in the paragraph on page 48 explains,
learning about the concept of culture will be much more useful to someone
than simply learning about the culture of a specific country.
Using my quilting example, I might learn about specific quilting patterns
and understand how these patterns symbolize aspects of the lives of pioneers.
Although this is interesting specific information, it would be more useful if
I learned the generalization “Arts and crafts of any era reflect the culture of
that era.” This generalization is at a higher level of generality and thus couldbe applied to many different situations.
<Put up Overhead 2.5.>
Examine for a minute the examples on this overhead of potential goals for
units or study. Notice that the specific information is paired with more
general concepts and generalizations/principles.
Now look at the list of information you generated earlier about your topic of
interest. Did you identify any generalizations/principles or concepts that
would transfer to other topics? If not, could you? Reexamine your list, and
share the results at your tables.
< Allow time for them to work.>
To review, declarative knowledge can be organized into patterns so that
students see the relationships among the pieces of information. There are six
common organizational patterns that can be used to organize the information.
Some of these patterns organize very specific factual information; others
<If participants have not had this experience, do this activity as described in the
training script for the Overview, page 38.>
There are a number of strategies and approaches that teachers can use, and
that they can teach to students, to ensure that students are constructing
meaning as they are learning declarative knowledge.
The first strategy, described in your manual on page 52, provides
suggestions for helping students understand the process of constructing
meaning. The “Doing Laundry” passage is included in this section as an
example to use with students just as it was used with you during the
overview of the Dimensions of Learning model. The reason this is the first
suggestion under constructing meaning is that students have a greater
chance of successfully using all of the other strategies for constructing
meaning if they understand the purpose of the strategies. Take a minute to
read the suggestions for building this understanding.
< Allow time for reading. After participants have read for a minute, stop them and
give them three minutes to turn to a partner and verbalize what they were thinking
about as they read. You are modeling for them a very unstructured “three-minute
pause,” which is the next strategy.>
The next strategy, strategy 2, describes the use of the three-minute pause.
Please read this section in your manual.
< Allow time for participants to read.>
We just used the three-minute pause while you were reading. This is one of the simplest strategies for constructing meaning. As students are exposed to
new information when, for example, reading a book, watching a film, or
listening to someone presenting information, they periodically are asked to
pause and turn to a partner to summarize, discuss interesting ideas, and
identify and resolve any areas of confusion. This pause may last three
minutes, or it may be shorter. Students are then asked to turn their attention
back to the learning experience.
Why would this strategy help students to construct meaning? How can it
provide you with an indication of how well students are constructing
meaning?
<Target answer: Students become active rather than passive learners. When they
verbalize their thoughts, they begin to process the information they are receiving. If
during the pause teachers notice that students are not able to say anything about the
information, this should be a cue that students have not been able to construct
A very different strategy for constructing meaning is for learners to use all of
their senses as they are exposed to information. This strategy (strategy 3) is
described on pages 53 and 54 of the Teacher’s Manual . Please read this section.
<Allow time for reading.>
Although many of you probably have used this strategy in the classroom, it
is worth reviewing. Teachers have reported that when students become
proficient at using this strategy, their understanding and retention of
information is positively affected. However, to get these results, students
must practice generating mental images. It is relatively easy to do this when
a passage of information contains rich language that helps them to create
images, but it is much more difficult when the information is presented in a
traditional academic style. Let me illustrate.
In a moment I’m going to put up a passage taken from National Geographic .
I’d like you to read this passage. As you read, consciously try to create amental image, using all of your senses. Be ready to share your images, to
describe what was going on in your mind. In other words, be ready to
describe what it was like to think about the information.
<Put up Overhead 2.8 (Silk). Allow time for reading and sharing. Encourage
participants to describe what they saw, heard, tasted, smelled, and touched as they
read.>
When we are stimulated by writing that is rich with images, it is relatively
easy to engage all of our senses. We construct pictures almost unconsciously
and, as you just experienced, use our senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste,and touch. As a result, we understand and retain the information fairly well.
Content knowledge presented in textbooks or lectures, however, sometimes
does not have the rich language you just experienced. In such cases, learners
have to consciously work to engage all of their senses in order to help
themselves construct meaning. The more abstract the information, the more
challenging it is to create mental images and the more teachers must help
students to create them.
< Put up Overhead 2.9 (Why Our Hair Turns Gray).>
Now I want you to read this passage. Be prepared to answer: What can yousee? Hear? Smell? Taste? Touch?
<Allow participants time to read the passage on the overhead. You may want to,
instead, use your own passage for this experience.>
What mental pictures and sensations did you create?
<Have several participants answer the question aloud. As they do, probe for more
details in their pictures and ask them what they saw, heard, smelled, tasted, and felt.
Role-play the teacher by demonstrating that you are not simply attending to the degree
to which they understand the content; you are helping them develop the ability to
create more and more detailed images.>
This passage is written in “textbook style” and describes a process. Both of
these characteristics make it more challenging for readers to engage all of
their senses because the language is straightforward, dry, and abstract. How
might you help students to engage all of their senses when they are
presented with passages like this?
<Make the point that you were demonstrating several techniques as you tried to elicit
more and more details about their mental pictures. Discuss other ways for helping
students to refine this skill, such as describing your own mental pictures and
sensations to students, asking students to describe their pictures and sensations to each
other, and using a think-aloud to model the strategy.>
Turn to page 81, and read the second classroom example, the Mrs. Garron
example. It shows how a teacher might use the mental imagery strategy to
engage students in the process of learning specific declarative knowledge in
the classroom, in this case a fifth-grade classroom. Even if you don’t teach at
this level, the example might help you think of ways to use this strategy
with your students.
< Allow time for reading.>
Strategy 4 (Help students to construct meaning for vocabulary terms) alsoencourages the development of the ability to create images, but it applies the
strategy specifically to vocabulary development. You will recall that when
identifying the declarative knowledge that is important in a unit of study,
you might identify key vocabulary terms. The section in the Teacher’s Manual
that deals with Strategy 4 highlights the point that if students are simply
memorizing definitions of vocabulary terms, especially when they don’t
really understand the definitions, they are not constructing meaning. As a
result, the memorized definitions are virtually useless.
The five-step process described under Strategy 4 (see page 55) emphasizesthe importance of students developing an understanding of the terms they
are learning. With this approach, students do not memorize definitions from
the dictionary but, instead, use them as a resource for information that helps
them to understand the words well enough to create mental images. If they
are unable to create images, students learn that they must seek out other
resources—another dictionary, a dictionary on software, a parent, a teacher—
<K-W-L is a very popular strategy. You might ask participants if they have used it
in their classrooms and then encourage them to share their experiences.>
Many teachers feel that it is best for students to discover or figure out the
meaning of information. This approach, sometimes referred to as an
“inductive” or “inquiry” model, can be used very successfully to help studentsconstruct meaning. There are many specific instructional strategies that fall
into this category; the Teacher’s Manual provides a step-by-step description of
one such strategy: concept attainment . This strategy takes students through a
process that helps them discover the important attributes of a concept they are
learning. In this process of discovery, students construct meaning for the
concept by using the clues provided to them. Let’s walk through the version
of the concept attainment strategy that is described in the Teacher’s Manual .
The first step in this strategy is to present students with several examples
and nonexamples of the concept they are learning. Students then try to
identify what the examples have in common (and, conversely, what the
nonexamples lack); that is, they try to identify the attributes of the concept.
Usually, the teacher does not give the name of the concept at first. Instead,
he provides more and more examples and nonexamples as students try to
figure out the important attributes of the concept by identifying what the
examples have in common. When students think they know the important
attributes, they do not give these answers aloud because that would
immediately cut off the critical thinking processes of the other students.
Instead, if they think they know the attributes, students simply give other
examples and nonexamples. In this way, they can test their own ideas and
provide additional examples for other students to consider.
Now I want you to try to figure out the attributes of the concept illustrated
by these examples and nonexamples.
< Put up Overhead 2.11, and uncover the examples and nonexamples, one line at a
time. After uncovering several, ask the following question.>
I’m sure you will quickly recognize that the concept is compound word.
However, pretend that you do not know. What do you think are the major
attributes of the examples?
< Allow time.>
Can anyone think of any additional examples and nonexamples to add to the
< Add participants’ examples. If they say that the only attribute is “a word made by
combining two smaller words,” ask them to determine if the words “knowledge” and
“supervision” are compound words. They may then say that another attribute is that
“the meaning of the new word must combine the meanings of the two shorter ones.”
Then ask if “butterfly” is a compound word.
The attribute list will probably eventually include the following:
• two words are combined to make a new word,
• the meanings of some compound words are made up of a combination of the
meanings of the two shorter words, and
• the meanings of some other compound words are not strongly related to the
meanings of the two smaller words.>
Let’s try another example of this concept attainment strategy.
<Use Overhead 2.12 to take participants through the process for the concept
“rhombus.” Attributes: figure with four equal sides; opposite sides must be parallel.
Show examples and nonexamples one at a time. Ask participants to list attributes.>
Presenting new concepts in this way is a very powerful technique because it
requires students to construct the defining attributes of a concept. Students
must retrieve their prior knowledge about the examples and nonexamples in
order to try to identify characteristics that the examples share and that the
nonexamples lack. When using the strategy, it is important to reinforce
students’ thinking, and not just the right answers, as they try to figure out
the attributes of the concept.
Take a look now at the italicized lists of examples and nonexamples in the
middle of page 58 of the Teacher’s Manual . Quickly put your hand over the
paragraph under the two lists so that you cannot see the answer. As you try to
identify the attributes of this slightly more complex concept, notice how much
prior information you must use to construct the meaning of the concept.
<Allow time for participants to do this task.>
Finally, Strategy 7 suggests that teachers use instructional techniques that
provide students with strategies to use before, during, and after they receiveinformation. These strategies can be used by learners during the entire reading
process. Two instructional techniques that follow the before, during, and after
structure are described in the Teacher’s Manual : Reciprocal teaching and SQ3R.
block of information. Just as there were distracting lines hiding the picture
of the dog, there are often words and ideas that, for many students, seem to
distract them from the organizational patterns in the information.
<Put up Overhead 2.7 again (the three interlocking circles with abbreviated
definitions of the phases of learning declarative knowledge).>
Organizing declarative information is a critical part of acquiring declarative
knowledge. The strategies on pages 61-72 describe a variety of methods for
helping students to see patterns in the information they see and hear.
Perhaps the most common strategy used to organize information is the
formal outline. For some people, outlining is an effective way of
understanding the relationships among key ideas; for others, it is difficult
and not very helpful. However, there are many other strategies for helping
students to see the patterns of relationships in information.
The first strategy on page 61 reminds us that it often helps for students to
understand the purpose of the strategies in this section: to organize
declarative knowledge. The activities at the bottom of page 61 and the top
of page 62 suggest a sequence of experiences that might help students to
become aware of their ability to see patterns all around them and then to use
this ability to recognize patterns in information.
<Give participants an opportunity to skim through activities 1-4 on pages 61-62.>
In the introduction to Dimension 2 we examined the most common
organizational patterns in information. You’ll recall that these patterns wereconcepts, generalizations/principles, episodes, processes/cause-effect
relationships, time sequences, and descriptions. Students who are familiar
with these commonly used patterns can become skilled at using them to
organize information that they read or hear. To see and understand these
patterns more clearly, students can learn to use graphic organizers.
Read the sections on pages 62-65, which again describe the most common
organizational patterns and provide a graphic organizer for each.
<Allow time for participants to read. Then present the sample passages on Overhead
2.14 (How Do You Hear Sounds?) and Overhead 2.15 (Noise Can Harm You) to see if participants can recognize patterns that are clear examples of the organizational
patterns.>
< Put up Overheads 2.3 and 2.4 again (the graphic organizers).>
focuses them on the examples that most closely match their school, district, or state
requirements for curriculum design. In other words, if they use standards and
benchmarks, emphasize those examples that use benchmarks. If they do not, focus them
on the “without standards and benchmarks” examples.>
Frequently, unit planning begins with developing a title for the unit. Asdescribed in Step 1a, that title might be a topic, a theme, a concept, a
generalization, or any other unifying idea that brings meaning to the unit. A
unit title simply gives us a way of talking about the unit. The title of the
example in the Teacher’s Manual is the Colorado Unit.
Step 1b suggests brainstorming a list of information that should be included
in the unit. This is just a way of getting started. A list from this part of
planning the Colorado Unit might have looked something like this.
<Put up Overhead 2.P3.>
Step 1c asks you to start making some decisions. You can’t teach everything
there is to know about Colorado or about any topic. To help you make
decisions about what to teach, it is suggested that you use the organizational
patterns identified in the introduction to Dimension 2 and reinforced in the
section of the manual on organizing declarative knowledge. If, in addition, you
use standards and benchmarks, at this point you should let the benchmarks for
your grade level drive your decisions. With or without benchmarks, you need
to spend some concentrated time identifying and organizing the declarative
knowledge that it is important for students to learn.
Take a couple of minutes to read through the identification process explainedon page 85. (This includes a process to use with and without standards and
benchmarks.) Then examine the accompanying sample worksheets and unit
planning graphics on the following pages.
<Allow time for reading. You may want to use Overheads 2.P4, 2.P5, 2.P6, and
2.P7 as you review this process. These are overheads of the sample worksheets and
graphics on pages 86-89.>
<Put up Overhead 2.P3 again (the brainstormed list).>
Notice that not all of the information on the brainstormed list was identifiedas important. Notice also that much of the specific factual information was
selected because it supports the more general concept patterns and
generalization/principle patterns. Let’s look at these two patterns more closely.
