Depth of Knowledge
Depth of Knowledge was first written about in the late 1990s by Dr. Webb. He spent time looking at assessments from a number of states and realized that state standards were not necessarily being tested by the state assessments. Webb published a paper that defined four levels that are referred to as Depth of Knowledge. Today we would look at his four levels, and consider the first two as lower order thinking skills:
Level 1. Recall/Reproduction
Level 2. Skills and Concepts
and the other two as higher order thinking skills:
Level 3. Strategic Thinking
Level 4. Extended Thinking
Depth of Knowledge is looking at the complexity of thinking required by the students to complete a task. If students memorize a complex series of steps to solve a problem, they are at Level 1, as they are use recall and reproduction to solve the problem. As the complexity of the task increases, they must have a deeper understanding and the ability to not only recall/reproduce and have specific skills and understand concepts they must also be able to use strategic thinking skills and extended thinking, which requires that they be able to transfer knowledge between subject areas.
Below you will find two videos that discuss Depth of Knowledge (DOK). The first video provides an excellent overview of DOK. The presenter is considered one of the experts in this area and provides clear explanations of each level as well as numerous examples. The 2nd video is a much shorter presentation (by the same person).
Depth of Knowledge was first written about in the late 1990s by Dr. Webb. He spent time looking at assessments from a number of states and realized that state standards were not necessarily being tested by the state assessments. Webb published a paper that defined four levels that are referred to as Depth of Knowledge. Today we would look at his four levels, and consider the first two as lower order thinking skills:
Level 1. Recall/Reproduction
Level 2. Skills and Concepts
and the other two as higher order thinking skills:
Level 3. Strategic Thinking
Level 4. Extended Thinking
Depth of Knowledge is looking at the complexity of thinking required by the students to complete a task. If students memorize a complex series of steps to solve a problem, they are at Level 1, as they are use recall and reproduction to solve the problem. As the complexity of the task increases, they must have a deeper understanding and the ability to not only recall/reproduce and have specific skills and understand concepts they must also be able to use strategic thinking skills and extended thinking, which requires that they be able to transfer knowledge between subject areas.
Below you will find two videos that discuss Depth of Knowledge (DOK). The first video provides an excellent overview of DOK. The presenter is considered one of the experts in this area and provides clear explanations of each level as well as numerous examples. The 2nd video is a much shorter presentation (by the same person).