Lesson Segment: Addressing Content
Design Question: #2 – Helping Students Interact with New Knowledge
Element 11:
Helping Students Elaborate on New Content
A teacher’s growth in using instructional strategies can be tracked along the developmental
scale. Coaching and growth needs vary for each developmental category on this scale. A
teacher at the “beginning” level on the development scale has very different needs than a
teacher at the “applying” level. Therefore, in order to track a teacher’s growth in using this
strategy, it is important to begin by pinpointing his/her current level of use.
Monitoring for the desired effect of a strategy is a critical component addressed in the
developmental scale. Monitoring is the teacher act of checking evidence for desired student
learning of critical content during instruction, which includes student action and teacher
witnessing of that action.
For this element, the teacher asks questions that require inferences about the new content but
also requires students to provide evidence for their inferences.
The desired effect of this element states that students draw conclusions that were not
explicitly taught within the chunk.
Developmental Scale
Beginning
Uses strategy
incorrectly or with
parts missing.
Developing
Engages students in
answering inferential
questions and
providing evidence for
their inferences, but
the majority of
students are either
not monitored for or
not displaying the
desired effect of the
strategy.
© 2016 Learning Sciences International.
Applying
Engages students in
answering inferential
questions and
providing evidence for
their inferences and
monitors for evidence
of the extent to which
the majority of
students elaborate
and provide evidence
on what was explicitly
taught.
Innovating
Adapts and creates
new strategies for
unique student needs
and situations in order
for the desired effect
to be evident in all
students.
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The following scale has been enhanced to demonstrate common mistakes, examples and nonexamples, along with ideas for scaffolding and extended learning.
BEGINNING – Uses strategy incorrectly or with parts missing.
Some common mistakes include:
• The teacher asks students factual questions that have obvious answers.
• The teacher accepts obvious answers rather than conclusions drawn from inferring
or elaborating.
• The teacher does not require students to support their answers with evidence or
logic.
• The teacher supports or accepts incorrect inferences from students.
DEVELOPING – Engages students in answering inferential questions and providing
evidence for their inferences, but the majority of students are either not monitored for or not
displaying the desired effect of the strategy.
Some examples of typical, correct use of the strategy include:
• The teacher asks questions or provides situations that require students to make
inferences about the content.
• The teacher asks students to reason and draw conclusions about the information
being taught.
• The teacher asks students to make predictions about information.
• The teacher asks students to explain and defend their inferences.
APPLYING – Engages students in answering inferential questions and providing evidence
for their inferences and monitors for evidence of the extent to which the majority of
students elaborate and provide evidence on what was explicitly taught.
At this point in development, the teacher uses the strategy with increased accuracy and
fluency while staying focused on student outcome, or desired effect. At the “applying” level,
the teacher must provide opportunity for students to demonstrate that the strategy is having
the desired effect – in this case, students draw conclusions that were not explicitly taught
within the chunk of content. Planning for the implementation of this strategy allows the
teacher to identify how he/she will monitor for the desired effect. Some examples of
monitoring may include:
• The teacher listens and probes a student’s initial answer when asked inferential or
elaborative questions.
• The teacher listens as students explain and defend their conclusions about the
information to a partner.
• The teacher reads a class discussion board on which students collectively elaborate
on posted questions.
• The teacher examines students’ written responses to inferential questions to ensure
they are making appropriate connections.
© 2016 Learning Sciences International.
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INNOVATING – Adapts and creates new strategies for unique student needs and
situations in order for the desired effect to be evident in all students. In order to do this, the
teacher scaffolds, extends, and/or creates a macrostrategy as necessary. As a result of
this, ALL students draw conclusions that were not explicitly taught within the chunk of
content.
Examples of providing unique support to meet the individual needs of all students include:
• The teacher provides knowledge-building experiences such as stories and videos to
build background knowledge as a setting for asking inferential questions.
• The teacher asks students to visually represent their inference.
• The teacher provides possible options for inferences then asks students to explain
their reasoning in selecting it.
• The teacher provides pictures or visual prompts to spark connections with new
content for reasoned inferences that could be made about the content.
Examples of extension include:
• The teacher asks students to elaborate on their inference.
• The teacher asks students to use multiple sources to support their conclusion.
• The teacher asks students to predict consequences of events based on the
inferences they have made.
• The teacher asks students to make generalizations about categories of people,
things or ideas.
© 2016 Learning Sciences International.
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