Increasing the cognitive demand in the classroom

Rachel Linney Aoife Kelly

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What to reflect on?

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• Classroom management?• Questioning?• Student participation?• Pitch of the lesson?• Understanding of concepts?

Focus on tasks

Opportunities for student learning are not created simply by putting students into groups, by placing manipulatives in front of them, or by handing them a calculator. Rather, it is the level and kind of thinking in which students engage that determines what they will learn.

The point is not that one type of task is better than another; rather, it is important to know the potential of a task so that it can be appropriately mapped on to the goals for students' learning. (Smith and Stein 2001)

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Does it matter?

Research into the impact of Project Maths 2013• Students need to be regularly given high quality tasks that require them

to engage with the processes promoted by the revised syllabuses, including: problem solving; drawing out connections between mathematics topics; communicating more effectively in written form; and justifying and providing evidence for their answers.

Review of Textbooks 2011• No one textbook deals with problem-solving satisfactorily.

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Task Sorting Activity

TASK A – MHigh Level/Low level

Adapted from Stein and Smyth 20016

TASK HIGH-LEVEL LOW-LEVEL

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

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Task-analysis framework LOW- LEVEL DEMANDS HIGH LEVEL DEMANDS

Recall or memorization of formulas and definitions

Require critical analysis of the task and solution

No explanations or explanations that focus only on describing the procedure used to solve

Require exploration of concepts, processes or relationships

Exact reproduction of previously seen material and what to do is clearly stated

Access and apply prior knowledge and relevant experiences

No connections of formulas or definitions to concepts underlying understandings

Complex, non, algorithmic thinking

Focus on producing correct answers Develop deeper understanding of concepts Little ambiguity exists about the what needs to be done or how to do it

Multiple representations to develop understanding and connections

May involve anxiety for the student because of the unpredictable nature of the solution process.

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Difficulties

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Smith, M. (2001) Implementing High Cognitive Demand Tasks in Mathematics Classrooms. NCTN Seminar Series

A few tips …

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Smith, M. (2001) Implementing High Cognitive Demand Tasks in Mathematics Classrooms. NCTN Seminar Series

Further exploration…

• Analyse the tasks you use in a week• Analyse text-book tasks and exam questions• Modify low level tasks

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Thank you!

For a copy of presentation- emailAoife.Kelly@ncca.ie

Rachel.linney@ncca.ie

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