Real-World Learning Framework - Cognitive Complexity
Embed in teaching standards as well as performance expectations for each content area standard
Bloom's Taxonomy - Revised
Create
Organizing information in a new way to design a product
Generating, Planning and Producing
Evaluate
Students examine informational sources to assess their quality and make decisions based on the identified criteria
Checking and Critiquing
Analyze
Could be a top tier level of complexity based on if it is student vs teacher directed
Often seen as the beginning of deep thinking process
Students use knowledge and understanding to complete higher-level tasks or projects
Differentiating, Organizing and Attributing
Apply
Students execute certain procedures or steps to address a new problem
Executing and Implementing
Understand
Establish new connections with content
Interpreting, Exemplifying, Classifying, Summarizing, Inferring, Comparing and Explaining
Remember
Recover information previously memorized
Recognizing and Recalling
Questions about Cognitive Complexity
Teachers should ask themselves crucial questions to be sure their lessons have various levels of cognitive complexity
Do students have opportunities to generate open-ended, high level thinking questions?
Is the project teacher directed or student directed?
Is the project standards based and part of the curriculum?
Will the student work produce this level of thinking?
What is Bloom's level of student thinking in the task?
5 Levels of Cognitive Complexity
How students interact with the content dictates level of thinking
Specializing
Students generate projects while thinking like an expert with open-ended or global emphasis
Integrating
Same as investigating BUT students identify the questions, tasks or projects
Investigating
Analyze, evaluate and create using teacher directed tasks
Practicing
Understand and apply level tasks
Knowing
Remember level tasks
Directly related to Blooms' Taxonomy
Defined as: The level of critical thinking required for an instructional task based on Create Excellence Framework
Clarified as applying knowledge in new ways and engaging in nonroutine problem solving
