How To: Use Multiple Strategies
DQ3: HELPING STUDENTS PRACTICE AND DEEPEN THEIR
UNDERSTANDING OF NEW KNOWLEDGE
Element 14
Reviewing Content
Research shows that reviewing content is necessary to deepen the understanding of new knowledge.
Students require multiple exposures for both procedural and declarative knowledge. There are many different
strategies that can be used to review material. A few of them are mentioned below.
Summaries
A summary of recently taught information can be prepared by the teacher who then asks the students to
review it, or the students can be asked to write a quick summary themselves about the material. A discussion
can then ensue of what the students remembered, what they were reminded of, what they thought was
important, etc. This discussion should follow the summary activity to clarify questions and cover important
details of the material.
Demonstrations
Students can demonstrate a skill or procedure that requires them to use previously learned information to
complete. Students might be asked to demonstrate how to shoot a free throw, how to bake a cake or how to
write a cinquain poem.
Presented Problems
Students can be asked to solve a problem that requires them to use previously learned information. This can
be a math problem, a philosophical problem or even an environmental problem. For example, the students
could be given a scenario where erosion is a problem in the field they plan to plant a crop in. There is a
depression where the two 30 acre fields meet. Last fall you noticed excess rainwater accumulating in that
depression and the run-off carried with it soil from the fields. What would be a good solution to this problem?
Knowledge of erosion solutions, logical thinking and reasoning are required to complete the task. (This
example was adapted from the following website:
http://www2.kenyon.edu/projects/farmschool/types/soil1.htm)
Team Games
There are plenty of team games that can be utilized to review information and solidify knowledge. For
example, Tic-Tac-Toe can be played between two teams (Xs and Os). If a student from Team X answers
the question correctly he/she can put an X on the grid. If he/she misses the question Team O can steal the
question and mark the board if they answer it correctly. Team O gets to answer the next question and can
put another O in a square if they answer the question correctly. The teacher should keep track of how many
games each team wins. The teacher could end the review activity with a quiz of 10 of the questions used in
the game to assess the level of understanding and of all students.
How To: Use Multiple Strategies
Design Question 3 | Element 14
Copyright © 2012 Learning Sciences International
1
Brief Practice Test or Exercise
As mentioned in the prior activity, the teacher can ask the students to complete a “quick check” exercise that
prompts the students to remember and apply previously learned information. This quick assessment will help
measure student progress toward the unit learning goal and personal learning goals.
Questioning
The teacher can ask questions that require the students to recall, recognize and apply previously learned
material. Questions that require the student to make inferences or decisions based on previously learned
information should be utilized.
Technology Links
Key slides from a presentation can be posted on the class website or can be displayed in class to guide the
students’ review.
Students can record their thoughts about new content using audio or video. These recordings could be posted
to a class site, blog or wiki so students can review the content. VoiceThread is a web based application
that can be utilized for this purpose. Get more information at voicethread.com. The Show Me Interactive
Whiteboard app can be used with iPads for this purpose. Please refer to http://www.showme.com/ for more
information about this iPad application.
Teachers can send review questions by text messages or post them on a class website. Websites such as
http://swaggle.mobi and www.wetxt.com allow test messages to be sent to a specific list of phones. These
sites can also collect responses sent from students’ phones so they can be used for review in class.
Cloze Activities
Teachers can present previously learned information with missing pieces and ask the students to fill in the
missing information. Teachers can provide word choices for the blanks (see the Egyptian example), or just the
first letter or blend of the missing word in the blank (see Bats example), or not provide any clue at all with the
blank spaces (see the Food Chain example). Sample cloze activities follow.
Note: Much of the above information for this element was taken from Marzano’s Becoming a Reflective
Teacher, 2012
How To: Use Multiple Strategies
Design Question 3 | Element 14
Copyright © 2012 Learning Sciences International
2
Ancient Egypt Cloze
Fill in the blanks with the words in the boxes.
Civilization on the Nile River
transportation
Desert
thousand
pyramids
Nile
Ancient Egyptian civilization, which is famous for its colossal ____________________ began over five
____________________ years ago. It was centered around the ____________________ River and
surrounded by the inhospitable Sahara ____________________. The ancient Egyptians depended on the
Nile for everything from water to ____________________.
Floods and Irrigation
irrigate
tears
crops
flood
fertile
Though it almost never rains in the Nile River Valley, rains in the far away Ethiopian Highlands cause the
Nile River to ____________________ every year. Ancient Egyptians believed that these yearly floods were
caused by the ____________________ of the goddess Isis. The floods carried rich soil with them, covering
the Nile Delta with ____________________ soil for growing ____________________. Ancient Egyptians
created an elaborate system of ditches and canals to _________________ their crops with the flood waters.
