A simple test for any task: does this make my students really think or merely remember? It sounds silly, but the more I consider it, the more interesting this distinction gets.
All AboutThinking Or Remembering?
How many of our tasks ask students to truly think about a topic versus merely remember facts?
Thinking or Remembering: Divergent Questions
How Gallagher and Ascher’s Divergent Questions can ensure students are thinking rather than merely remembering.
Thinking or Remembering: Abstract and Concrete
One way to emphasizing Thinking over mere Remembering is to consider the level of abstraction we’re asking students to use. You might think of abstraction as a spectrum from highly specific, concrete details to really big (but vague) ideas.
Fluency: Asking For (Way) More Than One Answer
Being able to generate many possible answers is key to high-level thinking. So why don’t we ask students to do it more often?
Is it a Lesson or Just a Topic?
Early in my career, I mixed up “topics” with “lesson.” Here’s how I learned to plan real lesson objectives, not merely list my topic.
