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DEPTH OF KNOWLEDGE REVIEW AND PRACTICE

DOK WEBB’S DEPTH OF KNOWLEDGE

Webb’s DOK Model

Level 1 — Recall

Level 2 — Basic Application/Skills-Concepts

Level 3 — Strategic Thinking/Reasoning

Level 4 — Extended Thinking/Creating

DOK - WHAT IT IS…

Descriptive, not a taxonomy - 4 different ways to interact with content

Not the same as difficulty - it is about complexity

Focuses on content standard in order to successfully complete an assessment or task

Mechanism to ensure intent of standards and student demonstration requirement match the instruction and assessment.

DOK requires looking at the assessment item—not student work—in order to determine the level

DOK is NOT determined by the verb, but the context in which the verb is used and the depth of thinking required

DOK 1 - RECALL

DOK 1 requires recall of information, such as a fact, definition, term, or performance of a simple process or procedure.

Answering a Level 1 item can involve following a simple, well-known procedure or formula.

Simple skills and abilities or recall characterize DOK 1.

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DOK 1 - EXAMPLES

List animals that survive by eating other animals

Locate or recall facts explicitly found in text

Describe physical features of places

Determine the perimeter or area of rectangles given a drawing or labels

Identify elements of music using musical terminology

Identify basic rules for participating in simple games and activities

DOK 2 - BASIC APPLICATIONSKILLS/CONCEPTS

DOK 2 includes the engagement of some mental processing beyond recalling or reproducing a response.

Items require students to make some decisions as to how to approach the question or problem.

Organize or act on information - understand the relationship.

These actions imply more than one mental or cognitive process/step.

DOK 2 - EXAMPLES

Compare summer and winter environments

Identify and summarize the major events, problem, solution, conflicts in literary text

Explain the cause-effect of events in a story

Predict a logical outcome based on information in a reading selection

Explain how good work habits are important at home, school, and on the job

Describe various types of animals

DOK 3 -STRATEGIC THINKING/REASONING

DOK 3 requires deep understanding as exhibited through planning, using evidence, and more demanding cognitive reasoning.

The cognitive demands at Level 3 are complex and abstract - i.e., planning a strategy, how to approach a problem - non-routine.

An assessment item that has more than one possible answer and requires students to justify and provide support for the response they give would most likely be a Level 3.

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DOK 3 - EXAMPLES

Analyze or evaluate the effectiveness of literary elements (e.g. characterization, setting, point of view, conflict and resolution, plot structures)

Solve a multiple-step problem and provide support with a mathematical explanation that justifies the answer

Explain, generalize or connect ideas, using supporting evidence from a text or source

DOK 4 -EXTENDED THINKING/CREATINGExtended Thinking: Level DOK 4 requires high cognitive demand and is very complex.

Students are expected to make connections—relate ideas within the content or among content areas—and have to select or devise one approach among many alternatives on how the situation can be solved.

Due to the complexity of cognitive demand, DOK 4 often requires an extended period of time.

DOK 4 - EXAMPLES

Gather, analyze, organize, and interpret information from multiple (print and non print) sources to draft a reasoned report

Analyze author’s craft (e.g., style, bias, literary techniques, point of view)

Specify a problem, identify solution paths, solve the problem, and report the results

STANDARD/DOK ALIGNMENT

Science/Mathematics: Constructing, reading, and interpreting data in charts, graphs, and tables

Level 1 – identify types of charts and graphs

Level 2 – read/identify/select data represented in a chart or graph

Level 3 – construct a chart or graph from raw data; interpret data from a chart or graph

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DOK FORK EXAMPLE

Level 1 — Identify this utensil. (fork)

Level 2 — Explain the function of the fork.

Level 3 — Identify two examples of when a fork would not be the best utensil for a type of food and explain why.

Level 4 — Design an investigation to determine the optimal number and length of tines for a salad fork.

Marie Alcock

DEPTH OF KNOWLEDGE - ELALevel 1 — Identify the main characters in this story.

Level 2 — Give examples from the text that best describe the main characters’ feelings about each other.

Level 3 — Why do the main characters conflict?

Level 4 — Interview your friends to compare how they deal with problems with other people.

DEPTH OF KNOWLEDGE -SCIENCE

Level 1 — Identify the parts of a tree.

Level 2 — Explain the function of each of the parts.

Level 3 — Explain how a drought might affect the growth of the tree.

Level 4 — Design an investigation of seedling growth to determine the best fertilizer for this type of tree.

SAME VERB DIFFERENT DOK LEVEL

DOK 1 – Describe three characteristics of metamorphic rocks. (Requires simple recall.)

DOK 2 – Describe the difference between metamorphic and igneous rocks. (Requires cognitive processing to determine the differences in the two rock types.)

DOK 3 – Describe a model that you might use to represent the relationships that exist within the rock cycle. (Requires deep understanding of rock cycle and a determination of how best to represent it.)

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SAME VERBDIFFERENT DOK LEVEL

DOK 1 - Students will identify essential information to accomplish a task.

DOK 2 - Students will identify information in a passage that is supported by facts.

DOK 3 - Students will identify the appropriateness of an argument using supporting evidence.

DOK 4 - Students will identify interrelationships (themes, ideas, concepts) developed in more than one literary work.

Karin K. Hess 2013

DOK SOCIAL STUDIES EXAMPLE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMqKN7edRcU

After viewing the video. . .Work with a partner to review a current unit

Create a task for each DOK level • Review standards• Analyze assessment• Review learning experiences

(tasks)

MAPPING/UNIT CONNECTIONS

Take time now to examine your unit of study and discuss this question with your team:

What DOK level is being addressed?

Consider a task that would support the content and skills and prepare students for the assessment.