Pharaohs
tombs
pharaohs
crown
Great House
The ancient Egyptians were ruled by the ____________________, a title that means
____________________. The pharaohs wore a double ___________________, which represented their rule
over Upper and Lower Egypt. When the pharaohs died they were buried in elaborate ___________________.
Egyptian Writing
walls
scribes
picture
papyrus
Ancient Egyptians developed a system of ____________________ writing called hieroglyphics. Ancient
Egyptians recorded their beliefs using hieroglyphics on temple and tomb ____________________. They also
wrote on scrolls made from ____________________. People who could write were important government
officials called ____________________.
©2008 www.bogglesworldesl.com
How To: Use Multiple Strategies
Design Question 3 | Element 14
Copyright © 2012 Learning Sciences International
3
BATS
Bats are the only flying m
. They give birth to live young and nourish them
with m
. Bats are nocturnal; they are most active at night and sleep during the day
hanging u
w
. They are found in all types of habitats all around the
except at the p
.
There are over 900 different species of bats. The smallest bat is the bumblebee bat (with a wingspan of 6
inches=15 cm, weighing less than a penny); the b
bat is the flying fox bat (with a
wingspan of 6 feet=1.8 m).
During the cold winter, some bats migrate to a warmer area. Some bats hibernate during the cold of winter,
s
very deeply until w
weather arrives.
There are two types of bats that differ in their diet and in the way they sense and obtain food. The two groups
are:
1. Mega-chiropterans - large bats that use the sense of s
to find their food
(fruit and/or nectar). Some Mega-chiropterans are the fruit bat and the blossom bat.
2. Micro-chiropterans - bats that use echolocation to find insects and small animals to eat. While flying, these
bats send out high-pitched sounds that bounce off objects. The bat listens for the bounced
s
, and can determine where objects are located. People cannot hear these sounds.
Some Micro-chiropterans are the vampire bat and the frog-eating bat. The v
bat is
the only bat (and the only mammal) that eats only blood. It makes a small hole with its two very sharp incisor
teeth and laps up the b
.
Adapted from http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/mammals/bat/cloze/general.shtml
How To: Use Multiple Strategies
Design Question 3 | Element 14
Copyright © 2012 Learning Sciences International
4
FOOD CHAIN
Every organism needs to obtain energy in order to live. Plants get their energy from the
__________________________________ and make their own food. Some animals eat plants (these
animals are called ______________________________________), some animals eat other animals (these
animals are called ______________________________________), and some animals eat both plants and
animals (these animals are called ______________________________________).
A food chain is the sequence of who eats whom in a biological community to obtain nutrition.
1.A food chain starts with the primary ______________________________________ source, usually
the sun or deep _______________________________ vents.
2.The next link in the chain is an organism that makes its own food from the primary energy source -an example is plants that make their own food from sunlight (using a process called ______________
________________________). These organisms are called autotrophs or primary producers.
3.Next come organisms that eat autotrophs; these organisms are called herbivores or primary _______
_______________________________ -- an example is a rabbit that eats ______________________
________________.
4.The next link in the chain is animals that eat herbivores; these are called secondary consumers -- an
example is a snake that eats rabbits.
5.In turn, these animals are eaten by tertiary consumers -- an example is an owl that eats ___________
___________________________.
6. The tertiary consumers are eaten by quaternary consumers -- an example is a hawk that eats owls.
7.Each food chain ends with a ______________________________________ predator, an animal with
no natural enemies (some examples are alligators, hawks, and polar __________________________
____________).
8.When any organism dies, it is eventually eaten by ______________________________________
(like vultures, worms and crabs) and broken down by decomposers (mostly bacteria and fungi), and
the exchange of energy continues.
The ______________________________________ in a food chain show the flow of energy, usually from the
sun to a top predator. As the energy flows from organism to organism, energy is _______________________
_______________ at each step.
How To: Use Multiple Strategies
Design Question 3 | Element 14
Copyright © 2012 Learning Sciences International
5
Some organisms' position in the food chain can vary as their diet differs. For example, when a bear eats
berries, the bear is acting as a primary consumer. When a bear eats a plant-eating rodent, the bear is
functioning as a secondary consumer. When the bear eats salmon, the bear is functioning as a tertiary
consumer (this is because salmon is a secondary consumer, since salmon eat herring that eat zooplankton
that eat phytoplankton, that make their own energy from sunlight). Think about how people's place in the food
chain varies - often within a single ______________________________________.
Taken from http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/foodchain/cloze/foodchain/
How To: Use Multiple Strategies
Design Question 3 | Element 14
Copyright © 2012 Learning Sciences International
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