DEVELOPING ASSESSMENTS FOR HIGHER ORDER

THINKING

Dr Catherine Hart Luther College, Croydon

TALKING ABOUT HIGHER ORDER THINKING

• Thinking curriculum• Concept based curriculum• Productive pedagogies• Learning by design• Inquiry learning • e⁵• Cultures of thinking

Traditional Curriculum The Thinking Oriented Curriculum

Teaching centred Learning centredContent focussed Process driven Students answering questions asked by someone else

Students setting their own questions with the help of matrices, keys, mindmaps etc

Comparing student memories at a point in time

Recording growth in thinking processes over time

Students recalling and applying prescribed content

Students applying core thinking processes as they work with content

Private thought processes Shared experiences and learning

Writing verbal summaries and explanations Summarising key points and showing connections on visual / mental maps

Teaching of methods for content recall Use of metacognition for identifying and sharing thinking processes

Passing standardised or public exams for selection purposes

Developing independent , critical, creative and caring thinkers

Belief in a single intelligence that is fixed and static

Belief in multiple intelligences that can change with effort and instruction

Much “ just in case ” learning More “ just in time ” learning

The need for a shared metalanguage

Atkin, J. (1994). Learning by Design – Julia Atkins

Cultures of Thinking – Harvard/Bialik College

HOW DO YOU MAKE SENSE OF THIS?

An example: the concept of time

Change and Continuity

Cause and Effect

ASSESSING CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Thinking skills Audit

Example 1 ‘Kristallnacht’; the NationWide Pogrom of November 9 and 10. 1938 ‘Kristallnacht’ – literally, ‘Crystal night’ – is usually translated form German as the ‘night of Broken Glass’; it refers to the violent anti-Jewish pogrom of November 9 and 10 1938. The pogrom occurred throughout Germany, which by then included both Austria and the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia. The name ‘Kristallnacht’ referred to the broken windows of synagogues, Jewish-owned stores, communal centres and homes plundered during the pogrom. Although frequently used, the term has come to be regarded as a euphemistic way to refer to this brutal pogrom. The Germans officially presented ‘Kristallnacht’ as a spontaneous outburst of public rage in response to the assassination of Ernst von Rath, third secretary at the German embassy in Paris. A young Polish Jew named Herschel Grynszpan shot von Rath on November 7, 1938. Grynszpan was apparently motivated by the plight of his parents who, like tens of thousand so Jews of Polish citizenship living in Germany, had been expelled from Germany but denied entry into their native Poland. Grynszpan’s parents and thousands of expelled Polish Jews, were stranded in a refugee camp near the town of Zbaszyn in the border region between Poland and Germany, Grynszpan knew of his parents’ plight through a letter he received from them. Von Rath died on November 9 1938, two days after he was shot. As reprisal for von Rath’s death, the Nazi’s ordered a massive pogrom against Jews throughout Germany. The program was conducted by the SA. Hundreds of synagogues all over Germany, including Austria and the Sudetenland were attacked, vandalized, looted and destroyed. Many were set ablaze. Firemen were instructed to let the synagogues burn but to prevent the flames from spreading to nearby structures. The shop-windows of thousands of Jewish owned stores were smashed and the wares within looted. Jewish cemeteries were desecrated. Many Jews were attacked by mobs of SA men. While not directly involved in the pogrom, the SS and the Gestapo used it as a pretext for the arrest of abut 30,000 Jews, who were sent to Dachau, Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen concentration camps. Many of the Jews were treated brutally but released after a few weeks, on the condition that they begin the process of emigrating from Germany

Questions Cognitive Processes

1. Why are Nov 9 and 10 usually regarded as ‘the night of Broken Glass? 1.Gathering – identify and describe

2. Construct a brief chronological table using the following dates – Nov. 7, Nov. 9. Nov. 9 & 10, a few days later, a few weeks later etc

2. Processing - sequence

3. List the evidence provided in the extract which shows (a) that the Nazis caused the pogrom; (b) used he pogrom for the purposes of their racial policy.

1. Gathering identify and describe

4. Based on your reading and understanding of the extract, what understanding have you developed about the meaning of (a) pogrom (b) euphemism (c) pretext?

3. Applying – generalize, hypothesize (assuming the words were unknown )

5. Assuming Grynszpan was guilty, to what extent do you consider the German response to be an overreaction to the murder?

3. Applying – judge /evaluate

6. (a) was Grynszpan’s killing of von Rath murder or assassination? What is the difference? (b)Based on the evidence provided, do you think Grynszpan was justified in murdering von Rath? Outline arguments that he was (i) justified and (ii) not justified in this actions.(c) Can killing or assassination ever be justified? Under what circumstances?

(a) 2. Processing – reason/ distinguish(b) 3. Applying – judge(c) 3. applying – apply a principle?

Source

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA AND RUBRIKS

Is this a good rubrik? Why/Why not?

Is this a good rubrik? Why/Why not?