Depth of
Knowledge
Teaching and Learning at All Levels
Depth of Knowledge
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Accessing Prior Knowledge
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Thoughtful Ed. Strategy
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K-W-L
K-W-L
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K – What do I already KNOW about this topic?
(Generate list of ideas)

W – What do I WANT to know about this topic?
(Generate Questions)
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L - What did I LEARN from this lesson?
(Generate personal reflections)
What do I KNOW?

Generate a list of things you already know
about DOK. (Individual)
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Share your list with a partner and add any
additional information or ideas to your list.
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Now share as a group at your table.
What do I WANT to know?

Generate a list of questions you have about
DOK. (Individual)

Share your list with a partner and add any
additional questions to your list.

Now share as a group at your table.
What did I LEARN?

Experience a variety of learning opportunities
about DOK

Acquire new knowledge about DOK
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Find answers to some of your questions about
DOK

Reflect on what you have learned
Depth of Knowledge
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Norman Webb
Indicates the cognitive demand (thinking) for
the state assessment.
Defines the “ceiling” or highest DOK level
for each Core Content standard for the state
assessment.
Guides item development for the state
assessment.
Depth of Knowledge


Determined in the Core Content for
Assessment.
Every item that is assessed will have a DOK
ceiling level.
RD-10-1.0.2
Students will make predictions based on what is read.
DOK 2
4 Levels of DOK

Do NOT equate to performance levels of Novice,
Apprentice, Proficient, and Distinguished

Level 1: Recall and Reproduction
Level 2: Skills and Concepts/Basic Reasoning
Level 3: Strategic Thinking/Complex Reasoning
Level 4: Extended Thinking/Reasoning
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Is the Ceiling the Limit?

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YES, for State Assessment
NO, for Classroom Instruction
If all students are to reach proficiency then the
DOK ceiling for assessment is the minimum
end goal for instruction for ALL students.
Remember: DOK….
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…is descriptive.
…focuses on how deeply a student has to
know the content in order to respond.
…is NOT the same as difficulty.
…is NOT the same as Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Recall and Reproduction: Level 1
DOK 1 requires recall of
information, such as a fact,
definition, term, or performance of
a simple process or procedure.
Answering a Level 1 item can
involve following a simple, wellknown procedure or formula.
Simple skills and abilities or recall
characterize DOK 1.
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Recall and Reproduction: DOK 1 Examples
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List animals that survive by eating other
animals
Locate or recall facts explicitly found in text
Describe physical features of places
Determine the perimeter or area of rectangles
given a drawing or labels
Identify elements of music using musical
terminology
Identify basic rules for participating in
simple games and activities
13
Skills/Concepts: Level 2
DOK 2 includes the engagement of
some mental processing beyond
recalling or reproducing a response.
Items require students to make some
decisions as to how to approach the
question or problem.
These actions imply more than one
mental or cognitive process/step.
14
Skills/Concepts: DOK 2 Examples
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Compare desert and tropical environments
Identify and summarize the major events,
problem, solution, conflicts in literary text
Explain the cause-effect of historical events
Predict a logical outcome based on
information in a reading selection
Explain how good work habits are important
at home, school, and on the job
Classify plane and three dimensional figures
Describe various styles of music
15
Strategic Thinking: Level 3
DOK 3 requires deep understanding as
exhibited through planning, using
evidence, and more demanding cognitive
reasoning. The cognitive demands at Level
3 are complex and abstract.
An assessment item that has more than
one possible answer and requires
students to justify the response they give
would most likely be a Level 3.
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Strategic Thinking DOK 3 Examples
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Compare consumer actions and
analyze how these actions impact the
environment
Analyze or evaluate the effectiveness
of literary elements (e.g.,
characterization, setting, point of view,
conflict and resolution, plot structures)
Solve a multiple-step problem and
provide support with a mathematical
explanation that justifies the answer
17
DOK Level 3 Examples
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Develop a scientific model for a
complex idea
Propose and evaluate solutions for an
economic problem
Explain, generalize or connect ideas,
using supporting evidence from a text
or source
Create a dance that represents the
characteristics of a culture
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Extended Thinking: Level 4
DOK 4 requires high cognitive demand and
is very complex. Students are expected to
make connections—relate ideas within the
content or among content areas—and have
to select or devise one approach among
many alternatives on how the situation can
be solved.
Due to the complexity of cognitive demand,
DOK 4 often requires an extended period
of time.
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However, extended time alone is not the
distinguishing factor.
Task
Thinking
Collecting data samples over several
months
Recall
Organizing the data in a chart
Skills/
concepts
Strategic
Thinking
Using this chart to make and justify
predictions
Developing a generalized model from
this data and applying it to a new
situation
Extending
Thinking
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Extended Thinking: DOK 4
Examples
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Gather, analyze, organize, and interpret
information from multiple (print and non
print) sources to draft a reasoned report
Analyzing author’s craft (e.g., style, bias,
literary techniques, point of view)
Create an exercise plan applying the “FITT
(Frequency, Intensity, Time, Type)
Principle”
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Extended Thinking: DOK 4 Examples
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Analyze and explain multiple perspectives or
issues within or across time periods, events,
or cultures
Specify a problem, identify solution paths,
solve the problem, and report the results
Write and produce an original play
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
The Depth of Knowledge is NOT determined
by the verb, but by the context in which the
verb is used and the depth of thinking
required.
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 DOK 3- Describe a model that you might use
to represent the relationships that exist within
the rock cycle. (requires deep understanding of rock cycle
and a determination of how best to represent it)
 DOK 2- Describe the difference between
metamorphic and igneous rocks. (requires
cognitive processing to determine the differences in the two rock
types)
 DOK 1- Describe three characteristics of
metamorphic rocks. (simple recall)
Same verb—three DOK levels
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Time for an activity!