When you are identifying concepts and generalizations/principles, you are
identifying knowledge that will help students understand information other
than that included in this unit. Both factual information (which is more
specific) and concepts or generalizations/principles (which are more general)
are important. However, factual information is what students should know,
whereas concepts and generalizations/principles are information that students
should understand. We will see in other dimensions that general knowledge
(that is, concepts and generalizations/principles that students need to
understand) is the knowledge that is worth extending, refining, and using
meaningfully.
If only factual information is identified, we suggest that you ask yourself if
there is also general knowledge that students should be acquiring and
integrating during the unit.
During planning, then, you are identifying the important declarative
knowledge and organizing it into patterns. The worksheets on pages 86 and
88 are only samples that represent the process of making these decisions. The
unit planning graphics on pages 87 and 89 represent the final decisions for
this unit. As explained in the manual, the graphic format is shown as an
alternative way of depicting the final decisions; this is a visual and less linear
way of showing your planning decisions than the ideas roughed out on the
sample worksheets. Either the worksheet, the graphic format, or both may be
used to identify the declarative knowledge that will be the focus of the unit.
Before going any further with the planning process, let’s practice this very
important step of identifying the declarative knowledge for the unit. You
may work alone or with others. Start by selecting a unit that you are going
to plan. It makes sense to select a unit that you actually teach. If you are notpresently a teacher in the classroom, select a unit that you have taught or
that you know is taught.
<It is recommended that you try to let participants know ahead of time that they will
be planning a unit during the workshop. It helps if they have already made their
selections and perhaps even brought some materials with them that will help them in
this planning segment of the training. In addition, you should come to the workshop
prepared with your own examples to model each part of the process. You can use the
Colorado Unit examples, of course, but if you select something that is familiar to you,
it will seem more real to participants.>
First, brainstorm a list of the declarative knowledge that you want students
to acquire and integrate. It might be useful to think of the accompanying
sentence stem that begins the answer to the question in Step 1, “As a result
< Put up Overhead O.8 (from the Overview section).
As we discussed in the introduction to Dimension 2, the distinction betweendeclarative and procedural knowledge is important because these two types
of knowledge are learned differently and, therefore, should be taught
differently. We have seen that acquiring and integrating declarative
knowledge involves three phases: constructing meaning, organizing, and
storing. Acquiring and integrating procedural knowledge also involves three
phases: constructing models, shaping, and internalizing.
< Put up Overhead 2.18 (the triangles).>
One difference between learning declarative knowledge and learning procedural
knowledge is the amount of time spent on each of these phases. When we listthe phases sequentially, we can see on this overhead that the amount of time
spent in each phase for procedural knowledge is inversely proportional to the
amount of time spent on the phases for declarative knowledge.
It is relatively time consuming to construct meaning and to organize
declarative knowledge. Not much time is spent storing because the phases of
constructing meaning and organizing enhance retention, and there is not a
great deal of knowledge that needs to be memorized. However, when
students are learning procedural knowledge, the opposite is true. That is, the
first phase, constructing models, does not take much time; shaping takes
more time; and, internalizing, which requires students to practice over an
extended period, is the most time-consuming phase. This will make more
sense to you as we explore each phase of learning procedural knowledge.
< Put up Overhead 2.6 again. This overhead shows the three circles, representing the
three phases, for declarative knowledge and for procedural knowledge.>
Listing these phases sequentially to show this inverse relationship is actually
a little misleading. We have seen that the three phases of learning
declarative knowledge overlap. We will see that the three phases of learning
procedural knowledge are more sequential in nature, but also interactive.
Let’s explore each phase now.
< At this point, it is important for participants to relate each of the phases of learning
a skill to their own learning experiences. You can help them to do this by providing
them with a common experience, more specifically by teaching them a procedure and
including all three of the phases. Although we suggest that you teach participants to
use chopsticks, you can use any procedure that you feel comfortable teaching.>
between the second and third fingers. Feel free to adjust your style of
holding chopsticks to use any suggestions your experienced colleagues might
offer. Also, try to pick up various things on your table and notice how your
grip needs to change as a function of the size and shape of the object. Go
ahead now and try to figure out the best way to alter or change the steps you
have been given so that you begin to become comfortable using the
chopsticks. This phase of learning a skill is called shaping.
<Put up Overhead 2.19 again (the three circles with abbreviated definitions of the
phases of learning procedural knowledge).>
<Give them time to use the chopsticks. You might consider passing out some objects for
them to try to pick up. Various types of candy can be fun. As you circulate, help
participants who are having trouble. You might ask participants how holding
chopsticks compares to holding a pen or pencil.>
Now I’d like you to increase your skill level so that you might eventually usechopsticks to eat yet still be able to have a dinner conversation with your
friends. In general, what must you do in order to get better at something?
<Target answer: Practice.>
<Put up Overhead 2.19 again (the three circles with abbreviated definitions of the
phases of learning procedural knowledge).>
I am going to help you begin to internalize this skill by having you practice
for a few minutes. I’d like you to see how many items you can pick up, move
about a foot, and then set back down in 30 seconds. I’ll then give you severaladditional 30-second periods to see if you can improve. You could record
your progress on a sheet like this one.
< Put up Overhead 2.21 (practice chart).>
Ready? Begin.
<Give participants several 30-second segments to practice. As you review and explain
each of the three phases of acquiring and integrating procedural knowledge, refer to
this common experience or ask participants to identify specific examples from their own
experiences as examples of each phase.>
<Put up Overhead 2.19 again (the three circles with abbreviated definitions of the
phases of learning procedural knowledge).>
You have now experienced the three phases of learning procedural
knowledge. To review, in the first phase learners construct a model, or learn
a set of steps, for performing the skill. They are able to perform the skill,
but their performance is usually a bit rough. Remember when you first
increasing intervals (for example, once a day, then once a month, then once
every three months). Remember that the Teacher’s Manual suggests that
students keep a chart or some other record of their speed or accuracy as they
seek to master a procedure.
As educators begin to better understand the process of acquiring andintegrating procedural knowledge, they begin to see why teachers sometimes
accuse their students’ previous teachers of not doing their jobs. You may have
heard accusations like, “Didn’t they teach them anything in_____?” Often
the reason that students cannot do what they have been taught to do is that
they learned it only well only enough to pass a test. If educators expect
students to perform a procedure proficiently and accurately, they must set
aside time for students to practice so that they internalize the procedure.
On pages 104-105, you will find some classroom examples that deal with
acquiring and integrating procedural knowledge. With a partner, read and
discuss the examples provided. As you discuss these examples, answer the
following questions: What do you think of how the teacher in your example
responded in the situation portrayed? What might you do or recommend
that someone do in that situation? Then identify a process or skill that your
students have had difficulty learning. How might you strengthen how you
teach that process, given what you now know about acquiring and
integrating procedural knowledge?
< Allow time for discussion and then sharing with the whole group.>
<If the Dimensions of Learning videotapes are available and if time permits, it canbe useful to replay the tape for Dimension 2 and then to have a brief discussion about
the nature of declarative and procedural knowledge. Before participants watch this
tape, challenge them to identify things they were not aware of the first time they
watched the tape.>
<Use your preferred format for closure—table talk, pause and reflect, or learning
logs—to allow participants time to think about the information that has been
presented related to this section of Dimension 2. See page 9 for explanations of each of
these formats for completing this portion of the training.>
< Participants should have a blank planning guide for procedural knowledge in the packet that we recommend you give them at the beginning of any workshop in which
planning is being addressed. See Handouts section.>
< Put up Overhead 2.P8 (the major planning questions and steps).>
Planning for the acquisition and integration of procedural knowledge
involves asking and answering the following question:
What will be done to help students acquire and integrate procedural
knowledge?
If you look at page 106, you will find that there are three basic steps involvedin answering this question. The three columns on the planning guide (page
112) correspond to the three steps for planning for procedural knowledge.
< Put up Overhead 2.P9 (the filled-in planning guide from page 112).>
Step 1: What procedural knowledge will students be in the process of
acquiring and integrating? As a result of this unit, students will
be able to….
Step 2: What strategies will be used to help students construct models
for, shape, and/or internalize this knowledge?
Step 3: Describe what will be done.
Now let’s look at the sample Colorado Unit to see how each of the steps is
addressed on the planning guide and accompanying worksheets.
Step 1, again, asks what procedural knowledge students will be in the
process of acquiring and integrating. The answers to this question will vary
depending on the specific school or district. Some teachers have a great deal
of latitude in determining what knowledge students should acquire. Others
are in schools or districts that have identified standards and benchmarks,
which articulate what students should learn. Examples and worksheets are
provided in the Teacher’s Manual for each of these situations.
Take a few minutes to examine the two worksheets with their accompanying
planning graphics on pages 109 and 110 in the Teachers’ Manual . One is for
planning without standards and benchmarks.
< Put up Overhead 2.P10 (the sample worksheet and unit planning graphic from
John Dewey reminds us, “We learn by doing, if we reflect on what we have
done.” This quote reminds us that it is important to build enough time into
instruction for students to learn how to use a reasoning process, for them to
apply it to important content in order to extend and refine their knowledgeof that content, and for them to reflect on what they have learned as a result.
< Put up Overhead O.12 (from the Overview section).>
Read over the list and description of the eight reasoning processes included
in Dimension 3, which can be found on page 114 of your manual. Some of
these reasoning processes are probably very familiar to you, and some may be
fairly new to you. We will look at several of them in-depth as we proceed
through this part of the training.
It is important to note that many teachers use questioning techniques toengage students in the types of thinking listed in Dimension 3. Teachers
might already be asking questions such as, “How are these items alike?” or
“How could you group these items?” These types of questions are especially
common in classrooms in which the teacher uses Bloom’s Taxonomy to
construct questions. Although such questions can potentially stimulate
students to engage in “higher level” thinking, frequently they do not have
this effect. Instead, students give answers that reflect lower-order, or surface-
level, understanding. This might be because although students may have a
sense of what it means to synthesize or to analyze, they often don’t know
exactly how to do these types of thinking.The bias here, therefore, is to explicitly teach the reasoning processes and to
have students rigorously apply them to important content. Students must
know how to use the processes if they are to adequately perform the kinds of
analyses the processes require. It is unfair to students, and presumptuous on
the part of teachers, to assume that students understand what they are
supposed to do when asked to use comparing or inductive reasoning, for
example. Remember, these processes are procedural knowledge and,
therefore, take quite a lot of practice before they become internalized. And
because the processes are procedural knowledge, they should be taught as
any other skill or process, by helping students construct models for, shape,and internalize them.
There are some general principles of implementation that are useful to
consider as teachers, schools, and districts plan for teaching the Dimension 3
processes. Get into groups of three with those around you. I’d like each
person in the group to read one of the bulleted items on pages 114-115.
Then share the general principle of implementation with your group, and
discuss each point briefly.
< Allow time for this activity.>
Before we explore the individual reasoning processes in Dimension 3, itmight help you to understand that a similar organizational format is used for
each reasoning process.
< Put up Overhead 3.0C.>
In addition, on pages 115-116, there is a brief explanation of the five
sections that have suggestions for teaching each process.
< Read the steps aloud.>
I’d like to point out that section 2 under each reasoning process includes a set
of steps (which we sometimes refer to as “regular” or “original” steps) as wellas a set of steps in simplified language, which is often used with younger
students or with students who are just beginning to learn the process.
Comparing
<If you are starting your training here, remember to review the introduction to
Dimension 3, which identifies the major goals of these training segments and provides
suggestions for helping participants understand the organization of the Teacher’s
Manual for each of the reasoning processes in this dimension.>
<As explained in the introduction to the training for Dimension 3, you may want to
plan the training so that the processes of comparing, classifying, and abstracting are
examined as a cluster. This will help participants to see that these three processes can
complement and supplement each other in the classroom. For example, when students
are comparing, they may discover that the process of abstracting works better when
they are comparing large blocks of information or that the process of classifying works
better when there are long lists of items.>
Comparing is the process of identifying similarities and differences among
items. We all regularly compare things in daily life: We might comparebooks written by a favorite author, we might compare with our spouse or a
friend how we spend our time at work, and so on. As a result of comparing
things in this way, we gain new insights or change our perceptions about
them. These benefits of the process of comparing are also available to us as
we are exposed to comparisons made by others, for example, through the
media or in conversation. For example, Consumer Reports organizes much of its
information about products into comparison matrices that influence buyers’
perceptions of these products. Similarly, television news-magazine programs
often compare current and historical events to help us understand both.
What other kinds of comparisons are we regularly exposed to in life? In
what other instances do we regularly use the process of comparing? Try tothink of a time you compared two or more things that you thought you
knew well but about which you discovered something new as a result of the
comparison. Or, try to think of a time you were influenced by a comparison
made by someone else. In other words, think about a comparison that
extended and refined your knowledge.
<Elicit several examples. Emphasize how comparing extended and refined participants’
knowledge. Allow participants to discuss and then to share some examples.>
It is important to communicate to students that comparing—and all of the
other complex reasoning processes that are part of Dimensions 3 and 4—areused frequently in everyday life. To this end, the first strategy for teaching
comparing—in fact, the first strategy for teaching all eight of the extending
and refining processes—provides suggestions for helping students
understand the process so that they see its importance and usefulness in
many places besides the classroom.
Considering that most people compare things many times each day, it is
somewhat surprising that students often perform poorly on tests that require
them to do comparison tasks. For example, a number of years ago, the
National Association of Educational Progress (NAEP) included in itsnational assessment a comparison task that asked students to compare the
diet of the pioneers with the typical diet of today (see Mullis et al., 1990).
