Deeper Thinking and Revised DOK Flowchart

About a year or two ago, I noticed my DOK Flowchart floating around Pinterest. I didn't think much of it because the thought process behind the flowchart was documented on my post titled, Striving for Higher-Order Thinking and Depth of Knowledge.


This flowchart was created to help teachers in my former district categorize their own questions by DOK level, to look for patterns and trends, in order to set goals regarding their quest for deeper thinking. It was a flowchart that worked with many question patterns we commonly saw, but was not intended to be definitive.

For example, when it came to a question in math, we knew there was a right and wrong answer -- for example, 3X4=12. However, we considered how there were multiple approaches to get to that correct answer. While, that was a discussion we had face-to-face, my original flowchart did not reflect those conversations. Therefore, I revised the flowchart to help clarify:

Click here to download as PDF.

Below are some examples of various questions/tasks with DOK levels:

Final thoughts

While this flowchart might help identify the DOK levels for questions, it probably will not work on every single question because there is more to DOK than a simplified guide could provide. However, if it helps promote deeper questioning, then I am happy that I've shared it with others.

  • What might be some benefits of this flowchart? How might you improve it?
  • What are some possible examples of deeper questioning and tasks for students?

Comments

  1. ShannonNovember 25, 2015 at 2:10 PM

    Our school is really winding up the focus on DOK and student engagement so this flowchart will be very helpful!!!! Thanks so much. I teach 6th grade math.

    Shannon

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tracy WatanabeJanuary 19, 2016 at 1:09 PM

      Hi Shannon,

      I'm so happy to hear that this may be of value to you. Good luck in your endeavors.

      Kind regards,
      Tracy

      Delete
  2. AnonymousDecember 1, 2015 at 8:50 AM

    Hi Tracy! This is Amber from Fillmore USD. The funny thing about this is that way back in 2011-2012 I showed the original flow chart to Chrissy Shieferle at a VCOE training...and now you are there!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tracy WatanabeJanuary 19, 2016 at 1:10 PM

      Hi Amber,

      Funny how things happen! It's a joy to be at VCOE.

      Kind regards,
      Tracy

      Delete

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