Communities Resolving Our Problems: the basic idea
[SUP: Sharing Problems] [THINK: Guidance] [LEAP: Solving Problems]

Comparing Thinking Skill Models - Adapted from Marzano

This table of comparison represents the model of higher order thinking chosen by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction in 1994. It is a collapsed version of Marzano's model of eight higher order thinking skills to seven. In the context of the larger CROP model, use these skills to guide and support the problem sharing and problem solving process. The bracketed and boldfaced headings in the left column are the five terms used by the prior NorthWest Labs model of thinking skills used in North Carolina from 1989 to 1994.
Category Definition

Knowledge

[recall]

 When content is new, students must be guided in relating the new knowledge to what they already know, organizing and then using that new knowledge. Knowledge can be of two types: Declarative (i.e., attributes, rules) or procedural (skills and processes). Items of this type are factual and content-specific. 

[See further definition, key action words, and examples of trigger questions for knowledge.]

Organizing

 

[comparison]

 Organizing is used to arrange information so it can be understood. This is a higher level way of expressing what Bloom referred to as comprehension.
  • Comparing identifies similiarities and differences between or among entities.
  • Classifying groups of items into categories on the basis of attributes.
  • Ordering sequences or ordering entities acccording to a given criterion.
  • Representing changes in the form of the information to show how critical events are related (visual, verbal, and symbolic).
[See further definition, key action words, and examples of trigger questions for organizing.]
Applying Applying requires demonstration of prior knowledge within a new situation. Application is based on an individual's ability to apply previous learning to a new or a novel situation without having to be shown how to use it. The task is to bring together the appropriate information, generalization or principles (declarative and procedural knowledge) that are required to solve a problem. 

[See further definition, key action words, and examples of trigger questions for applying.]

Analyzing

 

[analysis]

 Analyzing clarifies existing information by discovering and examining parts/relationships.
  • Identifying attributes and components refers to recognizing and articulating the parts that together constitute a whole.
  • Identifying relationships and patterns refers to recognizing and articulating the interrelationships among components (causal, hierarchical, temporal, spatial, correctional, or metaphorical; equivalence, symmetry, and similarity; difference, contradiction, and exclusion).
[See further definition, key action words, and examples of trigger questions for analyzing.]

Generating

 

[inference]

 Generating constructs a framework of ideas that holds new and old information together. The step of inference could also be seen as the first step of what Bloom called synthesis or Marzano called integrating.
  • Inferring refers to going beyond the available information to identify what reasonably may be true.
  • Predicting refers to assessing the likelihood of an outcome based on prior knowledge of how things usually turn out.
  • Elaborating involves adding details, explanations, examples, or other relevant information from prior knowledge in order to improve understanding (explanations, analogies, and metaphors).
[See further  definition, key action words, and examples of trigger questions for generating.]
Integrating Integrating connects or combines prior knowledge and new information to build new understandings. Bloom called this synthesis.
  • Summarizing refers to combining information effectively into a cohesive statement. It involves condensing information, selecting what is important (and discarding what is not), and combining logical text proportions.
  • Restructuring refers to changing existing knowledge structure to incorporate new information. New information and prior knowleldge are connected, combined and incorporated into a new understanding.
[See further definition, key action words, and examples of trigger questions for integrating.]

Evaluating

 

[evaluation]

 Evaluating requires assessing the appropriateness and quality of ideas.
  • Establishing criteria sets standards for judging the value or logic of ideas.
  • Verifying refers to confirming or proving the truth of an idea, using specific standards or criteria of evaluation (checking the accuracy of facts, checking the meaning or accuracy of the author's statement by looking back at the text, using research results to verify the hypotheses).
[See further definition, key action words, and examples of trigger questions for evaluating.]

This is an adapted version that adds back in the level of application originally created by Bloom but dropped by Marzano, as well as taking 3 of Marzano's levels and collapsing them into the level of knowledge. Further, the boldfaced terms in the table above represent the five major concepts of the NorthWest Regional Labs reduced model of higher order thinking skills. In some case the terms are identical, and in other cases another term is used with similar meaning.

See the Marzano bibliography for more.


Updated March 16, 2008 | Page author: Houghton