Even though a description of the diet of the pioneers was provided, only
27% of all 17-year-olds completing the task received a score indicating
adequate or better performance. This is a perplexing result because teachers
report that students are frequently asked to engage in comparison tasks in
the classroom. Why did students perform so poorly on this test?
One possible explanation is that although students are frequently asked to
compare, they may not have been taught how to compare. Another possible
explanation is that students may have learned how to compare in one or twoclasses during their schooling but never internalized the process. Remember,
learning how to compare—in fact, learning how to engage in each of the
reasoning processes that are part of Dimensions 3 and 4—requires students to
learn a skill, that is, to learn procedural knowledge. To truly learn a skill,
students need to construct a model for, shape, and internalize the procedure.
Thus, to become proficient at using the process of comparing, students need to
The point is that classifying information or accepting given classifications
can influence how we view information. As with the other extending and
refining processes, we regularly and naturally use this one in our everyday
lives. Likewise, in the classroom we ask students to classify things. However,
as we spend time now learning about the process of classifying, we will try
to distinguish between classifying as it is most commonly used in the
classroom and classifying as it is used to help students extend and refine
knowledge.
The most common type of classifying assignment asks students to place
items into predetermined categories: animals into species, literature into
genres, wars into time periods. Although interesting connections certainly
can be made, this type of assignment is really only asking students to find
out or recall the correct answer. Conversely, when students are asked to
create and define their own categories and then to justify the placement of
items into those categories, they might analyze information in new ways andthereby extend and refine their understanding of the information (i.e., gain
insights, make new connections, and clarify confusions).
<Put up Overhead 3.2A.>
Let’s do an activity that requires you to analyze the categories and the
information that is being classified. With two or three people around you,
take a few minutes to classify the items on the left into the three categories:
living, dead, or other (the column with the question mark). Feel free to
define items or categories as you work together.
<Allow a few minutes for participants to classify most of the items.>
Let’s go over each item and see what you did in your groups. If you have an
answer that differs from one given by another group, please raise your hand,
give your answer, and explain that answer.
<Take answers. When there is more than one answer given, put a check in the column
for each answer, as long as the explanation is reasonable. After doing six or eight of
the items, call a time-out and explain the point of this activity.>
The important part of the activity was not where the checkmarks were placed
but the discussions that went on at your tables. The process of classifying,when used in the spirit of Dimension 3, is about extending and refining
information. Some of you may have used the traditional scientific definition
of living ; others of you may have generated your own definitions. In either
situation, whenever you stopped to discuss and reconsider attributes of the
items or the meanings of the category labels, you were engaged in extending
and refining your understanding of the information.
Many teachers use the process of classifying as a Dimension 2 activity. When
they use the process like this, the purpose is for students to get the item in
the right column, to reproduce knowledge. Although there is nothing wrong
with using the process in this way, students might then be asked to
reclassify the items using different categories in order to extend and refine
their knowledge. For example, students might first be asked to classify
insects the way a scientist might classify them. This would assess how well
they know the scientific classifications. Then, to help them look at different
attributes of insects (to help them extend and refine their knowledge) they
might then be asked to classify the insects as if they were exterminators and
then as if they were frogs looking for dinner.
Now I’m going to give you another assignment to do in your small groups.
Here are the categories I want you to use.
<Put up Overhead 3.2B.>
Here are the items I want you to classify.
<Put up Overhead 3.2C.>
<Give no further directions. Some groups probably will begin to categorize
immediately. Some will define the rules for the categories before they begin. Circulate
and look for (1) groups that have clearly defined their categories before proceeding; (2)
the difference in discussion when the categories are defined in a way that clearly
indicates where each item fits (e.g., they might realize that the colors don’t give them
clear definitions of the categories so they have to create clearer characteristics for the
categories, such as works written in the 1800s, the 1950s, the 1960s, etc.) and whenthe categories are defined in a way that less clearly indicates where each item fits
(e.g., passion, humor, sadness, purity); and (3) examples of groups performing each
step of the process from pages 124-125 in the Teacher’s Manual. Allow five to six
minutes for this activity. Most participants will not finish but will have gone far
enough for the important points to be made during the discussion.>
The reason I gave you vague category labels was to see how you dealt with
the categories. Most of you were bothered by these ambiguous category
labels, and, therefore, early on in the activity you stopped and defined your
categories. Before hearing how you grouped the items, turn to the step-by-step process on pages 124-125.
<Put up Overheads 3.2D and 3.2E.>
Although you may not have finished, try to determine if you followed each
<Use your preferred format for closure—table talk, pause and reflect, or learning
logs—to allow participants time to think about the information that has been
presented related to the process of classifying. See page 9 for explanations of each of
these formats for completing this portion of the training.>
Abstracting
<If you are starting your training here, remember to review the introduction to
Dimension 3, which identifies the major goals of these training segments and provides
suggestions for helping participants understand the organization of the Teacher’s
Manual for each of the reasoning processes in this dimension.>
<As explained in the introduction to the training for Dimension 3, you may want to plan the training so that the processes of comparing, classifying, and abstracting are
examined as a cluster. This will help participants to see that these three processes can
complement and supplement each other in the classroom. For example, when students
are comparing, they may discover that the process of abstracting works better when
they are comparing large blocks of information or that the process of classifying works
better when there are long lists of items.>
Now we’re going to look at the process of abstracting. First, let’s read this
passage.
<Put up Overhead 3.3A.>
Find a partner, and try to identify another sequence of events that follows
the same general pattern as the sequence of events in the QWERT passage
but that has nothing to do with typewriters.
<Allow time for pairs to work together, and then ask them to share with the large
group. Some common examples include the metric system and the nine-month school
year.>
What you have done is move from the concrete to the abstract to the
concrete (or from the literal to the general to the literal). You read a passage,identified key ideas, transformed the specific key ideas into a general
pattern, and matched the general pattern to a new situation. It is a relatively
easy and natural process that helps us to make connections between
seemingly different situations. In the Dimensions of Learning model, we call
this procedure abstracting . Although it sounds academic, we use this process
almost every day. We identify and use general patterns when, for example,
we recognize that two people who seem to have very different styles of
communicating actually share certain general characteristics, or when we are
watching a movie and we think to ourselves, “This is one of those movies in
which the person least likely to be guilty is the one who did it.”
In the classroom, we frequently give assignments that, although unstated,
ask students to abstract. For example, we might ask them to read a fairy taleand then write their own. Often, however, students simply rewrite the same
fairy tale and change the characters’ names. These disappointing results can
be addressed by teaching students the process of abstracting.
Strategy 1 on page 131 of the Teacher’s Manual suggests ways of helping
students understand this process and includes additional examples of
abstracting from everyday life. Take a couple of minutes to read this section.
<Allow time for reading.>
Once students are familiar with the nature of abstracting and how people
often unconsciously use it, you can present them with a set of steps to use
when applying the process to content.
<Review Overheads 3.3B and 3.3C along with Overhead 3.3D.>
Let me walk you through these steps with the QWERT passage. Step 1 asks
you to identify what seems to be important or basic in the information. This
simply means to identify the main ideas. For this passage, the result might
look like this.
<Put up Overhead 3.3E and show the left side only (Specific/Literal).>
The next step is to rewrite the basic information in a more general form.Notice the words that are changed in the general pattern on this overhead.
(Although it is not the case on this overhead, often as you rewrite you can
condense the general pattern into fewer steps.)
<Show the right-hand side (General/Abstract) of the overhead one item at a time so
that participants can see how the general pattern was created.>
<Then cover up the Specific/Literal side of the overhead.>
Finally, examine the general pattern, and decide what other information
might follow that same pattern. Now, begin to think about other things that
follow this pattern. We already generated examples of information that
seemed to follow this same pattern. Let’s see how closely the examples we
generated earlier—before we learned the process—match the general pattern
of the QWERT passage.
<Guide participants through an analysis of each example generated earlier, and try
to determine how closely they match the general pattern on the QWERT overhead
(Overhead 3.3E). You will probably conclude that some of their examples match the
pattern exactly, whereas others only partially match this general pattern.>
Notice that when we closely followed the steps of the process, we could
compare the original and the new information in much more detail than we
could when we did it loosely.
Abstracting is a way for us to identify similarities and differences between
and among large blocks of information. Because it can seem intimidating at
first, the process of abstracting probably should be introduced to students in
a very methodical way with simple examples. For instance, you might give
students the specific pattern from a simple passage, and then either provide
them with the general pattern or help them to generate it. They should then
be able to apply the general pattern to new information.
To help students understand the process, you might share examples with
them of situations in which abstracting has been used (e.g., West Side Storywas abstracted from Romeo and Juliet ), then ask them to identify other
examples of situations in which abstracting was used or instances in which
they used abstracting in their own lives. You might also help them to
understand that metaphors and analogies are forms of abstractions. For
example, “love is like a rose” is a metaphor based on a basic pattern: Love
and a rose are both beautiful and enjoyable, but they are not without their
painful aspects.
Once students have seen examples of abstracting and have practiced using
the process, hopefully they will see it as a way of connecting two pieces of information that appear to be unrelated. Point out that rigorously using the
abstracting process can help them to extend and refine their understanding
of information as they make connections that are more subtle and that they
otherwise might miss.
< Put up Overhead 3.3F (The Emperor’s New Clothes). If you think that participants
might not be able to read this overhead, include it in a handout.>
Let’s spend a little time practicing the process of abstracting. Read this
passage and perform each of the steps in the abstracting process. You may
work in pairs or in small groups. Refer to the steps of the process. Be sure touse each of them. Be ready to share with the large group.
< Allow time for this activity. You might then put up Overhead 3.3G, which shows
one possible result of applying the abstracting process to “The Emperor’s New
Clothes.”>
What was most difficult about doing this? What was most interesting?
refine students’ knowledge. Therefore, it is important to push students a
little as they use this process or any of the reasoning processes. The greatest
insights will probably not come on their first try.
As has been explained, you may have to guide students and model the steps
of this process at first. In other words, you might start with tasks that arevery teacher structured, and then slowly move toward tasks that are more
student structured as suggested in strategy 5 on page 135. Turn to the
classroom examples on pages 136 and 137 of your manual. As you read
them, notice the extent to which the teacher is guiding the students in the
use of the abstracting process.
<Use if you have looked at the processes of comparing, classifying, and abstracting as
a cluster.>
We have just looked at the processes of comparing, classifying, and
abstracting. Take a few minutes to review and reflect on each of these threeprocesses. What do they have in common? What are their similarities? What
differences can you identify?
<Target answer: They all involve looking at attributes or characteristics; they all also
involve generating conclusions by examining similarities and differences. Comparing is
best when there are three or four items to analyze; classifying works best when there
are lists of items; and abstracting is most appropriately used with blocks of
information or scenarios.>
<Use your preferred format for closure—table talk, pause and reflect, or learning
logs—to allow participants time to think about the information that has been presented related to the process of abstracting. See page 9 for explanations of each of
these formats for completing this portion of the training.>
Inductive Reasoning
<If you are starting your training here, remember to review the introduction to
Dimension 3, which identifies the major goals of these training segments and provides
suggestions for helping participants understand the organization of the Teacher’s
Manual for each of the reasoning processes in this dimension.>
< As explained in the introduction to the training for Dimension 3, you may want to
plan the training so that the processes of inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning
are examined together. There are several suggestions in the Teacher’s Manual for
helping students understand when they need to use inductive reasoning versus deductive
Take five to ten minutes and go on an “induction outing.” That means that I
want you to walk around the area and carefully observe everything around
you. Make a list of several specific things that you observe. When you return
to the room, I want you to write a conclusion that you can draw about thearea, that is, about this building, the grounds, and/or about the people who
work here. Make sure that your conclusion is supported with a number of
observations, three or four perhaps. For example, if you took a walk around a
neighborhood and noticed that at a particular house there were skis hanging
in the garage, a basketball hoop above the driveway, tennis rackets on the
porch, and a volleyball net in the backyard, you could reasonably conclude
that the people living there are very involved in sports. When you come back,
be ready to share the pieces of evidence that led you to your conclusions.
<When participants return, have them write a conclusion about what they noticed.>
Now look at your conclusion, and see if you can generate a different
conclusion that could be drawn from the same observations.
< After they have had time to do this second part of the assignment, ask several
participants to share their conclusions from the induction outing. As they read their
conclusions, ask them to identify the observations they used to draw the conclusions and
then to share the other conclusions that could be drawn from the same observations.>
Inductive reasoning is the process of inferring unknown generalizations or
principles from information or observations. It is a process that we use every
day. In fact, we can’t avoid it. We infer people’s moods from their behavior,we infer the intent of comments made to us, we even infer what people look
like before meeting them. Have you ever worked with someone for a long
time before you met his or her spouse? And then when you met him or her,
your first reaction was, “No way!”? You had unconsciously inferred what the
spouse would look like.
The induction outing you just experienced is a good way to introduce
inductive reasoning to your class. Actually you can use it when students are
in any situation in which they can make rich observations: on a field trip,
during an assembly, watching a movie, and so on. It is an experience thatstudents enjoy, and it is an effective way of helping students to understand
two important points about inductive reasoning: When using the process,
conclusions should be based on a number of observations (otherwise, how
would you be able to look for patterns or connections?); and, there are often
several conclusions that can be drawn from the same observations. Thus,
conclusions that are based on inductive reasoning may or may not be
Discuss with two or three others at your table how sloppy inductive
reasoning—that is, reasoning that violates the key points—can lead to
prejudice, impulsive behavior, and destroyed relationships.
