Element 22
Engaging Students in Cognitively Complex Tasks
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What do you already know?
S Take a moment and think about the phrase “cognitively
complex task”
S Based on your prior knowledge and what you know about
Marzano’s Instructional Framework, make a claim stating
what you believe this phrase means.
S As we look at each chunk of learning, think back to your
claim and provide evidence that either supports or refutes
your claim.
At the core…
S Students must have the ability to
produce and support claims.
(Examine Reasoning-Element 20)
S This includes:
S Stating a claim
S Establishing grounds (evidence)
S Providing backing (additional
support)
S Frame qualifiers to include
describing counter arguments and
identifying one or more types of
errors in thinking (faulty logic,
errors of attack, weak reference
and misinformation).
Interconnectedness
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Students need to learn, practice and
deepen their understanding of the
content before they can engage in
cognitively complex tasks.
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Once a teacher identifies the critical
content, she will chunk it and preview it
with students.
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He/She will then ask them to process
that content and then push them a bit
deeper with spiral questions causing
them to elaborate.
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He/She’ll then ask them to record,
represent and reflect on the content and
later examine their reasoning.
Degree of Choice
S Grant students some
choices during
implementation, but
provide boundaries to keep
them focused.
S Provide materials,
resources, or specific
guidelines for the
parameters of the task.
S Stop short of telling
students the exact steps.
Degree of Autonomy
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In the beginning, devote more time to
coaching and supporting them.
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Gradually, you can step back as students
become more confident in their abilities
and understanding of the process.
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Allow students time to ponder, debate,
and even struggle.
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Prompt them as they work through the
frustration of the productive struggle.
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The secret is doing all you can to ensure
your students are doing the thinking
work.
Amount of Time
S Provide students
adequate time to collect
the evidence to support
their conclusion.
S Whether it is a short
term or long term
project, students need
that time to gather
data/evidence.
Guidance and Facilitation
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Plan in advance how you will support the students.
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Ensure that all students understand the task and the complex
steps involved.
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Prepare to provide both verbal and written directions at the
beginning of the task.
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Have students paraphrase the directions before beginning the
task.
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Be highly visible and interactive in the process.
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Move about the room to assist and monitor.
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Provide ongoing feedback.
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Ask probing questions to facilitate rather than tell and guide
rather than lead.
Kind and Amount of Resources
S Volunteer a variety of resources.
S Fill a cart with potential sources.
S Point them to the most applicable and appropriate websites.
S Provide some lesser-quality materials, so students can compare
and select the best.
S Ultimate goal is that students decide for themselves which
information is valuable and use it to support or test their thinking.
Overall Length
S They can be short-
term tasks that can
eventually prepare
them for the longerterm tasks down the
road.
S Don’t feel like they
always have to be long
and drawn out events.
Effective Implementation
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Think out loud and model, model, model.
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Provide opportunities to read and discuss the merits of
other hypotheses.
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Identify essential steps for the process.
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Provide guidance.
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Teach students how to document evidence.
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Provide opportunities for students to examine and
analyze the support of a claim.
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Model how to create a conclusion with explanations
and evidence.
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Circulate the room and ask probing questions.
Monitoring for Desired Effect
S Top instructional priority is to
monitor their progress.
S Students can:
S Explain the hypothesis they are
testing
S Test their hypothesis
S Identify evidence to support or refute
claim/hypothesis
S Explain their evidence
S Explain how their evidence confirms
or refutes the claim/hypothesis
S Explain common logical errors that
may affect their hypotheses.
Monitor and Reflect
S The more teachers
monitor their students
and reflect on how
they are progressing in
the learning process,
the better equipped
they will be to adjust
their instruction to
meet student needs.
S What are the critical
parts of this
definition?
S Teacher act
S Checking evidence
S Desired student
learning of critical
content
S During instruction
Facilitation Grid for Monitoring
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Use some sort of collection tool as you
monitor student progress toward the
understanding of critical content.
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A facilitation grid is one method.
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Write the student names down the left
side.
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Write the learning targets or criteria
you are looking for as you monitor
student learning across the top.
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In this case it is what ever you expect
to see the students writing, doing or
saying as you walk around.
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As you walk around and monitor
student work, check off who has it and
who does not.
