2. T or F
The 4 elements in correct sequence in the model are:
Element 4 evaluate knowledge-that and know-how-to
Element 3 connect ‘knowledge-that’ to ‘know-how-to’
Element 1 select and sequence the subject concepts
Element 2 connect subject concepts to content
3. • Subject knowledge has sections, topics, propositions
• A proposition is a general abstract statement within a topic
• A proposition contains the key concepts that need further mediation
• Concepts and content differ in the CDC model
• Knowing something is different from being able to do something with
that knowledge
• The CDC model on assessment includes assessing content recall,
assessing skill and technique, assessing knowing-how and assessing
knowing why.
5. • Key propositions and concepts in a subject – for example - English
• The section for example: teaching grammar
• the topic – the sentence
6. • The preposition: the basic parts of a sentence are the subject, the
verb, and the object.
7. Examples of propositions – statements in
subject knowledge
• If the subject is Geography
• The section is geomorphology
• The preposition could be: The 3 types of rocks are igneous,
sedimentary and metamorphic rocks
8. • If the topic is photosynthesis,
• then the proposition is likely to be ‘photosynthesis is a process used
by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical
energy that can later be released to fuel the organisms’ activities.’
• The proposition statement contains the key subject concept(s) in the
topic.
• It connects the topic to the key concepts.
9. • The teacher begins formulating a proposition for the topic.
• The proposition states what the topic is about.
• For example, the topic ‘the sentence ’ would have
• a proposition statement something like: ‘the sentence provides the
framework for clear written expression of ideas and always expresses
a complete idea, typically containing a subject and predicate, and
makes sense standing alone’.
10. Assessing different levels of knowledge and
understanding
• Content recall: What are the main parts of a sentence.
• Skill and technique: rewrite the following sentences correctly
• Intelligent know-how: write you own sentence with all parts correctly
• knowing why: Why is it important to know the different parts of a
sentence?
11. • The first element involves considering the key propositions and concepts that are inherent in the chosen topic.
• A high level of abstraction that is likely to apply across topics within a subject.
• Significant key concepts are likely to be the same throughout the years of schooling, and to recur in a spiral fashion, although the
systems of meaning they generate will increase in complexity according to the curriculum level (Bruner, 1977).
• In this Element the teacher begins formulating a proposition for the topic. The proposition states what the topic is about. For
example, the topic ‘the sentence ’ would have a proposition statement something like: ‘the sentence provides the framework for
clear written expression of ideas and always expresses a complete idea, typically containing a subject and predicate, and makes
sense standing alone’.
• If the topic is photosynthesis, then the proposition is likely to be ‘photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms
to convert light energy into chemical energy that can later be released to fuel the organisms’ activities.’ The proposition statement
contains the key subject concept(s) in the topic. It connects the topic to the key concepts.
• Next, the proposition must make visible the interconnections of concepts within the topic because a concept acquires its meaning
in relation to other concepts within the epistemic structure (Bruner, 1977).
• This creates as system of inferential concepts, usually subordinate to a meta-concept. For example, if the topic is the sentence, the
meta concept would be grammar and inferential concepts would include syntax (subject, verb, object) and word class (noun, verb).
12. • students’ eventual mastery of a topic relies on the connection of their knowledge-that to procedural
knowledge (know-how-to) (Winch, 2017).
• The inferential relations are also likely to suggest a possible teaching sequence.
• The sequence of knowledge-that concepts may be pivotal to some aspects of learning in some subjects or
components of subjects, for example, progression to algebra relies on knowledge of arithmetic,
• as understanding of chords relies on knowledge of scales in music.
• Identifying and beginning with the epistemic structure (the system of meaning) ensures a degree of
conceptual logic and coherence and the potential for cumulative knowledge building.
• Element 1 is perhaps the most challenging as it is likely to require the teacher to (re)consider the key
propositions and concepts that define and structure their subject—its epistemic structure.
• It is also important to acknowledge at this point that not all subjects exhibit the same degree of epistemic
systematicity as Bernstein’s (1999) concept of ‘hierarchical’ and ‘horizontal knowledge’ structures exemplify.
• In the research teachers have found identifying the key propositions of English far more challenging than
physics and maths.
14. • The propositions and concepts are extended by connecting to content
and facts.
• Concepts are made ‘material’ by the content, whereas a concept
remains abstract.
• Traditional lesson design tends to start with content e.g., the Treaty
of Versailles
• But the subject concepts provide the means for connecting content to
a deeper level of meaning and thus epistemic structure should be the
generative mechanism for design.