<You might ask several people to share their ideas aloud.>
Section 5 in the Teacher’s Manual reminds us to use both teacher-structured
and student-structured tasks. Read the classroom examples on pages 144-
145. In each case, the teacher is asking students to use the process of
inductive reasoning. Choose a couple of the examples, and discuss with a
partner whether you think they are student structured or teacher structured.
How would you change one to be more student structured or a different one
to be more teacher structured, and why would you do that?
<Use your preferred format for closure—table talk, pause and reflect, or learning logs—to allow participants time to think about the information that has been
presented related to the process of inductive reasoning. See page 9 for explanations of
each of these formats for completing this portion of the training.>
Deductive Reasoning
<If you are starting your training here, remember to review the introduction to
Dimension 3, which identifies the major goals of these training segments and provides
suggestions for helping participants understand the organization of the Teacher’s Manual for each of the reasoning processes in this dimension.>
<As explained in the introduction to the training for Dimension 3, you may want to
plan the training so that the processes of inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning
are examined together. There are several suggestions in the Teacher’s Manual for
helping students understand when they need to use inductive reasoning versus deductive
reasoning.>
Deductive reasoning is the process of using generalizations and principles to
infer unstated conclusions about specific information or situations. This
definition may sound fairly technical, even intimidating. But it is importantto understand that it is something we do every day. Take a couple of minutes
to read the introduction to deductive reasoning in your Teacher’s Manual on
<You might point out to participants that this emphasis on understanding
generalizations and principles is explained further in the first key point made about
this process on page 150.>
In everyday situations, understanding important principles well enough to
apply them might not seem so difficult. For example, if I understand generalprinciples related to flowers, or to cooking, or to golf, I then can use these
principles to draw conclusions about how to help a specific flower to bloom,
how to cook a specific soufflé properly, or which club to select on a specific
fairway. However, as we begin to examine some of the more academic
generalizations and principles, the challenge of teaching these generalizations
will become clear.
Let’s examine some examples that use more academic generalizations and
principles. Take a couple of minutes to read the classroom examples that
apply deductive reasoning. These can be found on pages 153 and 154. What
are the academic generalizations or principles that students must understand
in order to complete the assigned tasks? What challenges in teaching these
might the teacher encounter?
<Target answers: In the Ms. Isaacs example, students must understand what plants
need to survive and how they get what they need. In the Mr. Caraveo example,
students must understand what happens when people are choking. In the Mrs.
Williamson example, students must understand the characteristics of a free-market
system. And, in the Ms. Touchett example, students must understand the law of
conservation of momentum. Participants probably will see that the challenge is to help
students understand generalizations or principles well enough to feel confident in answering the questions.>
The second key point related to deductive reasoning (on page 150) explains
the challenge of the third step of the process: helping students determine if
the generalizations or principles do, in fact, apply to the specific situation.
Learners must make sure that the specific situation meets the conditions that
have to be in place for those generalizations or principles to apply. In some
cases, this means that they must restate the generalizations or principles in
order to clearly identify those conditions. In the example you read earlier at
the top of page 148, it was explained that because you understand the laws
of gravity, you can predict that if you step off the roof, you will fall. Of
course, that is the case only if certain conditions are met. The laws of gravity
apply to the situation only if, for example, you are on the planet Earth and
you are not in a vacuum. Again, it is important to determine if the situation
meets the conditions that must be in place for the generalizations or
< Put up Overhead 3.5F. Allow participants time to discuss and compare answers in
small groups. The answer to all three is “d.” You may want to tell participants the
answers when they have completed the quiz but indicate that you will discuss the
reasons later.>
These items are similar to those that appear on many aptitude tests and testsof reasoning abilities. They all require deductive reasoning. The first one is
an example of a categorical syllogism. Let’s spend some time exploring this
type of deductive reasoning and discussing how to use it in the classroom.
< Put up Overhead 3.5G.>
A categorical syllogism contains two premises and a conclusion. On this
overhead is the categorical syllogism example from page 155.
< Read aloud Overhead 3.5G.>
As explained, when the two premises are true and the reasoning is valid, the
conclusion must be true. Most people are familiar with this format, often
from the classic categorical syllogism:
All men are mortal.
Plato is a man.
Therefore, Plato is mortal.
< Show the first syllogism on Overhead 3.5G.>
This type of reasoning format is usually studied in formal logic classes.
However, it can be used powerfully in any classroom. Your manual suggests
four ways in which you might approach categorical syllogisms with your
students.
< Put up Overhead 3.5H.>
The first suggestion is to help students recognize hidden categorical
syllogisms in their everyday language. The syllogism about airplanes, as
explained on page 155, could be “hidden” in the statement, “I know this
airplane has a fire extinguisher because it is a commercial airplane.” When
someone says, for example, “That is a bee. Watch out for its stinger,” the
implied categorical syllogism is
<Put up Overhead 3.5G again, and show this syllogism.>
Turning a statement into a categorical syllogism clarifies the two underlying
premises and the conclusion and allows you to more easily analyze the degree
to which they are true. Turning an everyday statement into a categorical
syllogism with its two premises and conclusion is called standardizing . When
a statement is standardized, it also is easier to recognize another characteristic
of categorical syllogism: that the two premises have three elements.
<Write the following two examples on a blank overhead:
All apples are fruit.
This is an apple.
Therefore, this is a fruit.
All whales are mammals.
That is a whale.
Therefore, that is a mammal.>
The three elements of the first example are easy to pick out: “apples,”
“fruit,” and “this.” Now examine the second syllogism.
Identify the three elements.
<Provide answers for them to check themselves: “whales,” “mammals,” “that.”
This is typically fairly easy for participants.>
< Put up Overhead 3.5G again.>
Look again at these three categorical syllogism we used earlier. Let’s analyze
the second one about airplanes. Finding the three elements here is a little bit
tricky. See if you can find them.
<Allow time.>
You probably easily identified “commercial airplanes” as one element. You
probably can see that the third element is “the airplane I am on.” The second
element, however, requires that you take the phrase “have a fire extinguisher
on board” and turn it into an element. You do this by simply changing it so
that it reads: “things that have a fire extinguisher on board.” That word thingsis the key to turning phrases into elements. So, if I had a premise, “All
zebras are striped,” I would have to restate it to say, “All zebras are things
that are striped.” Now my first two elements would be “zebra” and “things
that are striped.” See if you can identify the three elements in the other two
People who successfully construct support for assertions have two kinds of
knowledge: first, an understanding of and ability to use persuasive
techniques, and, second, an understanding of the information needed to
construct a powerful argument. Teaching students to construct support,
then, not only provides them with the opportunity to gain the ability to use
persuasive techniques, it sets up situations in which they will need to
develop an understanding of the information—to extend and refine their
knowledge—in order to construct the argument. In addition, taking and
constructing support for a position, especially when students have some
choice about the position, is beneficial because it increases their engagement
in the learning process.
Let’s look at the steps for the process of constructing support on page 162 of
the Teacher’s Manual .
< Put up Overheads 3.6A and 3.6B. Allow time for participants to read.>
As you present the steps to students, ask them to identify current topics or
issues (e.g., from the classroom, the news, or their own lives) that might
warrant their taking a position and constructing support for that position.
Then, preferably using one of their ideas (or, if you feel more comfortable,
using the think-aloud example in the manual or an idea of your own), model
how you would construct support for a position. As you model the process,
elicit suggestions from students for how to make the argument stronger.
< Put up Overhead 3.6C.>
The key points for constructing support present information that studentsneed to understand in order to competently use the process. The first key
point, which begins on page 163, discusses the difference between fact and
opinion. This is an important distinction because, as stated in the first two
steps of the process, it is appropriate to construct support only for opinions.
Take a minute to read the Key Point 1 on page 163.
< Put up Overhead 3.6D.>
Now let’s take a look at a few examples. Teaching students the difference
between facts and opinions is actually fairly common. However, it is
important for students to understand that the term fact is being used to referto statements that can be verified. At your tables, determine whether each of
In addition to understanding the difference between fact and opinion, it is
important to understand some of the techniques that speakers traditionally
use to garner support. Key Point 2, on page 164 of the Teacher’s Manual ,
includes a description of such techniques, specifically four types of appeals.
Although these types of appeals will sound familiar, they actually date back
to ancient Greece. As you read through the descriptions of these four types
of appeals, keep two questions in mind: Which type of appeal is most
commonly used in our society? Which type is emphasized in school?
<Allow time for participants to read about the four types of appeals.>
Let’s answer the two questions: Which type of appeal is most commonly
used in our society? Which type is emphasized in school?
<Take responses from participants. Typically, people conclude that appeals that are
not based on reason are probably used the most. Yet we tend to teach students to
construct reasoned appeals.>
It is important for students to understand all four types of appeals, because
others will use these methods to persuade them and because students should
know how to use the appeals to be persuasive in important situations. People
who are well respected (and some who are not) use these appeals every day.
For each of the appeals, see if you can identify famous people, living or from
the past, who are or were particularly good at using that appeal. Be ready to
share your examples.
< Allow time for participants to work together to think of examples. Possible examples
that you might offer are• Using personality: Political candidates often use personal stories, show a
great deal of personal interest in people, or are very cordial. President Ronald
Reagan was considered persuasive in part because he was so likable.
• Using tradition or accepted beliefs: Speakers sometimes use phrases like,
“Americans always have. . . ,” “like Grandma used to make,” “the right
thing to do,” or “family values.” Religious leaders, such as Billy Graham,
are known for using this approach.
• Using rhetoric: Martin Luther King used beautiful language and an
eloquent style when he spoke, for example in his “I Have a Dream” speech. Jesse Jackson is well known for his use of language to make a strong case for
his positions.
• Using reason: Pamphlets and brochures often have well-structured support
for the ideas, people, and institutions that they represent. These typically
include statistical evidence to support claims made. William F. Buckley is
<Optional activity: Show television video segments of examples of the various kinds of
appeals. Give participants a mini-quiz to determine if they can designate the kind of
appeal or appeals that each uses.>
When you are aware of the variety of appeals, you begin to notice their uses.
All of these types of appeals are effective, but the one that is probably thefocus in most schools is the appeal to reason. One model for constructing a
sound appeal to reason is provided in Key Point 3 on page 165 of the
Teacher’s Manual. There are four primary components to a sound appeal to
reason in this model.
< Put up Overhead 3.6E, which has descriptions of each part.>
<Now put up Overhead 3.6F.>
Let’s look at the beginnings of an argument constructed with this model.
Notice that the claim is supported with factual information that helps to
build the case.
However, just because all the parts are there does not guarantee that the
argument is strong. Let’s look at two different passages constructed using the
basic model. As you read each of them, notice that all the elements of an
appeal to reason are present. What is the difference between the two?
< Put up Overheads 3.6G and 3.6H. Allow a few minutes for participants to read
and analyze both arguments. Ask for their conclusions, and make sure the following
points are made.>
This activity makes it apparent that an appeal to reason containing all four
components is not necessarily a strong appeal. Factual information may be
presented in a way that communicates bias. When teaching the process of
constructing support, it is important for students to understand the kinds of
errors that they should avoid if they want their arguments to be valid. It
may be useful to review the different kinds of errors in thinking. These types
of errors are described in the Teacher’s Manual in the section on analyzing
errors. With enough practice and guidance, students will become skilled at
constructing support for their ideas.
Let’s take a few minutes to practice constructing support. Use what you
know and have learned about the process. You may want to use the graphic
organizer on page 166 to help you plan for making your case.
Consider the following claims: <Write on a blank overhead.>
A. The salary structure for teachers should include merit pay.
B. The salary structure for teachers should not include merit pay.
< Alternatively, substitute a current issue that might stimulate opposing views and that most participants will know well enough to be able to generate evidence,
elaborations, and limitations.>
You may work with one or two other people. First, select one of the two
claims. All of the groups supporting Claim A move to one side of the room;
groups supporting Claim B move to the other side. Now, working together,
construct support for your claim. You may use any of the appeals, but you
must include an appeal to reason. See if you can include all four components
of a good appeal to reason.
< Allow time for groups to work.>
Now, I’d like each group to find a group from the opposing side. Take turns
presenting your support.
< Again, allow time for each group to present.>
What were the easiest and the most difficult parts of the process of
constructing support? What did you notice as you listened to support for the
opposing claim? How does the process of constructing support help you to
extend and refine knowledge?
<Often participants notice that the same evidence could be used to support or refute an argument, that it is hard to come up with facts as opposed to opinions, and that the
process of constructing support leads to many discoveries, insights, and ideas related to
the topic. They also typically say that they would need to consult some resources to get
more information.>
You will notice that strategy 5 suggests using both teacher-structured and
student-structured tasks. Let’s look at how the process of constructing
support is used in the classroom. Take a few minutes to read the classroom
examples on page 167. Notice that the first three are very teacher structured
and the last one is very student structured.
< Allow time for this activity. Have a few people share their arguments with the
entire group. Make sure the following point is made: It’s important to involve students
early and often in the design of constructing support tasks because part of learning the
process is being able to determine which opinions warrant support.>
lives and then ask them to find errors in thinking reflected in the
information, just as we did a few minutes ago.
When first teaching this process you might present students with messages
like the ones you just analyzed but take them from your local newspaper or
from current events students will recognize. Don’t use advertisements only;older students in particular are very aware that advertisers use all sorts of
techniques to try to persuade them. As you present students with examples
that reflect errors in thinking, focus on the reasons that people make errors in
their thinking and the consequences of not recognizing such errors.
