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Framework of 5 types of thinking (dimensions of learning) that are essential to successful learning
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Gathers and organises range of educational research that’s known to work
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Designed to reduce reliance on chalk and talk
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Puts student at centre of learning process

Take 3 minutes to stop and think about how you feel about this prospect (learning about
Dimensions of Learning)
(3min pause a strategy from Dim 1, all about developing positive Attitudes and Perceptions a learner brings to the classroom environment and the task)
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I’m not sure I . . .
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One thing I hope is . . .
As long as we . . .
I’m expecting . . .
I wonder if . . .

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DoL gives teachers bank of strategies that help teachers teach and students learn
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Emphasises explicitly teaching these strategies
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Students able to select and apply strategies
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Students become independent learners

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Dictionary Meanings (Dim2)
(this is useful to encourage learners to be active participants in the getting of knowledge)
Look up the words in assigned phrase
In pairs discuss what the phrase means at its most complex definition
Peer Teach: work out a way to help the group to learn what it means at the highest level possible (nature of the teaching in your hands)
Dimension 1: Attitudes and Perceptions
Dimension 2: Acquire and Integrate Knowledge
Dimension 3: Extend and Refine Knowledge
Dimension4: Use Knowledge Meaningfully
Dimension 5: Habits of Mind

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Helps us maintain the focus on teaching
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Allows us to plan curriculum, instruction and assessment tasks that take the 5 critical aspects of learning into account
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Develops a common language that lets us communicate with each other/students across subject divides (helps us talk explicitly about learning)
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Helps us study the learning process systematically . . .

Two Types
1. Declarative Knowledge
Content or Information, facts and concepts: things students know or understand, facts and concepts
2. Procedural Knowledge
Processes or skills: things students can do

Section 2
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Dimensions 1 and 5 (the background dimensions)
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Unit Planning Grid
Section 3
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Dimensions 2,3 and 4 (the ‘learning journey’ dimensions)
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Planning Grids for Each Dimension
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Dimension 3 and an action learning project

Marzano (1997) (pp 13-42)
1. Helping Students Develop Positive Attitudes and Perceptions about
Classroom Climate
• Feel accepted by Teachers and Peers
• Experience a Sense of Comfort and Order
2. Helping Students Develop Positive Attitudes and Perceptions about
Classroom Tasks
• Perceive Tasks as Valuable and Interesting
• Believe they have the Ability and Resources to Complete Tasks
• Understand and be Clear about Tasks

Work in 4 groups on one sheet at a time
1.
2.
3.
4.
Feel accepted by teachers and peers
Experience a sense of comfort and order
Develop positive attitudes about classroom tasks
Believe they have the ability and resources to complete tasks
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Brainstorm activities that would work towards achieving the aim: use info from the text and your own experience (5 min)
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Each new sheet: read responses and add your thoughts (2 min)

Critical
Thinking
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Accuracy
Clarity
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Open mindedness
Restraining impulsivity
Taking a position when warranted
Responding appropriatel y to others
Marzano (1997) pp 261-297
Creative
Thinking
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Perseverance
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Pushing the limits of knowledge and abilities
Developing own standards of evaluation
Developing unconventiona l ways of viewing a situation
Self-Regulated
Thinking
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Monitoring own thinking
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Plan appropriately
Identify and use necessary resources
Respond appropriately to feedback
Evaluate effectiveness of your actions

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Identify a behaviour in class that stops some/all students learning effectively.
Discuss the behaviour with partner. Listen carefully to each other.
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Match blocking behaviours to the corresponding habit(s)s of mind in the text
Think of a story/film character who displays one of the habits you want to see developed by the class
Build bones of a unit of work based on that character and their demonstration of the habit of mind you want to develop

Take 3 minutes to stop and think about what you’ve learnt about Dimensions 1 and 5
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I enjoyed . . .
I was surprised by . . .
I was challenged . . .
I’m not sure I . . .
One thing I learnt . . .

Declarative
Knowledge
Content or information, facts and concepts: things students know or understand
Procedural Knowledge
Processes or skills: things students can do
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Examples
Add and subtract
Write a paragraph
An amoeba
The conventions of punctuation
When oppression meets resistance, conflict results
Set up an experiment
Read music
The rules of basketball
Shoot free throws
A numerator
Democracy
What is the major difference in how we learn a concept and a skill?