Monitoring During Instruction
S Teacher Observation:
S Walk and listen to student conversations around critical content
S Watch and listen to demonstrations, oral presentations, etc. of
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critical content
Spot check student work to determine progress
Ask probing questions to redirect or elevate thinking
Review student class work
Observe students as they work with manipulatives
Observe students as they respond by pointing to correct answers
or represent the correct answer through body movement
Scaffold/Support-Adaptations
S Use pictures, graphics, and diagrams
S Provide sentence stems
S Develop guiding/probing questions
S Tell stories to illustrate examples
S Regroup students to provide additional
support
S Show work samples or point out exemplars
S Review reasoning behind responses before
asking students to respond
S Provide a brief overview of critical content
S Post anchor charts, helpful lists, diagrams or
techniques
Extension Adaptations
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Students answer questions that stretch them just
beyond the standard to deepen and extend their
thinking.
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Students categorize important terms and make
generalizations based on those categories.
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Students identify how each chunk of information or
each activity relates to the learning targets.
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Students identify similarities and differences
between learning targets, and groups’ conclusions or
solution methods.
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Students create their own graphic organizer to share
with the class.
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Students identify strategies and techniques that were
particularly useful to their knowledge gain.
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Students create picture, graphics, and diagrams of
previously learned skills or procedures to share with
the class.
Connecting
PLC Work - Monitoring
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You are the content experts, so use each
other’s experience and knowledge
during your PLC time to:
S Prioritize and problem solve around
the most critical content students
must learn.
S Determine what mastery of the
target/standard(s) looks like.
S Analyze data in order to share
successful strategies and meet the
needs of all students.
S Brainstorm scaffold/supports
could be used to support student
learning.
S brainstorm extensions that could
be used in the learning moment to
extend student learning.
Six Strategies
S Investigating-what others have said or written about a specific
idea, event, or concept
S Problem Solving-students generate possible solutions to overcome
an obstacle or constraint, and then test and defend their possible
solutions. Conclusions are made based on evidence they
document
S Decision Making-where students use information they have
acquired from critical content to select among various possible
choices. Students predict the best alternative and analyze their
thinking to judge that alternative based pre-established criteria.
Three more strategies…
S Experimental Inquiry-students determine the
procedure to collect evidence by direct observation
to test their hypothesis by reading a text, watching
a video, feeling or observing a physical change,
and listening to an interview. Knowing how and
when to select, organize and analyze.
S Inventing-the purpose of creating and testing a
prototype (trial product-advertisement, painting,
new game for example) to meet criteria
S Student-Designed Tasks-students decide what
their focus will be and have freedom to pursue
specialized interests with your guidance and
support
Types of Investigating
Type of
Investigation
Description of
Investigation
Suggested Prompts to
Motivate the Investigation
Historical
Requires students to construct
plausible scenarios for evens from
the past for which there is no
general agreement among sources.
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How did this happen?
Why did this happen?
Take a position on this event.
Projective
Requires students to use the
knowledge they gain during an
investigation to make projections
on future or hypothetical events.
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What would happen if…?
Predict the resolution of…
Predict what might have happened
if circumstances changed.
Definitional
Requires students to describe
characteristics of places, things, or
concepts.
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What are the important features of
…?
What are the defining
characteristics of …?
What are the differing features
of…?
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Effective Implementation
S Four steps:
S Use the planning template
(found in the module) to walk
through the various steps of
the investigation
S Teach and model the steps for
how to generate and support
claims
S Begin your investigation lesson
with the motivating prompt
you have chosen
S Provide resources and
guidance during the task
Teach and Model Steps
1. State a claim-students state precisely what they hope to
prove in their investigation based on what they already
know.
2. Identify what is already known-students begin the task by
researching what is already known, gradually they find
information to support their claims (known as grounds and
backing). The goal is for the students to synthesize the
information they find.
Step 3:
Identify Confusion/Contradiction
S Students identify any confusion or
contradictions in the information they already
know with what they find in their research to
support their claim.
S As they find evidence that contradicts or causes
confusion, be sure to let them know that at
times experts do not always agree.
S This does not always mean the source is
unreliable.
Steps 4 and 5
S Develop a plausible resolution-a conclusion that responds
to the original prompt, supported by their interpretation of
the evidence.
S Reflect on the initial claim-if it doesn’t support their claim,
there is no need to revise their claim, nor should you base
their grade on their ability to support the claim. The
purpose if for students to analyze their original thinking as
they investigate.
Problem Solving
S Use the planning (thinking) template-see the module for the
detailed sample
S Teach and model the steps in problem solving:
S Predict some possible solutions for solving the problem
S Test your prediction
S Examine the results
S Decide if the problem is solved
S Reflect on the process
Additional Resources
S See the canvas
module and the
Essentials for
Rigor Series for
additional
resources on the
six strategies for
cognitively
complex tasks