Look again at the examples of messages we examined earlier. Think about
the types of examples you would probably find to introduce students to the
process of error analysis. What are some examples of the consequences people
experience because of their failure to recognize errors in the thinking
underlying information they are receiving?
<Ask for several people to share examples of consequences. Typically, examples of
consequences will include experiencing regret after you vote for a candidate, buying
something someone talks you into or doing something dangerous such as taking drugs.>
As you are discussing consequences with students, you can present them
with a model for the process of analyzing errors (on pages 169-170 of the
Teacher’s Manual).
<Put up Overheads 3.7B and 3.7C.>
Although the steps appear simple enough, most people do not rigorouslyapply the process when confronted with information and, consequently, fall
into situations they could have avoided. As explained in the first key point
(page 171), one of the major goals in teaching this process is to introduce
and reinforce the practice of looking for errors in information that you are
receiving. If students only develop the tendency to watch for errors, they are
well on their way to becoming proficient at using this process.
The next challenge, described in the second key point, is to help students
recognize different types of errors. Although cautiously watching for errors
in information is important, understanding different types of errors will
enhance students’ ability to recognize errors, even subtle, skillfully craftederrors. Let’s look at the section called “Types of Errors in Thinking,” which
is on pages 173-176.
Let’s examine this detailed information on types of errors in thinking. You’ll
find four sections that describe specific types of errors: faulty logic, attacks,
Take a few minutes to skim through this information. Some of the types of
errors will be very familiar to you. Some will probably be less familiar or
new to you.
< Allow time for participants to read.>
Do you recognize the use of any of these in the examples we analyzed earlier?
<Put up Overhead 3.7A again. 1. Appeal to authority. 2. Appeal to the people. 3.
Appeal to emotion. 4. Arguing against the person. 5. Arguing from ignorance.>
Let’s become more familiar with these types of errors in thinking. I apologize
for having you sit and read so much but we will become more active here in
a minute. Turn to the classroom examples on pages 176 and 177, and read
through them. Pay particular attention to the last example.
<Allow time for reading.>
Notice that in the last example the topic is whether there is life on other
planets. This is a topic that people love to talk about, as evidenced by the
number of movies about the topic, the speculation in the media, the UFO
sightings, etc. Let’s use some of the types of errors to analyze the reasons that
people give for believing or not believing about the existence of life on other
planets.
Working in small groups, try to construct, for as many types of errors as
possible, an argument that exemplifies that error. Look again at the examplesin the classroom task on page 177 for the model of what you should do. Let’s
make this a little competitive. We will see which group can construct an
argument for the most types of errors in thinking. Ready. Go.
<Allow time for them to work. This should be fun. They will find that some of the
errors are more difficult to exemplify than others. Circulate throughout the room, and
encourage groups to move on if they are having trouble with one particular type of
error. At the end of the working time, determine which group was able to exemplify
the most types of errors. Time permitting, have people read examples for as many errors
as possible.>
<You will need to prepare slips of paper ahead of time for the following activity.>
Now let’s use what we have learned to apply these types of errors to other
topics. On the table in the front of the room, there are small pieces of
folded-up paper. On each piece is a letter. Buddy up with someone, and
each of you come up and select a piece of paper. You and your partner will
now have two letters that correspond to one of the types of errors on
pages 173-176. Generate an example of each to present to a partner. Do this by
• thinking of an experience in which you heard the error used or
making up a story in which such an error is used, or
• role-playing a situation illustrating the type of error in thinking.
In a few minutes, you and your partner will present one or two of your
examples to another pair, and they will try to determine which error in
thinking you are illustrating.
< Allow preparation time. Then have each pair present one example. After both pairs
have presented, if there is time have them repeat the activity and present again.
Although this takes some time, it is helpful for each pair to hear other examples, and
it is usually interesting for them to present their examples.>
<For groups of at least 34: Have participants count off to 17. Have 1’s together, 2’s
together, etc. Then give each pair or group a letter (a through q, randomly distributed, not in order). Have each pair prepare a role-play or skit to demonstrate the error its letter
addresses. Ask the remainder of the group to guess which error is being demonstrated.>
What did you discover or find interesting during that activity?
<Typical answers: Some errors in thinking are less obvious than others. Different
people label the same example as different types of errors.>
<Put up Overhead 3.7F.>
As explained earlier, the first key point emphasizes that the first goal in
teaching the process of analyzing errors is to help students develop the habitof looking for errors. However, as highlighted in the second key point,
helping students become familiar with the types of errors we have just been
using here will help them to recognize errors in information they are
receiving. Finally, as discussed in Key Point 3, it is important for students
to realize that good thinkers know that there are some situations in which
error analysis is not appropriate. Good thinkers accept some information on
faith or because of the credibility of the information source.
<Put up Overhead 3.7G.>
Take a look at the graphic organizer on page 172. Help students to
understand that those two “stop sign” symbols remind them that not all
information needs close scrutiny.
As with each of the reasoning processes, strategy 5 simply suggests using
both teacher-structured and student-structured tasks. After spending time
with the process of analyzing errors, ideally students will begin to recognize
< At this point, if you would like to provide a final practice activity to enable
participants to experience using the process with information from a different medium,
you might show a video segment of a televised debate or a panel news program. Ask
participants to describe any errors in thinking that they notice.>
<Use your preferred format for closure—table talk, pause and reflect, or learning logs—to allow participants time to think about the information that has been
presented related to the process of analyzing errors. See page 9 for explanations of each
of these formats for completing this portion of the training.>
Analyzing Perspectives
<If you are starting your training here, remember to review the introduction to
Dimension 3, which identifies the major goals of these training segments and provides
suggestions for helping participants understand the organization of the Teacher’s
Manual for each of the reasoning processes in this dimension.
As explained in the introduction to the training for Dimension 3, you may want to
plan the training so that the processes of constructing support, analyzing perspectives,
and analyzing errors are examined as a cluster. This will help participants to see that
these three processes can complement and supplement each other in the classroom. For
example, when students are analyzing perspectives, they may want to use the process of
analyzing errors to scrutinize the reasons underlying a perspective, or they may want
to take a perspective and construct support for it.>
In a moment, I’m going to bring up an issue about which people have
different opinions. Note your reaction to the issue, and indicate that reaction
by putting your thumb up, down, or to the side. “Thumbs up” means you
have a positive reaction to the issue; “thumbs to the side” means you are
neutral, and “thumbs” down means you feel negatively about it.
The proposal is year-round schooling <or another current controversial topic such
as vouchers for private and parochial schools, national standards, women past
natural-child-bearing age having children, etc.>.
< Allow time for each participant to react.>
Now, jot down the reasons for your reaction. Next, consider a different
reaction. For example, if your reaction was negative, consider either a
positive or neutral reaction. Now, predict what reasons someone might give
for that reaction.
Next, find someone whose initial position was different from yours. Then,
compare their recorded reasons with what you predicted. As you talk with
proficient at using the reasoning processes the tasks require, you must allow
time in the unit to teach these processes.
Now let’s practice using this planning process for a unit you are planning or
might plan. First, identify some important declarative knowledge that you
want students to extend and refine. Then select one or two complexreasoning processes, and design tasks that might help students extend and
refine that knowledge.
< Allow time for participants to plan and to share a few examples with the large
group. Some may want to use blank Dimension 3 planning guides, so you should have
some extras available to them. In order to become more comfortable teaching these
reasoning processes and using them in units, participants will need multiple
opportunities to study and practice writing tasks. Depending on your training schedule,
allow as much time as possible for them to design tasks and share them with others.>
<Use your preferred format for closure—table talk, pause and reflect, or learning logs—to allow participants time to think about the information that has been
presented related to this section of Dimension 3. See page 9 for explanations of each of
these formats for completing this portion of the training.>
I am going to present you with a decision that I want you to make fairly
quickly. You are going on a vacation at your own expense. You must select
one of the following:
• two weeks in London for $4,000
• two weeks in Hawaii for $2,000
• two weeks in a cabin in the Adirondacks for $700
< Allow a few moments for participants to decide, and then ask how many selected
each alternative. Ask individuals why they chose what they did. As they answer,
identify the criteria implied in what they say. For example, if they say they chose
Hawaii because of the sunshine, then an important criterion for them is “warm, mild
weather.” If they chose London because they want to attend plays, then “cultural activities” is probably an important criterion, whereas “money” probably is not.>
What you have just done is use a decision-making process. For some of you,
this may have been a fairly easy decision because one of the choices seemed
far superior to you than any of the other choices. For others, it may have
been a more difficult decision because all of the choices were equally
appealing or unappealing. In either case, most of you probably did not give a
great deal of thought to the criteria you would use to make the decision
because you realized that this decision was being made only to make a point;
it wasn’t going to lead to your going on that trip. Certainly, the importanceof the decision and the degree to which the choices are equal affects the rigor
with which we approach the decision-making process.
When used to construct meaningful use tasks, the process of decision
making requires a great deal of rigor and thought. Decision making is
defined as the process of generating and applying criteria to select from
among seemingly equal alternatives. Stated more simply, it is the process of
developing and using criteria to select from choices that seem to be equal.
On pages 196 and 197 of the Teacher’s Manual is an explicit model of the
steps involved in the decision-making process.< Put up Overheads 4.1A and 4.1B.>
< Allow participants time to read through the steps in the process.>
Notice the level of rigor required for students to engage in this process.
When considering seemingly equal choices, they must clearly define the
criteria they consider to be important and then apply those criteria to
alternatives in order to make a selection. It is a more methodical and rigorous
process than the one you probably used to determine which trip to take.
To teach students this process, introduce the process to them by
demonstrating each step, perhaps as a think aloud. Select a decision-making
situation that uses fairly simple content knowledge or a real-life situation,like deciding what car you should purchase. This modeling experience
should involve the use of a matrix to help students organize the large
amount of information needed to generate criteria and alternatives and to
apply each criterion to each alternative.
<Put up Overhead 4.1C.>
< Just for fun, you might use the blank matrix to do the following activity. Tell
participants that you are going to give an award for the best participant in the
workshop due to the extensive and critical nature of the information being discussed.
Have them determine criteria they think you should use to select the winner of this award. After participants have had a few minutes to generate criteria, compare their
criteria with criteria such as
• the number of treats the participant brings and the quality of those treats;
• the degree to which the participant takes care of your wants and needs;
• the frequency with which the participant smiles and exhibits positive body
language; and
• the extent to which the participant agrees with what you are presenting and
tries to convince others around them that you are one of the best, most intelligent presenters he or she has encountered.
Help participants to see that generating criteria has a profound effect on the outcome of
the decision-making process and that changing criteria can lead to different choices.>
Now let’s go through an entire example together, using each step of the
process.
<Fill out the matrix on Overhead 4.1C as you walk participants through the process.
The following car example works. However, if you have a personal example, feel free
Now I can assign each criterion an importance score, using a scale of 1-3. I
might assign cost and safety a score of 3, meaning they’re very important,
mileage and roominess a 2, and style a 1.
< Place importance scores beside the criteria on Overhead 4.1C. Acknowledge that thevalue scores could be the same for two alternatives but are different here to clearly
demonstrate the process.>
Next, I determine the degree to which each alternative possesses each criterion.
On a scale of 0 to 3, to what degree does the Kia meet the cost criterion?
programs like this are often limited to a few students, frequently those who
have been identified as gifted and talented. This is unfortunate because most
people believe that all students should learn to be good problem solvers.
The term problem solving is used in many different ways. In fact, students, as
well as teachers, frequently refer to any difficult task as a “problem-solvingtask.” Because some difficult tasks require using the processes of decision
making or experimental inquiry, referring to them as “problem-solving
tasks” does not guide students to a process that will help them complete
these tasks. In the Dimensions of Learning model, the term problem solving is
only used to refer to a process that helps students with tasks that require
them to solve unstructured problems. This means that students are trying to
overcome a constraint or limiting condition in order to achieve a goal. Take a
few minutes to read the introduction to problem solving on pages 205 and
206. Pay particular attention to the descriptions of structured and
unstructured problems. Be ready to distinguish between the two types andto discuss the type focused on in Dimensions of Learning.
<Allow time for reading.>
Now, get a partner. Together discuss the definitions of structured and
unstructured problems and the difference between them. As you should do
when crafting any good definition, do not use the terms themselves (i.e., the
words structured or unstructured) in your explanation. Then, create an example
of each type of problem. Finally, discuss the type of problem—unstructured
problems—that is the focus of the process of problem solving as defined in
the Dimensions of Learning model.
<Allow time for discussion, and then ask for responses from the group.>
As explained, one important characteristic of an unstructured problem is that
it involves a constraint or limiting condition. In the task you just finished
(discussing structured and unstructured problems), I put a constraint on your
discussion of the two types of problems: You could not use the terms
unstructured or structured . In effect, I created a problem-solving task.
How did having to overcome the constraint (not using the words structured
or unstructured) affect your use of knowledge, in this case your knowledge of the types of problems?
<Target answer: The constraint forced them to define the two types of problems by
using language that explained the terms unstructured and structured. Participants
had to use precise language to explain exactly what these terms mean. If they did not
understand the terms, they probably struggled with this task.>
The first key point discusses the importance of step one of the process:
identifying the goal you are trying to accomplish. In the problems you were
just solving, the goal was provided for you. It is not unusual for the goal to
be defined when a problem is presented in the classroom. However, in real-life situations, defining the goal is critical.
If you are part of a school district that is dealing with parents who are
complaining about test scores, but, in a time of budget cuts, you can’t spend
any additional funds to address this issue, you clearly have a problem. There
are at least two ways of defining the goal. What are they?
