We often talk about the need to increase rigor. But “rigor” is often misinterpreted as just making assignments more difficult. True rigor does not focus on difficulty, but on complexity! (More on that in a moment …)
Although Curriculum Standards (P-12) and Syllabi (Higher Ed) can provide basic expectations for what students should know and be able to do, these alone won’t bring rigor to our classrooms or our courses. That’s where Webb’s Depth of Knowledge (DOK) can help.
DOK is a schema first developed in 1997 by Dr. Norman Webb at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research. It focuses on the different levels of cognitive engagement needed to successfully complete a given task. Properly applied, DOK can lead to better lesson planning and more effective learning for our students.
What DOK is NOT!
Unlike Bloom’s Taxonomy, Webb’s DOK is not a progressive hierarchy (with higher level thinking skills at the top). Instead, DOK evaluates the complexity of engagement required to meet an expectation or complete a given task. While DOK does involve varying levels of complexity (DOK 2 is more complex than DOK 1, etc.), it is not a hierarchy of progression or importance. In other words, you don’t start at DOK 1 and move up. This video explains some of the key differences between Bloom’s Taxonomy vs. Webb’s DOK.
In addition, DOK is not a compartmentalized lists of verbs. Unfortunately, visual representations like the DOK Wheel, the DOK Poster, and similar graphics have been widely disseminated. But these did not originate with (nor are they supported by) Webb … and they have led to a lot of confusion about DOK and its purpose. Erik Francis’ article in ASCD Edge and Robert Kaplinsky blog both discuss this issue in detail.
An Interesting Analogy
One way to think about DOK is to compare a given task to some familiar game shows. Like most analogies, this is far from exact … but it’s a good starting point to help orient your thinking. (Source: Erik Francis, ASCD Edge, 2017)
Difficulty vs. Complexity
Francis’ game show analogy can also be useful in helping us understand the difference between difficulty and complexity. For example, Jeopardy is not very complex … you either know the answer or you don’t. But Jeopardy can be very DIFFICULT!
However, it’s important to remember that it’s “the content of the academic standards (or learning objectives)” that “defines the intended ‘rigor’ by specifying how students are expected to engage with the content” (Sara Christopherson, WebbAlign – personal communication, 12/14/2021). So when you are considering the complexity of an expectation or task, ask yourself …
DOK 1: Does it focus on recall of facts or reproduction of taught processes?
DOK 2: Does it focus on relationships between concepts and ideas / the use of underlying conceptual understanding?
DOK 3: Does it focus on abstract and non-routine problem-solving / authentic evaluative and argumentative processes?
DOK 4: Does it have at least the complexity of DOK 3 tasks, but also require iterative and extended time to complete?
Remember, the primary goal of DOK is not about making assignments harder, but about helping instructors align content with standards or objectives in order to create a rich classroom environment where all students learn at the highest level possible. Or to put it another way, the focus should be on the types of learning opportunities you will provide and how you will determine if a student has met the expectations.
DOK Levels – A Closer Look
Clearly understanding DOK can help teachers categorize assigned tasks by the complexity of thinking required to successfully complete them, thus creating more lesson plans that reflect strategic or extended thinking. This also helps teachers ensure that the tasks relate back to the goals of the course, and that they clearly reflect pedagogical decisions related to those goals.
DOK 1: Recall / Rote Response –DOK 1 tasks require students to primarily memorize and recall factual information. Observation and recognition are also DOK 1 skills, as are following simple procedures or rote responses using well-known formulas.
DOK 2: Application of Concepts and Skills –DOK 2 tasks require students to make decisions on how to approach a problem. DOK 2 skills include comparing, classifying, organizing, estimating, explaining, and predicting. Typically Level 2 tasks require multi-step procedures.
DOK 3: Strategic Thinking –DOK 3 tasks require students to use reasoning, planning, and evidence to solve problems with more than one answer, and to justify their responses. DOK 3 skills include developing logical arguments, recognizing and explaining misconceptions, and conjecturing or restructuring problems. Examples include solving non-routine problems, designing an experiment, and analyzing the characteristics of a genre.
DOK 4: Extended Thinking – DOK 4 tasks require at least the complexity of DOK 3, but with extended time to complete the task. Students are required to analyze and synthesize information from multiple sources over an extended period of time. DOK 4 tasks involve developing generalizations from obtained results and formulating strategies to solve new problems for a variety of situations. Examples include designing a survey and interpreting the results, analyzing multiple texts and extracting themes, and writing an original myth in ancient style.
Note for Arkansas teachers: The ASPIRE Summative Assessment requires a high percentage of DOK 3 responses, so if your instruction primarily involves DOK 1 and 2, there’s an obvious disconnect.
Relationship Between Levels
As mentioned earlier, Webb’s DOK is not a hierarchy. DOK 4 is not “better” than DOK 1. Each level has an important role to play. The Scuba Diver analogy (Morelan, 2018) expands on this concept.
DOK 1: Swimming – Swimming is a basic skill all divers must have. For advanced divers, it’s second nature, but all divers had to learn it at some point. (Note that even within this first level, there are varying degrees of skill … from dog-paddlers to Olympic competitors.)
DOK 2: Snorkeling – Snorkeling involves learning some additional skills … but it doesn’t mean your swimming skills are no longer important! Just the opposite. Those who excel at snorkeling are often excellent swimmers as well.
DOK 3: Recreational Diving – Compared to snorkeling, Recreational Diving requires a significantly greater skills set. The equipment is much more complex, and until you master the sport, there’s a lot of strategic thinking involved. But scuba divers still need swimming skills … in fact, they even have to expand those skills. (Those longer fins can cause aches in muscles you didn’t even know you had!)
DOK 4: Professional Diving – Professional Divers often spend long periods of time at lower depths. They must carefully use dive tables or dive computers to control their ascent back to the surface, or risk decompression sickness (a.ka. “the bends”). Yet while the skills involved are much greater than those required for the other levels, those earlier, basic skills are still a significant part of the mix.
UPDATE (03/27/23)
I recently had the privilege of co-authoring an article on Depth of Knowledge with Dr. Norman Webb, the creator of DOK. It appeared in Edutopia in late March of 2023.
For More Information
WebbAlign Resources (the primary source DOK training and materials)