SOLO
Pam Hook and Julie Mills
Pre-structural
Uni-structural
Multi-structural
Relational
Extended Abstract
The SOLO levels
I’m not sure about…
Prestructural
I have one relevant idea about…
Unistructural
I have several ideas about…
Multistructural
I have several ideas about…
…and can relate them to the BIG PICTURE
Relational
Extended Abstract
I have several ideas about…
…and can link them to the BIG PICTURE
…and can look at these ideas in a new and different way
In my classroom I find currently that SOLO provides a
great framework for students to progress, where
students learning becomes deeper as they move
through the levels.
We are finding out
about photosynthesis.
State what photosynthesis is
Identify what is needed and
produced during photosynthesis.
Connect these to produce an
equation for photosynthesis.
Compare and contrast the
processes of osmosis and diffusion.
Explain why plants need energy for
active transport.
Relate the importance of
photosynthesis to its functions and
predict the consequences of a
reduction in photosynthesis on the
future of our planet.
The SOLO taxonomy & constructive alignment
(Deep learning image from Tait Cole. SOLO level verbs and examples Adapted from Pam Hook & Julie Mills: SOLO
Taxonomy: A Guide for Schools and using
http://issuu.com/pamhook/docs/solotaxonomy__constructivealignment/1)
SOLO outcomes followed by some flipped
learning, practical work and FAIL
Critique of work
Students decide success
criteria for their redraft.
Students decide
WGW & EBI
http://belmontteach.wordpress.com/
http://juliearyder.wordpress.com/
http://globalsolo.wordpress.com/
Why do I think you should use it?
It is excellent for both formative and summative assessment. It makes
learning challenging but visible and provides a framework for
progression.
Its great for finding out what students know before you start and
then at any point there after progress can be checked.
It is easy to use when planning lessons or a scheme of work as you
can scaffold the learning experiences for the outcomes (constructive
alignment) at unistructural, multistructural, relational and extended
abstract levels.
It supports metacognition: what am I doing? – how well is it going? –
what should I do next?
Challenge can be provided through feedback and feed forward, which
could be: teacher to student, student to teacher and student to
student.
There are a growing number of people out there who are or have tried SOLO.
Many are writing or have written about SOLO and are using SOLO in their
everyday teaching. I highly recommend the following who have helped and
inspired me on my SOLO journey:
•Pam Hook – http://pamhook.com/ - SOLO taxonomy a guide for schools pam
Hook and Julie
Biggs and Tang- Teaching for quality learning at university. (excellent introduction to
constructive alignment amongst other things)
•Lisa Ashes – http://thelearninggeek.com/ (excellent blogs on a range of topics
including SOLO) “SOLO teaches pupils to make relationships between ideas
and then use these to question ideas further.”
•David Didau – http://www.learningspy.co.uk/solo-taxonomy/ (excellent blogs
that are always thought provoking)
•Tait Coles – http://taitcoles.wordpress.com/2011/11/12/solo-taxonomy-part-3/
(great blogs and some nice videos of a year 8 class new to SOLO)
http://taitcoles.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/ctl_3-2_full_version_2.pdf (great