<One goal: Raise test scores. Another goal: Stop the complaining.>
Notice that the way you define the goal will provide direction for the
remainder of the problem-solving process. It is important for students tohave opportunities to engage in problem-solving tasks in which the goal is
not provided so that they can practice this step of the process.
Read the second key point on page 209.
<Allow time for reading.>
As you were solving the problems from the classroom examples, to what
extent did you carefully examine the constraints or limiting conditions
before generating alternatives? Discuss this with your group.
< Allow time for discussion.>
The third key point explains that when solving a problem, you may have to
shift to the processes of decision making or invention. If, for example, you
can’t decide which alternative to try, you may need to engage in decision
making. If you are unable to generate a good alternative solution to your
problem, you may have to invent one. As you can see, as students become
familiar with using each reasoning process, there are ever-increasing
opportunities for them to use knowledge meaningfully.
The final key point emphasizes the importance of students understanding
that the process of problem solving should be used to help them find the best solution, not just a solution. Reflect once more on the problems you were
solving earlier. If you were using these problems in the classroom, how
might you encourage students to search for the best solution (as opposed to
just “getting the assignment done”)? Discuss this in your group, and be
Take a couple of minutes to think about what makes you wonder. In other
words, try to think of things you might like to explore through
experimental inquiry. For example, I wonder why people don’t exercise, why
people get sick at high altitudes, and why so few people read Shakespeare.
< Allow time for participants to identify examples, and then have them share their examples with the group.>
Students initially enjoy the second step of the experimental inquiry process
because trying to explain the reason for what they have observed can seem a
bit like a guessing game. They soon realize, however, that to conduct an
effective inquiry, they must slow down and think, rather than guess or
thoughtlessly make up explanations. In order to be successful, students must
bring with them an understanding of the concepts, generalizations, and
principles that could help them explain the phenomenon. In fact, this is the
point in the process that they use what they have previously learned in order
to understand an observed phenomenon. In the think-aloud you read in the
Teacher’s Manual (about the feather and rock), what knowledge would students
need to use to try to explain why the rock fell faster than the feather? Key
Point 2 discusses the necessity of providing opportunities for students to learn
the knowledge they will be asked to use in the experimental inquiry.
Similarly, students often find that generating a hypothesis or prediction is
fairly simple (step 3) but that setting up an activity or an experiment to test
it (step 4) can be quite challenging. Step 4 requires a great deal of modeling
and guidance in how to set up an experiment.
The final step in the experimental inquiry process, step 5, reinforces the ideathat invalidating your hypothesis can be as enlightening as finding support
for it. Key Point 4 discusses the importance of students understanding the
interactive nature of the steps of the experimental inquiry process; that is, if
the results of an experiment indicate that their explanation of the
phenomenon was incorrect, they must go back and either try to set up
additional experiments or, perhaps, go all the way back to step 2 and
consider different explanations.
Let’s take some time now to practice the experimental inquiry process. Pretend
we are in a social studies class and that we are in the middle of our 1960s unit.
Get into groups of three or four, and read over these experimental inquiry tasks.
< Put up Overhead 4.4E.>
In your groups, select one of the two tasks, state your hypothesis, and be
ready to describe the experiment you would set up to test your hypothesis.
See if you can use the graphic organizer on page 229 to help you organize
You will find a discussion of the use of teacher-structured and student-
structured tasks on pages 252 and 253. Although the philosophy underlying
Dimensions of Learning is to increasingly shift responsibility for these
thinking processes to students, you still might need to model the process for
them and guide them as they engage in it. When the system being analyzed
is quite complex and involves human interactions, the process of systems
analysis is challenging even to those experienced in using the process.
Systems analysis, like the other complex reasoning processes, can provide a
meaningful context within which students can use what they have been
learning by engaging in tasks that are relevant, intriguing, and authentic. At
the same time, effective systems analysis tasks are tied strongly to content
knowledge. Turn to pages 253-254 in the Teacher’s Manual , and read the
examples provided. Notice how each example has students use content
knowledge meaningfully.
<Give participants time to read the examples.>
Let’s look at the elementary example in which students began to realize how
parts of a story are a system. This strategy is sometimes called character
relationships, but the thinking process underlying it is systems analysis.
Students are trying to understand that plot, character, and setting create a
system. But characters in a story, together, are also a system. Let’s look at the
relationships among the characters as depicted on page 253.
< Put up Overhead 4.6E.>
Notice that the teacher is guiding students through the first three steps of systems analysis. The parts of the system are identified and the relationships
are described. Now try doing the last step of the process (as students are
asked to do in this example). Change just one relationship, and then discuss
how the story or plot would change. Then select a different story, and try to
use the same process.
< Allow time for this activity.>
To help build your understanding of the systems analysis process, work with
a partner or with two or three other people to identify systems within your
own content area or within units of study you now teach. Suggest ways of applying systems analysis to that content in order to help students use their
knowledge of the system in a meaningful way. Be ready to share your ideas
with the large group.
<Allow participants time to complete this task and to share their ideas. Typically
they are astounded at how much of what they teach involves systems.>
<Use your preferred format for closure—table talk, pause and reflect, or learning
logs—to allow participants time to think about the information that has been
presented related to the process of systems analysis. See page 9 for explanations of each
of these formats for completing this portion of the training.>
Planning for Dimension 4
< Participants should have a blank planning guide for Dimension 4 in the packet
that we recommend you give them at the beginning of any workshop in which
planning is being addressed. See Handouts section.>
<Put up Overhead 4.P1 (the major planning questions and steps).>
Planning for Dimension 4 requires asking and answering the following
overarching question:
What will be done to help students use knowledge meaningfully?
By following the three steps outlined in the Teacher’s Manual, pages 255-
259, you will answer this question. Each step requires you to answer a
specific key question or provide information. There is a place on the
planning guide to record your decisions.
< Put up Overhead 4.P2 (the filled-in planning guide as it appears on page 259).
This overhead is not large enough for participants to be able to read, but putting it up
can verify for them that they are looking at the right page in their manuals. They should also be able to see it well enough to see the columns that you point out as you
discuss the steps.>
We will look at the planning guide for Dimension 4 for the sample Colorado
Unit (page 259) while considering the planning questions for this dimension.
< Put up Overhead 4.P1 again (the major planning questions and steps).>
Step 1 asks you to respond to the following question:
What knowledge will students be using meaningfully? Specifically, students
will be demonstrating their understanding of or ability to . . .
You will notice that you are given a sentence stem to begin answering this
question. This stem suggests two important points to keep in mind as you
are planning. First, the stem states “students will be demonstrating their
understanding or ability to….” This is a reminder that you might be
planning for students to use either declarative knowledge, thus requiring
students to demonstrate their understanding of information , or procedural
Look again at column one in which the knowledge that is being used is
identified. At your tables, try to generate two alternative ideas for tasks that
would also require students to use the identified knowledge. For each
alternative, use a different reasoning process. Be ready to share.
<Allow time for participants to work in groups, then ask several people to share.>
Now let’s practice using this planning process for a unit you are planning or
might plan. First, identify some important declarative knowledge that you
want students to use meaningfully. Then select one or two complex
reasoning processes, and design tasks that might help students use that
knowledge meaningfully. Be ready to share your ideas.
< Allow time for participants to plan and to share a few examples with the large
group. Some may want to use the Dimension 4 planning guide they have been given. It
is a good idea to have some extras available to them. In order to become more
comfortable teaching these reasoning processes and using them in units, participantswill need multiple opportunities to study and to practice writing tasks. Depending on
your training schedule, allow as much time as possible for them to design tasks and to
share them with others.>
<Use your preferred format for closure—table talk, pause and reflect, or learning
logs—to allow participants time to think about the information that has been
presented related to this section of Dimension 4. See page 9 for explanations of each of
these formats for completing this portion of the training.>
Of course, many students develop productive mental habits as a result of
influences at home. However, because these habits significantly influence
student learning, it is also important to teach and reinforce them at school.
<In place of the above activity, you might have participants work in pairs to prepare
to “write a letter of recommendation” for a student to enter college. Ask them to list the student’s characteristics that they would include in the letter and then to share
their list with another pair. Next, ask participants to write the name of a teacher in
their school who specifically teaches and assesses that characteristic.
Most participants will list characteristics like sticks to a task, is honest, and works
accurately. They also typically will identify teachers who value these characteristics
but may not be sure who teaches and assesses them. In your discussion, make the point
that although we value these characteristics, often we do not directly teach and assess
them. Dimension 5 suggests that we should consider teaching these skills, and even
assessing them, by giving feedback and reinforcement to students who exhibit them.>
It is important to remember that although the list of mental habits on page
262 is considered important in much of the educational literature, the list is
not sacred. As explained in the introduction, we encourage you to modify
the list, if necessary, to match your own perspective on mental habits. Some
teachers have made changes, additions, and deletions to this list; some have
encouraged students to create their own individualized lists of important
mental habits. Further, a district may prefer teachers to use its own list of
the characteristics of “lifelong learners” instead of the habits of mind listed
in Dimensions of Learning. Recommendations in the Teacher’s Manual for
helping students to develop habits of mind also apply to these customizedindividual or district lists.
As explained in the introduction to this dimension, it should be noted that
the word habits might be misleading. There are instances when the use of a
particular habit is critical, but there are other situations in which a
particular habit may not be appropriate or useful. For example, you probably
do not want to restrain impulsivity while brainstorming, and it could be
dangerous to seek clarity if you smell smoke and someone yells “Fire!” Can
you think of other situations in which specific habits might not be useful or
needed?
< Allow time for sharing.>
To maximize the chance that all students develop productive habits of mind,
we recommend that these habits be explicitly and overtly introduced,
defined, taught, practiced, and reinforced. It is not enough to model them
and then hope that students use them and appreciate their importance.
about the subject that is a “plus,” or positive idea, then something that is a
“minus,” or negative idea, and then something that is “interesting” about
the subject. So, if I were considering, for example, the suggestion that
students wear school uniforms, I would do the following.
< Do a think-aloud with this issue or one that is relevant to your audience.>
“Let’s see. A ‘plus’ idea about school uniforms is that it would
take some of the social pressure off of students. A ‘negative’ idea
about school uniforms is that they don’t allow students to
express their individuality. It might be ‘interesting’ to see if
students would start looking for other ways to individualize
their appearance.”
Now I’d like you to try this. Here’s a topic for you to practice with:
Marriage licenses should be issued with a five-year expiration date; the
license would have to be renewed by both parties to be valid.
< Allow a few minutes for participants to list a plus, a minus, and, finally, an
interesting idea. Elicit a few responses each for P, M, and I. Provide enough time for
this activity inasmuch as the purpose of the PMI strategy is to consider all sides long
enough to generate ideas and write them down. In fact, de Bono suggests going back
and allowing additional time for a second round of P, M, and I. Often the best ideas
come after some reflection.>
Another recommendation is to have students share strategies that they use to
foster the habits. Sometimes this involves asking students to share their
strategies. Other times it requires you to interact with students to help thembecome aware of strategies that they have used but may not be conscious of
using.
For example, if you notice a student restraining herself from shouting out
during class (e.g., you see her halfway out of her seat, red in the face, lips
pursed; then she suddenly sits down, relaxes, and waits for her turn before
speaking), you might acknowledge that you noticed that she restrained
impulsivity and ask her to reflect on the thoughts and feelings that helped
her to restrain herself in this instance. She might say that she noticed she
was out of her seat, remembered being embarrassed the last time she spokeout without thinking, and reminded herself that she had promised herself to
think before she speaks. You then might make explicit for her and for her
classmates the strategy she used: She became aware of what she was doing,
recalled the negative consequences she had suffered when she did the same
thing in the past, and reminded herself of her decision to change this
With a partner, take a few minutes to look over the ways to help students
identify and develop personal strategies. These are on pages 265-266. Divide
them between you, skim them, and then share the information with your
partner.
< Allow time for reading and sharing.>
<Put up Overhead 5.1 again.>
The third set of suggestions for helping students develop productive habits
of mind addresses the importance of creating a culture that encourages the
development and use of the habits of mind. Students will not learn to plan,
for example, if teachers do not give them long-term tasks. Similarly, it is
unlikely that they will learn to generate new ways of viewing a situation
that are outside the boundaries of standard conventions if their teachers only
accept one view and one right way of doing or seeing something. Therefore,
this section discusses ways in which to create a culture that nurtures andencourages the development of productive habits of mind.
Creating this kind of culture includes modeling the habits, displaying
posters or other representations of them, and explicitly focusing on them in
specific units or tasks. As explained on page 267, creating this culture does
not mean creating completely new activities. It often means simply
integrating the habits into daily routines and activities. Three suggestions
for doing this are provided on pages 267-268. Let’s consider each briefly.
< Put up Overhead 5.9.>
<After you’ve reviewed Overhead 5.9, put up Overhead O.16 again. Then ask the following questions and elicit responses from the whole group after each question.>
1. How does debate help students develop the critical thinking habits
of mind?
<If participants have been solving structured academic problems throughout the training,
pose the following questions. If not, ask participants to solve a structured academic
problem (see Appendix B for sample problems), and then pose the questions.>
2. How does solving these kinds of problems provide opportunities for
students to become more aware of and develop the habits of creative
thinking?
3. How does having students set goals relate to the awareness and
development of the mental habits that exemplify self-regulated
thinking?
< Allow time for participants to identify habits of mind from each cluster that could
be reinforced and emphasized during these activities.>
A major portion of the chapter on Dimension 5 is a resource for teachers
who are using the specific habits listed in this model. This section includes
• explanations of each habit,• examples of situations in which it might be beneficial to have each
habit, and
• examples of strategies recommended by people who exhibit each habit.
