Step 3
Identifying Thinking Skills/Process to Include in the Task
Considerations
What aspects of the task will encourage the thoughtful application of knowledge and skills, and not merely recall of facts?
Make sure the task description you write for the students, and the associated scoring criteria and tool that is used to evaluate their performance, includes as an "action verb" one or more of the following thinking skills and processes:
Thinking Skills |
Question "Starters" for the Assessment Task |
| Comparing | How are ________ and ________ similar and different? |
| Classifying | How might ________ be organized into groups? What are the rules or characteristics that have been used to form groups? |
| Induction | What conclusions could be drawn from the _________? |
| Deduction | Are there specific rules operating? Are there things that must happen because of the rules? |
| Error analysis | Are there errors in reasoning or in a process that can be described? |
| Constructing support | Is there a position you want to defend on a particular issue? |
| Abstracting | What is the relationship that exists in ________? What is the abstract pattern or theme that lies at the heart of the relationship? |
| Analyzing perspectives | What are the different perspectives or points of view on an issue? |
Thinking Processes |
Question "Starters" for the Assessment Task |
| Decision making | Is there an important decision that should be studied or made? |
| Problem solving | Is there some obstacle that needs to be overcome? |
| Experimental inquiry | Is there a prediction about ________ that can be made and then tested? |
| Invention | Is there something you want to create or improve upon? |
| Investigation: Historical Projective Definitional |
Is there something that happened in the past that could be studied? Is there a possible or hypothetical event that could be examined? Is there a new concept of theory that could be described in detail? |
Steps in the Design Process
- Step 1 - Identify Standard(s), Components, and Indicators
- Step 2 - Create a Meaningful Context for the Task
- Step 3 - Identify Thinking Skills/Processes to Build into the Task
- Step 4 - Identify the Products and/or Performance
- Step 5 - Identify Criteria for Evaluating Performance
- Step 6 - Generate Exemplary Responses
- Step 7 - Construct Scoring Tools
- Step 8 - Try out the Task
- Revise Where Necessary
