How to utilise assessment in Secondary School History classroom to facilitate higher order thinking skills

1. DEVELOPING ASSESSMENTS
FOR HIGHER ORDER THINKING
Dr Catherine Hart
Luther College, Croydon

2. TALKING ABOUT HIGHER
ORDER THINKING
• Thinking curriculum
• Concept based curriculum
• Productive pedagogies
• Learning by design
• Inquiry learning
• e⁵
• Cultures of thinking

3. Traditional Curriculum The Thinking Oriented Curriculum
Teaching centred Learning centred
Content focussed Process driven
Students answering questions asked by Students setting their own questions with
someone else the help of matrices, keys, mindmaps etc
Comparing student memories at a point in Recording growth in thinking processes over
time time
Students recalling and applying prescribed Students applying core thinking processes as
content they work with content
Private thought processes Shared experiences and learning
Writing verbal summaries and explanations Summarising key points and showing
connections on visual / mental maps
Teaching of methods for content recall Use of metacognition for identifying and
sharing thinking processes
Passing standardised or public exams for Developing independent , critical, creative
selection purposes and caring thinkers
Belief in a single intelligence that is fixed Belief in multiple intelligences that can
and static change with effort and instruction
Much “ just in case ” learning More “ just in time ” learning

4. The need for a shared metalanguage

5. Learning by Design – Julia Atkins Atkin, J. (1994).

6. Cultures of Thinking – Harvard/Bialik College

9. HOW DO YOU MAKE SENSE OF
THIS?

12. An example: the concept of time
Change and Continuity
Cause and Effect

13. ASSESSING CONCEPTUAL
UNDERSTANDING

15. Bloom’s Taxonomy

16. Thinking skills Audit

20. Example 1
‘Kristallnacht’; the NationWide Pogrom of November 9 and 10. 1938
‘Kristallnacht’ – literally, ‘Crystal night’ – is usually translated form German as the
‘night of Broken Glass’; it refers to the violent anti-Jewish pogrom of November 9
and 10 1938. The pogrom occurred throughout Germany, which by then included both
Austria and the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia. The name ‘Kristallnacht’
referred to the broken windows of synagogues, Jewish-owned stores, communal
centres and homes plundered during the pogrom. Although frequently used, the term
has come to be regarded as a euphemistic way to refer to this brutal pogrom.
The Germans officially presented ‘Kristallnacht’ as a spontaneous outburst of
public rage in response to the assassination of Ernst von Rath, third secretary at the
German embassy in Paris. A young Polish Jew named Herschel Grynszpan shot von
Rath on November 7, 1938. Grynszpan was apparently motivated by the plight of his
parents who, like tens of thousand so Jews of Polish citizenship living in Germany,
had been expelled from Germany but denied entry into their native Poland.
Grynszpan’s parents and thousands of expelled Polish Jews, were stranded in a
refugee camp near the town of Zbaszyn in the border region between Poland and
Germany, Grynszpan knew of his parents’ plight through a letter he received from
them.
Von Rath died on November 9 1938, two days after he was shot. As reprisal for
von Rath’s death, the Nazi’s ordered a massive pogrom against Jews throughout
Germany. The program was conducted by the SA.
Hundreds of synagogues all over Germany, including Austria and the
Sudetenland were attacked, vandalized, looted and destroyed. Many were set ablaze.
Firemen were instructed to let the synagogues burn but to prevent the flames from
spreading to nearby structures. The shop-windows of thousands of Jewish owned
stores were smashed and the wares within looted. Jewish cemeteries were desecrated.
Many Jews were attacked by mobs of SA men.
While not directly involved in the pogrom, the SS and the Gestapo used it as a
pretext for the arrest of abut 30,000 Jews, who were sent to Dachau, Buchenwald and
Sachsenhausen concentration camps. Many of the Jews were treated brutally but
released after a few weeks, on the condition that they begin the process of emigrating
from Germany

21. Questions Cognitive Processes
1. Why are Nov 9 and 10 usually regarded as ‘the night of Broken Glass? 1.Gathering – identify and describe
2. Construct a brief chronological table using the following dates – Nov. 7, Nov. 9. 2. Processing - sequence
Nov. 9 & 10, a few days later, a few weeks later etc
3. List the evidence provided in the extract which shows (a) that the Nazis caused the 1. Gathering identify and describe
pogrom; (b) used he pogrom for the purposes of their racial policy.
4. Based on your reading and understanding of the extract, what understanding have 3. Applying – generalize, hypothesize (assuming
you developed about the meaning of (a) pogrom (b) euphemism (c) pretext? the words were unknown )
5. Assuming Grynszpan was guilty, to what extent do you consider the German 3. Applying – judge /evaluate
response to be an overreaction to the murder?
6. (a) was Grynszpan’s killing of von Rath murder or assassination? What is the (a) 2. Processing – reason/ distinguish
difference? (b) 3. Applying – judge
(b)Based on the evidence provided, do you think Grynszpan was justified in (c) 3. applying – apply a principle?
murdering von Rath? Outline arguments that he was (i) justified and (ii) not justified
in this actions.
(c) Can killing or assassination ever be justified? Under what circumstances?

25. Source

28. ASSESSMENT CRITERIA AND RUBRIKS
Is this a good rubrik? Why/Why not?

29. Is this a good rubrik?
Why/Why not?