< Put up Overhead 5.11.>
To become familiar with this section, as well as some of the specific habits,
we’re going to spend a few minutes reading and sharing about some of the
information by using a jigsaw process.
First, get into groups of three. Within your groups, choose an A, a B, and aC. A’s will focus on critical thinking; B’s on creative thinking; and C’s on
self-regulated thinking. Your job is to select one of the habits from your
category to major in, so to speak.
<Put up Overhead 5.12.>
You will read (1) the explanation of that habit, (2) the examples of situations
in which it might be beneficial, (3) one or more of the strategies
recommended by people who exhibit the habit, and (4) one or more of the
classroom examples for your category from the selection on pages 270-273.
Notice how the teacher deals with the habit or habits of mind. What is yourreaction to his or her ideas? What else might be done? When everyone in
your group has finished, share the information, the classroom examples, and
your reactions to the examples. Then, if time permits, see if your group can
generate examples of situations in which any of the habits has been
beneficial or share strategies developed from your own experiences.
What comments or questions do you have about Dimension 5 or about this
section of the manual?
< Allow about 15-20 minutes for the jigsaw and any comments or questions from the
This section of the training covers Chapter 6 of the Dimensions of Learning
Teacher’s Manual . After participants have explored each dimension in some
depth, they may perceive the model as being a series of fragmented pieces.The goal of this part of the training is to pull these “pieces” back together.
During this training, participants will be in the process of learning
• that planning units of study is rarely a linear process; although it is
important to ask the key planning questions for each dimension, the
sequence of planning will vary greatly from person to person and
from unit to unit;
• that after setting goals for students in each dimension, teachers must
sequence instruction;
• that assessing each dimension of learning requires selecting from
among different types of assessment tools, such as forced-choice
items, essay questions, performance tasks and portfolios, teacher
observations, and student self-assessments;
• that assessment requires teachers to use specified criteria in order to
make judgments about students’ levels of performance;
• that grading is not a process of compiling scores but a process of
determining how well students have demonstrated their knowledge;
• that teacher-student conferences provide important opportunities for
communication, clarification, and support that can enhance students’
learning;
• how to sequence instruction; and
• how to assess and keep records of students’ performance.
the decisions you need to make about the sequence of presentation and
workshop classes.
< Put up Overhead 6.3.>
The first question focuses you on the decisions you made in Dimensions 1and 5. This reminds you to decide when you will use the activities and
strategies identified on the planning guides for these dimensions.
The second, third, and fourth questions require you to determine how many
presentation and workshop classes you will need and how you will integrate
these classes. Take a minute to examine the sequence of classes for the
Colorado Unit (Figure 6.9, page 326).
< Put up Overhead 6.4.>
You will notice that the early part of the unit includes mainly presentation
classes. Gradually, workshop classes are added, until, finally, they dominate
the end of the unit. As explained, this is a common and recommended flow
of classes: more presentation classes at the beginning of the unit and more
workshop classes at the end of the unit. This implies that students are
increasingly using knowledge during workshop classes that they are acquiring
in presentation classes.
In order to get a clear picture of what is happening during these workshop
classes, it is important to understand the role of the teacher. In the description
of workshop classes on page 324, the section entitled The Activity Period
explains that while students are working on their projects, the teacher’s primaryrole is to coach students as they work and to have conferences with students.
The fifth section of this chapter, Conferences (pages 327-328), provides a
further explanation of this role. Take a minute to read this section now.
< Allow time for participants to read.>
Now, I’d like you to form small groups by getting together with one or
two other people. One member of the group should be designated as the
“teacher”; the others are the “students.” Teachers, your job is to have a brief
conference with your students. Let’s make this conference have an “assessment
focus,” as described on page 328. Try to determine how well the studentsthink they have been learning the information presented in this workshop,
and then provide them with feedback on how well you think they have been
doing. You might not know each other well, so you may need to role-play
this activity. Whatever the case, be sure to identify the criteria you and the
students are using as you assess their performance and as they self-assess their
Whether you were really doing this or doing this as a simulation through
role-play, what were some of the things you discovered by talking together
in your pair or small group? Were there any surprises? Are these the kinds of
things you discover when you have conferences with students?
<Take answers from several people.>
One reason that it is recommended that you plan to have workshop classes
during your unit is because they provide you with the opportunity to have
conferences with students. There is much you will find out about how well
students are learning and you will have an opportunity to give
individualized feedback and even instruction if you have one-on-one
conversations with individual students or interactions with small groups of
students. These conferences can be a major source of data that you can use to
assess students and to improve instruction.
Let’s spend some time now looking at the bigger picture of assessment and
grading. As mentioned earlier, some of the recommendations in these
sections might be fairly new to you. One last time, I am going to ask you to
take time to read. This time, read these two sections of Chapter 6 on pages
309-322. You need to read this all the way through in order to see the big
picture. We will then explore some parts of these sections in more depth.
<If participants have read these two sections before the training session, you can
modify the directions in the previous paragraph by asking them to review what they
have previously read. Although these two sections include quite a few pages, there aremany figures embedded in the text and it should not take them too long to read these
sections. Encourage participants to sit back, get comfortable, and take the opportunity
to read and reflect. It is critical that they understand the flow of the information
presented. Allow sufficient time for participants to complete the reading.>
As explained in these sections, the focus of assessment and grading is on
Dimensions 2, 3, 4, and 5. Let’s look at some of the recommendations for
assessment. It probably did not surprise you that different knowledge
requires different types of assessment. Take a look at Figure 6.1 on page 311.
< Put up Overhead 6.5.>
Using the recommendations in the figure for types of assessment tools that
are used with specific types of knowledge, answer the following questions:
< Ask the questions below, and then call on different people for the answers.>
The Better Mousetrap“In the early part of the 20th Century, the Animal Trap Company of America sold a five-cent mousetrap. For years, the president of
the company, Chester M. Woolworth, had tried to improve it, andin 1928 he succeeded.
Yet, he couldn’t sell it. One problem was that it sold for twelvecents—almost two and one-half times as much as its predecessor. Another is explained at page 12 by A. Kelley et al. in Venture Capital , a book published by the Management Institute of Boston
College (2nd ed. 1973):Mr. Woolworth failed to look carefully at the way theaverage family used a mousetrap. The mousetrap wasnormally purchased by the husband who set the trap at night after the children were in bed. In the morning, thehusband hurried off to work leaving the dead mouse in the
trap. The housewife did not want a dead mouse around allday so she would pick up the trap and dispose of themouse and the trap.
Unfortunately for Mr. Woolworth, the new trap looked tooexpensive to throw away. So, the wife was forced toremove the mouse and clean the trap. Obviously, the
average housewife felt much happier with the old five-cent trap which could be thrown away. While the husband might buy the improved trap, the wife did not want it to be used.Thus, sales of the improved mousetrap were very low.”
From: Field, T. G., Jr. (1996) “So You Have An Idea.”Franklin Pierce Law Center. Http://www.fplc.edu/tfield/idea.htm.
Below are examples of training activities for each of the five dimensions that
model the Dimensions of Learning model. After you have gained experience
and confidence in training, substitute your own examples.
Dimension 1
It is important to help participants feel welcome and accepted so that they
focus their energy on the training and are willing to openly share
experiences. The first hour or so of training is often when participants form
attitudes and perceptions that carry over into the remainder of the training.Therefore, you must begin to help participants establish positive attitudes
and perceptions from the opening minutes of the session. There are several
ways for you to do this:
• Personally greet as many participants as possible.
• Begin the training with brief warm-up activities.
• Ask participants to tell people at their tables about themselves,
emphasizing that they should be sure to include one thing that
most people don’t know about them.
• Provide each person with a list of interesting experiences (e.g.,
serving on a jury, going on a cruise, seeing a famous musician
perform, traveling overseas). Have participants find other people
in the room who have had one of the experiences and ask them
to sign their name next to the experiences they’ve had.
Critical Thinking• Be accurate and seek accuracy • Be clear and seek clarity • Maintain an open mind• Restrain impulsivity
• Take a position when the situation warrants it • Respond appropriately to others’ feelings and level
of knowledge
Creative Thinking• Persevere
• Push the limits of your knowledge and abilities• Generate, trust, and maintain your own standardsof evaluation
• Generate new ways of viewing situations that areoutside the boundaries of standard conventions
Self-Regulated Thinking• Monitor your own thinking• Plan appropriately • Identify and use necessary resources• Respond appropriately to feedback • Evaluate the effectiveness of your actions
Helping Students Develop Positive Attitudes and Perceptions
About Classroom Tasks1. Help students understand that learning is influenced by attitudes and perceptions related to classroom tasks.
2. Establish a sense of academic trust.
3. Help students understand how specific knowledge is valuable.
4. Use a variety of ways to engage students in classroom tasks.5. Create classroom tasks that relate to students’ interests and
goals.
6. Provide appropriate feedback.
7. Teach students to use positive self-talk.
8. Help students recognize that they have the abilities tocomplete a particular task.
9. Help students understand that believing in their ability tocomplete a task includes believing that they have the ability to get the help and the resources needed.
10. Help students be clear about the directions and demands of
the task.
11. Provide students with clarity about the knowledge that thetask addresses.
12. Provide students with clear expectations of performancelevels for tasks.
1. Think about the field of science. If youlisted the declarative knowledge and theprocedural knowledge in science, whichlist would be longer?
2. If you were trying to determine how wellI understand music, why might I
justifiably object to your assessing my understanding by asking me to sing?
3. A graduate student complained, “Ireceived an A in my statistics course. In
fact, I think I could pass some of thosesame tests right now. However, when Istarted to plan data analysis for my dissertation, I had no idea how to set upmy statistical study; that is, I didn’t know
which of the formulas to use.” What typeof knowledge did the student lack? How could this happen, given that the student received an A in the course?
luncheon table, only one commanded my attention—and apprehension—a dish ofsilkworms. Minutes before at the . . . ScientificResearch Institute near Dandong, I had watched a golden yellow silkworm crawlacross the back of my hand. Now it was onmy plate for lunch. . . . The eyes of my luncheon companions shift between me andthe shiny brown beast, the size of a medium
shrimp, on the plate in front of me. Clutchingit with my chopsticks, I took a crunchy bite. A smooth, warm custard with a nutty flavorspilled over my tongue. I noticed my dinner
partners spitting shells of the silkworm pupaeon the tablecloth and the floor. I swallowedthe thing whole.
with thousands of tiny packets of melaninpigment. Cells called melanocytes produceand blend only two basic “paints” to producethe exotic palette of different colors we see inhuman hair. . . . One pigment, eumelanin,tints our locks deep black to the lightest brown. The other, pheomelanin, turns the hairblond to golden brown or red.
As we pass our twenties, melanocyteproduction slows down. Emerging hairs,possessing only a tiny amount of their formerpigment, begin to appear gray. When themelanocytes go completely dormant, hair
grows out with no pigment at all and takeson the natural color of hair protein: white.
you use more than just the part of your ear that you seeon your head. Some parts of your ear are deep inside of your head, and those parts, along with your outer ear,help your brain to hear.
Pretend you are playing a drum. When you strike it, thespot you hit moves back and forth very quickly. That movement is called vibration. You can’t see it, but if youput your hand on the spot you just hit, you can feel it forjust an instant.
The vibration shakes the air and makes an invisible wave of sound. Your outer ear, the part you can see,collects the waves and passes them through a channel to
your eardrum. Then your eardrum vibrates and sendsthe sounds deeper inside your head to your inner ear.
When the sound wave gets to your inner ear, it movestiny hair cells. A healthy ear has over 15,000 hair cells.
When the hair cells move, they send signals to yourbrain to tell it that you are hearing a drum.
they can be as loud as 130 decibels, live rock concerts are dangerous to listen to for more thantwo hours. Some doctors think you couldpermanently lose some of your hearing after goingto just 10 live rock concerts.
Sounds that are over 140 decibels can even make your ears hurt. These sounds can damage yourhearing quickly if you are close to the source of thesounds. One of these sounds is a firecrackerexplosion.
Noise can do more than hurt your ears. If you hearnoise all the time, you can feel cranky. And anythingthat makes you feel cranky for very long is not goodfor your body. Listening to lots of noise can give youa headache and an upset stomach. You can become
so upset that you can’t sleep well. Constant noise at school will make it harder for you to study and learn.
Identify any organizationalpatterns that are importantin this unit:
Identify the important declarative knowledge that will be organizedinto these patterns.
When necessary, identify any additional or specific knowledge thatprovides support for, examples of, or further explanations of moregeneral knowledge.
Concepts?
Generalizations/principles?
Episodes?
Processes/cause-effects?
Time sequences?
Descriptions: facts,vocabulary terms?
Topography, natural resources, climate, culture
—facts about Colorado that are examples of each of these concepts
Topography, natural resources, and climate influence the culture of
a region.
—examples from Colorado (e.g., Mountains and snow influence
winter sports culture.)
Story of the Colorado Gold Rush, 1859-1900
Facts describing how Molly Brown, Zebulon Pike, and Alferd
Packer interacted with their environments
Vocabulary terms: tourism, urban
Step 1What declarative knowledge will students be in the process of acquiring and integrating ? As aresult of this unit, students will know or understand. . . . (Use worksheet below to answer this question.)
Sample Worksheet: Colorado Unit Declarative Knowledge Without Standards and Benchmarks
Identify any organizationalpatterns that are importantin this unit:
For each benchmark, identify the important declarative knowledgethat will be organized into these patterns.