Name that DOK level.
DOK Review

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Read each released assessment item as it
appears on the screen.
When your facilitator prompts you, hold up
the card that corresponds to the DOK level of
the question.
SS-06-3.3.1
Big Idea: Markets are institutional arrangements.
In a free market economy, the price and quality
of goods and services are most strongly
affected by
A.
B.
C.
D.
advertising.
competition.
borrowing.
regulation.
Answer?
DOK 2
Answer: DOK 2

This item requires students to understand how
prices of goods and services are determined
in present day market economies.
Big Idea: Vocational Studies
CCA 4.0: PL-04-4.1.02
Thomas has a part-time job working in a
garden. This job would BEST help him
prepare for a career in
A.
B.
C.
D.
transportation.
agriculture.
fish and wildlife.
dairy farming.
Answer?
DOK 2
Answer: DOK 2

Students must be able to differentiate
between jobs in the career clusters.
Big Idea: Vocational Studies
CCA 4.0: PL-HS-4.1.05
The lifelong earning potential of an individual is
generally related to his or her
A.
B.
C.
D.
professional contracts.
supervisor’s recommendation.
volunteer experiences.
educational training.
Answer?
DOK 2
Answer: DOK 2

Students will make a connection between
education and lifelong earning potential.
SC-HS-4.6.1 - (Big Idea: Energy Transformations)
Answer?
DOK 2
Answer: DOK 2

This question goes beyond simple recall.
Students make the connection that a greater
plant population (implied) will result in an
increase in oxygen production.
SS-08-1.2.1— (Big Idea: U.S. Constitution establishes
a government of limited and shared powers).
Under our system of checks and balances, the
Supreme Court can limit the power of both
the Congress and the President by
A.
B.
C.
D.
impeaching public officials.
vetoing a law.
making appointments.
declaring a law unconstitutional.
Answer?
DOK 1
Answer: DOK 1

This item requires students to recall
information about how our system of checks
and balances prevents the concentration of
political power.
Now What?

Apply this knowledge….
Guiding Questions:
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What makes a question rigorous?
How do rigorous questions support the
transition to the Common Core Learning
Standards (CCLS)?
Introduction
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A key component of the transition to the Common Core
Learning Standards (CCLS) is strengthening student work by
examining and refining curriculum, assessment, and
classroom instruction.
Rigorous questions, tasks, and assessment are essential to
driving the higher-order thinking and skills students need to
be college- and career-ready
The Depth of Knowledge Framework can help us examine
the level of rigor in each of these areas to ensure that students
are being pushed to meet the demands of the new standards.
So what is rigor?
Higher level thinking
Ability to think about your thinkins and draw some conlussions
Make connections, connect learning to what they already know
Thinking critically
Pplying their prior knoweldge to what they will learnn
Pushing studetns to think beyond the tangible and proveable
Challenging the mind to move from simplified language to a higher level that
will produce meaningful experiences.
So what is
rigor:

On your note-taking sheet record your
definition of rigor. Keep it in mind
throughout the rest of the activity!
Depth of Knowledge Video
Applying Depth of Knowledge
Reading
Math
Science
Writing
Cognitive Rigor Matrices
Revisions and Reflections
Lets share any changes or revisions they would make
to their original definitions of rigor. What’s one
specific way he or she plans to apply or alter the way
DOK in the classroom?