Understanding the different knowledge types influences how teachers identify knowledge when planning for lessons and units
(what do students already know, what do they need to know, what will they know by the end of the lesson/unit)
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Task1: Which of the examples are declarative, which are procedural knowledge? (classifying task, Dim 3)
Task2: Using one example of each or of your own, in a pair, think about how we teach declarative and procedural knowledge
differently . . . (comparing task, Dim 3) (circles rather than steps)
Task 3: Think of an average lesson/unit of work and work out which parts of it involve the learning of procedural knowledge and which the learning of declarative knowledge . . . What different types of learning tasks do you use for each (Deductive reasoning, Dim 3)

Declarative
Knowledge: content and information
Procedural
Knowledge: skills and processes
Construct
Model
Shape
Internalize

Each method has three stages, which are roughly parallel to each other, but the relationships between the phases is different
(CIRCLES RATHER THAN STEPS)
So teachers need to select different types of instructional strategies for the different knowledge types too.
Declarative Knowledge:
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1: Construct Meaning: by linking it to prior knowledge (e.g. 3 min pause, KWL (know, want, learned), BDA strategy, inquiry strategies etc)
2: Organise Knowledge: graphic organisers (cause/effect, principle/example, concept patterns etc), advance organiser questions etc, note-taking frameworks
3: Store: symbols and substitutes, link strategies etc
Procedural:
1.
Construct Model: think-aloud, written/graphic representation of skill/process, link to other skills
2.
3.
Shape Knowledge: practising/modifying model, avoiding common errors
Internalise: as a result of practice: set up practice schedule, chart progress

 articulates the difference between the types of knowledge, how they relate to each other
 defines different types of declarative knowledge
(descriptions, sequences, processes, episodes, principles, concepts) and distinguishes between macro and microprocesses (skills)
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For each of the three processes involved in acquiring and integrating knowledge (declarative and procedural), DoL offers a collection of strategies teachers can select from and a suggested series of steps

Marzano (1997) p 113-184
This occurs as learners examine and analyse knowledge and information in a way that:
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 helps them make new connections discover or rediscover meanings gain new insights clarify misconceptions
Results in learners being able to do more than recite definitions and give other examples.
Involves them thinking about the information by using reasoning process that are more complex than those used to recognise or reproduce knowledge.
These processes CHANGE the knowledge they have.

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Classifying
Abstracting
Comparing
Eight
Complex
Reasoning
Processes
Analysing
Errors
Analysing
Perspectives
Inductive
Reasoning
Deductive
Reasoning
Constructing support

Many of these processes we scaffold for the students as part of our normal lessons . . .
TASK: think pair share two examples of when we have used one or more of these processes in scaffolding our lessons.
(have a look at the next slide if you need a brief summary of what each process involves)

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Comparing: Indentifying and articulating similarities and differences among items
Classifying: grouping things into definable categories on the basis of their attributes
Abstracting: Identifying and articulating the underlying theme or general pattern of information
Inductive Reasoning: inferring unknown generalisations or principles from information or observations
Deductive Reasoning: Using generalistions and principles to infer unstated conclusions about specific information or situations
Constructing Support: building systems of support for assertions
Analysing Errors: identifying and articulating errors in thinking
Analysing Perspectives: identifying multiple perspectives on an issues and examining the reasons or logic behind each.

As well as getting students to use these processes through the scaffolding of assessment tasks and learning activities, we also need to directly teach these processes to the students, so they can select and use them independently.
Each of the processes is used unconsciously every day, but to use this as a way of refining and extending knowledge, we need to teach the STEPS involved, so students use them DELIBERATELY and
RIGOROUSLY.

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1. Help students understand the process: (the function/goal of it)
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2. Give students a model for the process, and create opportunities for them to practice using the process. (the steps involved and examples)
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3. As students study and use the process, help them focus on critical steps and difficult aspects of the process
(examples and suggestions of how to deal with elements)
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4. Provide students with graphic organisers or representations of the model to help them understand and use the process
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5. Use teacher-structured and student-structured tasks
(modeling to independent work)

1. Identify the Issue: e.g. How can we improve students’ critical literacy skills in English, specifically their ability to analyse a writer’s use of linguistic and visual techniques to achieve their purpose and appeal to their audience.
2. Plan the DoL Project:
 major issue for students as being the gap between their declarative knowledge of the techniques writers use and their procedural ability to analyse how a particular writer uses these techniques for specific effects.
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In DoL terms:
Able to gain and integrate the knowledge of techniques (they can explain their purposes and give examples) – Dimension 2
Cannot use this knowledge meaningfully in new situations –
Dimension 4.
In order to do this, we need to focus on Dimension 3, helping them to extend and refine their knowledge.

Marzano (1997) p 189-254
Using knowledge requires more complex
reasoning processes than required by
Dimension 2 of learning (recall, reproduce knowledge)
DoL’s identified 6 complex reasoning processes that can be applied to help them use knowledge meaningfully . . .

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Decision Making: generating and applying criteria to select from among seemingly equal alternative
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Problem Solving: overcoming constraints or limiting conditions that are in the way of pursuing goals
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Invention: developing unique products or processes that fulfil perceived needs
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Experimental Inquiry: generating and testing explanations of observed phenomena
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Investigation: identifying and resolving issues about which there are confusions or contradictions
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Systems Analysis: analysing the parts of a system and the manner in which they interact

. . . so that students can learn how to do it themselves . . . (same steps as for Dim 3)
1. Help them understand process
2. Give them a model for it
3. As they practice, help them focus on critical steps
4. Provide them with graphic organisers to help them use the process
5.Use teacher-structured tasks leading to student-structured tasks.