When necessary, identify any additional or specific knowledge thatprovides support for, examples of, or further explanations of moregeneral knowledge.
Concepts?
Generalizations/principles?
Episodes?
Processes/cause-effects?
Time sequences?
Descriptions: facts,vocabulary terms?
Benchmark: Understands the interactions between
humans and their physical environment within a region.
Topography, natural resources, climate, culture —facts about Colorado that are examples of each of these concepts
Topography, natural resources, and climate influence the culture of
a region.
—examples from Colorado (e.g., Mountains and snow influence
winter sports culture.)
Story of the Colorado Gold Rush, 1859-1900
Facts describing how Molly Brown, Zebulon Pike, and Alferd
Packer interacted with their environments.
Vocabulary terms: tourism, urban
Step 1What declarative knowledge will students be in the process of acquiring and integrating ? As aresult of this unit, students will know or understand. . . . (Use worksheet below to answer this question.)
Sample Worksheet: Colorado Unit Declarative Knowledge With Standards and Benchmarks
Sample Worksheet: Colorado Unit Procedural Knowledge With Standards and Benchmarks
Unit Planning Graphic: Colorado Unit Procedural Knowledge With Standards and Benchmarks
Benchmark: Uses thematic maps
Colorado
Knows how to read and interpret physical maps
Knows how to read and interpret natural resource
maps
Geography Standard 6, Benchmark 1(P):Uses thematic maps
For each benchmark, identify the important procedural knowledge (skills and processes).
When necessary, identify specific skills that support more general processes.
read and interpret physical maps
read and interpret natural resource maps
What procedural knowledge (skills and processes) will students be in the process of acquiring and integrating ? As a result of this unit, students will be able to. . . . (Use worksheet below toanswer this question.)
1. Categories should be related to oneanother or parallel.
2. It is important to focus on attributesthat are important and meaningful to
the content.
3. Students must understand the definingcharacteristics of the categories wellenough to justify placement of theitems–which gets more difficult withcomplex content.
4. Having students classify and then
reclassify is a key to helping them noticeunique distinctions and connections that they might not have noticed had they classified the items only once.
The Emperor’s New ClothesThere once was an emperor who loved new clothes. One day two swindlers convinced him that they could make him very
special clothes that would be invisible to anyone foolish orunfit for office. The emperor placed an order immediately,thinking that he would now be able to distinguish wise menfrom foolish men.
As the swindlers set up their looms and began to work, many people stopped to see the fabric they were weaving.
Each person, afraid to admit that he or she could see nofabric, raved about the beautiful color and texture.
Finally, one morning the clothes were ready. The swindlerspresented them to the emperor and pretended to dress himand put imaginary final touches on each piece. The emperor,
staring at himself naked in the mirror, agreed that they werethe finest clothes he’d ever seen.
The emperor’s subjects had gathered from far and wide to view the new clothes they had all heard so much about. As theemperor marched through the streets, people talked of how beautiful the clothes were. Then, a little boy, not knowing that
he would seem foolish if he could not see the clothes, shoutedout, “The emperor has nothing on!” Soon, everyone joined in,“The emperor is naked!”
The emperor now felt foolish, but he held his head high andtried to maintain his dignity. The crowd laughed and laughed.
way he looked in new clothes was convinced by twoswindlers that they could makehim special clothes that wouldbe invisible to anyone foolishor unfit for office.
People who watched theswindlers work raved about the color and texture of thefabric, afraid to admit they could see nothing.
When the clothes were ready,the naked emperor paradedthrough the streets to show offhis new clothes.
A little boy shouted, “The
emperor has nothing on!”
Even though everyone thenlaughed at the emperor, hecontinued to pretend that hehad on clothes.
Step 2:
General/Abstract
A person in power with a flaw
or an obsession is takenadvantage of by someone whopromises something unrealistic.
Other people see that what was delivered is not what waspromised but are afraid orreluctant to speak out.
The person in power, becauseof his flaw or obsession,refuses to acknowledge thereality of the situation.
An innocent person exposes
the truth.
Even though all of the otherpeople now speak out, theperson in power still refuses toacknowledge the truth.
1. Step 1 of the process–identifying theimportant or basic literal information–is often the most challenging forstudents. They will need many opportunities to practice this step.
2. Students often have questions about how general the language in theabstract pattern should be. The level of
generality that’s appropriate dependson the content and purpose of theassignment.
3. As students apply a general pattern to
new specifics and identify the obviousconnections, encourage them to makeconnections that are less obvious andmore interesting.
The process of using generalizationsand principles to infer unstated conclusionsabout specific information or situations.
1. Identify the specific situation that is beingconsidered or studied.
2. Identify the generalizations or principles that
apply to the specific situation.
3. Make sure that the specific situation meetsthe conditions that have to be in place forthose generalizations or principles to apply.
4. If the generalizations or principles do apply,identify what is known about the specificsituation, that is, what conclusions can bedrawn or what predictions can be made.
1. Be sure that the curriculum specifiesgeneralizations and principles that students need to understand.
2. Make sure that students can state theconditions necessary for generalizationsand principles to apply.
3. Consider carefully whether studentsshould be discovering a generalizationor principle or whether they should betaught generalizations and principles
and asked to apply them in many different situations.
1. Students should understand thedifference between facts and opinions.
2. Students should understand devicesused to construct an argument: facts,evidence, examples, and appeals. They should also understand the four typesof appeals: personality, tradition or
accepted beliefs, rhetoric, and reason.
3. Students should understand the fourcomponents of an appeal to reason:
Nearly one-fifth of eighth graders and one-third oftwelfth graders admit that they smoke cigarettes.
Addiction to drugs, cigarettes, and alcohol is thought toaccount for, either directly or indirectly, a third of all
hospital admissions, a quarter of all deaths, and themajority of serious crimes. Yet research has shown that drug addiction can be prevented and cured successfully.
All of this suggests that a larger proportion of money spent in the war on drugs should be directed towardprevention and treatment.
Two-thirds of the $15 billion spent on the war on drugsfunds efforts to catch and prosecute those who engage inthe illegal production and sale of drugs. Only one-thirdof the money goes to prevention and treatment. Onereason for this is the misperception that treatment of
drug addiction is unsuccessful. In fact, the failure rate isno greater than, for example, the failure rate of peopletreated for diabetes and hypertension who do not follow their diet, exercise, and medication regimens. Recent breakthroughs in medical research suggest that if moreresources were spent on research, cures and treatments
for drug addiction could be even more successful.This is not to suggest that we should stop prosecutingcriminals who are trafficking illegal drugs. However,there is strong evidence to suggest that the emphasisshould be shifted to prevention and cure.
Drug use is out of control in this country. The war ondrugs has failed miserably. This is probably becauseof the emphasis on prosecuting criminals. In fact, two-thirds of the $15 billion spent for the war on drugs isdirected toward making it a criminal matter. Weshould spend less money on the criminals and moreon the prevention and cure of drug addiction.
The main reason that drugs are such a problem is
that lawyers have become involved. All that money spent prosecuting criminals involved in drugtrafficking actually goes into the pockets of lawyerseager to make a buck. Even more money goes to theshyster lawyers who defend these scum drug
traffickers, often successfully getting them acquittedon technicalities. All of this money should go insteadinto medical research to help prevent and cure drugaddiction.
This is not to suggest that we should stop punishing
criminals who sell drugs to our children. But weshould skip the lengthy trials and just throw theseguys in jail. Medical researchers can then get all that money, not lawyers.
1. Students need to be reinforced forattending to possible errors in thethinking underlying information that is
trying to influence them in some way.2. Students will be able to recognize
errors more easily if they becomefamiliar with specific types of errors
that commonly occur in information.
3. It is important to emphasize that there are times and situations in whichit is appropriate not to analyze errorsin information. For example, it isappropriate to accept some things asa matter of faith or trust.
1. Help students understand how important it is to generate clear criteriathat accurately identify the conditionsthat the selected alternatives need to
meet.2. Hold students accountable for rigorously
applying criteria to alternatives.
3. Vary the way that you use decisionmaking to maximize its potential forencouraging students to use theknowledge they are learning in aunit of study.
issue, you want to select a Person of theDecade. Your job is to decide whichperson should be selected and justify yourdecision to the publishers by listing the
people who were considered, the criteria you used, and how each person wasrated under each criterion. Report on
The process of overcoming constraintsor limiting conditions that are in the
way of pursuing goals.
1. Identify the goal you are trying to accomplish.2. Identify the constraints or limiting conditions.
3. Determine exactly how these constraints or limitingconditions are preventing you from reaching yourgoal.
4. Identify different ways of overcoming theconstraints or meeting the limiting conditions.
5. Select and try out the alternative that appears tobe the best.
6. Evaluate the effectiveness of the alternative youhave tried. If appropriate, try a different alternative or identify additional ways ofovercoming the constraints or limiting conditions.
This invention relates to eye protectors, and moreparticularly to eye protectors designed for fowls, so
that they may be protected from other fowls that might attempt to peck them, a further object of theinvention being to provide a construction which may be easily and quickly applied and removed and
which will not interfere with the sight of the fowl.
The process of generating and testingexplanations of observed phenomena.
1. Observe something that interests you, anddescribe what has occurred.
2. Explain what you have observed. What theories or rules could explain what you have
observed?3. Based on your explanation, make a prediction.
4. Set up an experiment or activity to test yourprediction.
5. Explain the results of your experiment inlight of your explanation. If necessary,revise your explanation or prediction orconduct another experiment.
1. I wonder why he throws such frequent, wildtantrums?
2. I think I’ll do some reading—maybe Dr. Spock and
Dr. Mom —and increase my knowledge, which I canthen use to generate an explanation. . . .
I have a possible explanation: Maybe I reinforcehis tantrums by giving them attention. I am
scolding and punishing, but maybe he stillperceives it as attention and continues the behavior.
3. If that is true, what if I stopped giving him attention when he throws tantrums? He might stop.
4. I think I’ll test it. For two weeks I will turn my back or leave the room (as long as he is safe) as soonas a tantrum starts. I will give him lots of attentionthe second it stops.
5. I have tried this for two weeks, and there is nochange. In fact, his tantrums are worse and morefrequent. I’d better think of another explanation.(He’s just like his father?)
1. Because engaging in experimental inquiry can be so demanding, it helps if studentsare examining topics that are interestingand meaningful to them.
2. It is important for students to have theopportunity to learn the knowledge they will need to use in step 2 of the process:offering possible explanations for theobserved phenomenon.
3. Although the goal is for students to becomeproficient at independently setting upexperiments, they may need a great deal ofhelp at first with this part of the process.
4. Students should understand that regardless ofthe outcome of the experiment, it is important to go back and set up additional experimentsor consider different explanations.
Task 1Most people who became adults during the 1960s are now in their fifties. Consider this population. Some would say
that it is interesting that the 1960s have had no lastingeffect on these people. One possible explanation for this isthat the effect is there but it is subtle. Try to determine whateffects the experiences of the 1960s are having on the livesof these people today. Test your hypothesis and report on
• your hypothesis• how you tested your hypothesis• your findings• your conclusions
OR
Task 2During the late 1980s, there was renewed interest in the
Vietnam War, which could be seen in the many movies,books, and documentaries released during that time.Create a possible explanation for this. Set up an
experiment to test your hypothesis and report on• your hypothesis• how you tested your hypothesis• your findings• your conclusions
1. What specifically is a “cold war?” Is it any time thereis nonmilitary tension between countries?
2. How did the scoring system of tennis evolve?
3. How many plagues were there before the Exodus? Why do some sources refer to the Red Sea and some tothe Reed Sea?
4. What would happen if we became a cashless society?
5. Was Edgar Allan Poe really a deranged alcoholic? Or was that characterization created by a biographer who was jealous of him?
6. How and when did Hitler die?
7. What is the “Third World”? Is it a socioeconomic,political, cultural, or geographical distinction?
8. What would have happened if Columbus had landedon America’s West Coast?
9. What is cooperation? Is helping a friend with his orher homework an example of cooperation? Is letting afriend copy your homework an example of cooperation?
10. What would happen if genetic engineering resulted inprocesses that could be used to easily clone humans?
1. Topics for investigation may, at first, bedifficult to identify. To increase students’awareness of how many topics couldbe investigated, start a class list that students can contribute to wheneverthey encounter a topic that needs tobe investigated.
2. Because investigation demands extensiveuse of a wide variety of sources, youmay need to help students learn how toaccess and use sources.
3. When students generate interesting,
creative resolutions to the confusions orcontradictions that are the focus of theirinvestigations, reinforce their efforts by offering opportunities for them to sharetheir ideas with others.
As you construct the task, you need to considerthe following questions:
• What specifically does the task requirestudents to do? Make sure that the task requires students to use the identifiedknowledge in order to complete the task.
• What makes the task meaningful to thestudent?
• Does it have an authentic context or purpose?
• Is it intellectually stimulating and interesting?
• Does it allow for artistic expression?
• Does it allow for student choice?
• To what extent will students be workingalone or in groups?
• What product will students turn in?
• How will the criteria for evaluation becommunicated to the students?
a. the explanation of the habit,b. the examples of situations in which it might
be beneficial,
c. one or more of the recommended strategies,and
d. one or more of the classroom examples onpages 270-273 for your category. Noticehow the teacher deals with the habit(s). What is your reaction to his or her ideas? What
else might be done?
2. Share the information, classroom examples, and your reactions to the examples.
3. Generate
a. examples of situations in which any of thehabits has been beneficial, or