15. • To increase the likelihood for coherence between concepts and
content - three justifying criteria for selecting the content.
16. • The first criterion is epistemic – the content selected must enable understanding the concept and
proposition. The teacher needs to ask: what content best exemplifies and elaborates the meaning
of the concepts?
• The second criterion for selecting content is also epistemic. It concerns the socio-epistemic nature
of conceptual knowledge; ‘the context of the concept’. The teacher includes content to show that
ideas are always provisional and subject to challenge and change because they are created by
people in academic and practice communities.
• Understanding that concepts and theories are always provisional helps students to grasp the
difference between fixed beliefs and fixed content on the one hand, and the dynamic and
generative nature of epistemic concepts and theories on the other.
• The third criterion for content selection is socio-political. The teacher asks: is this material
significant in the social and political life of the society? In other words, is this knowledge that we,
as a society, want the next generation of citizens to know? How will the students benefit from
acquiring this knowledge? For example, in many instances of content selection it is likely to be
important to draw attention to the contributions of minority groups to knowledge production and
to the contested nature of ‘truth’ within a subject.
17. Element 3 connect ‘knowledge-that’ to
‘know-how-to’
The third element involves connecting ‘knowledge-that’ (the concepts and content) to ‘knowledge-
how to’.
This is the transition from knowing something, to being able to do something with that knowledge
(Winch, 2017).
It is likely that at this point various types of pedagogy will suggest themselves to teachers as they
begin to consider how knowledge-that and know-how-to can be brought together in an engaging
way, but the emphasis is still on the epistemic connection between knowledge-that and knowhow-
to, not on pedagogy per se.
This Element focuses on two competencies of ‘know-how-to’:
• Performance competencies refer to the skills used to apply ‘rules’ in practice and to the student’s
ability to assess the performance of those skills in terms of the quality of the performance.
• Judgement competencies refer to the degree of mastery in using concepts to inform solving
practice or theoretical problems and therefore apply understanding, and to judge the
effectiveness of the solutions and understanding. Judgement competencies require students to
know-why something is the case.
18. • Crucially, the purpose in connecting knowledge-that and know-how-to is to link the
generalizable concept to a range of specific instances where the concept can be applied
and ‘made real’.
• This moves the student beyond only being able to identify and describe towards
application of knowledge demonstrating intelligent know-how-to.
• At various pedagogically appropriate times connecting knowledge-that to know-how-to
will involve: (i) explanation of the key concept and chosen related concepts using direct
instruction and worked examples (Clark et al., 2012; Marzano, 2017; Rata, 2017a;
Stockard et al., 2018), (ii) giving students practice in using specific skills and techniques to
apply formulaic or procedural rules to the concepts and content, (iii) giving students the
chance to demonstrate that they understand the concept by being able to apply it to a
range of content and situations—to generalize—and (iv) providing ongoing evaluative
and descriptive feedback as part of the learning process. This feedback involves making it
explicit to students what is required to achieve a certain task, the success criteria, quality
level, or understanding—‘recognition rules’—and guiding them towards achieving the
outcomes—‘realisation rules’ (Bernstein, 2000).
19. • Table 1 gives some examples in the early years of schooling of
connecting knowledge and know how-to for the topic introduced
earlier of ‘the sentence’.
• The student is given the task of writing simple sentences for a specific
type of writing (e.g., an informational report) and in doing so draws
on their knowledge of what a sentence is
• The student can explain the order in terms of the subject doing
something to (the verb) the object (judgement competency).
• The student can explain how the syntax and choice of word class
suits the purpose of the writing (judgement competency).
20. Element 4 evaluate knowledge-that and
know-how-to
• Lying at the heart of evaluation or assessment is the student’s developing ability to make judgements
through demonstrating intelligent ‘know-how-to’ and ‘knowing why’.
• Rata (2019, p. 684) suggests that making judgements is the ‘connective tissue’ of the model.
• Judgements are the means (the acts) by which the connection is made visible between the cohering
components of the model—knowledge that and know-how-to.
• Where a student has been given access to and begun to understand the interrelationships between the
concepts and their materiality, the student will be able to begin to make judgements with deep
understanding; that is by drawing on their knowledge-that to evaluate their knowing how.
• Three competencies are highlighted for evaluation in the model—recall, skill and technique, knowing-how-
to (and why).
• Recall requires students to remember the basic facts that a concept is based on.
• Skill and technique to apply formulaic or procedural rules to the concepts and content. To do this, students
need to know and recall a great deal of content so that they have the raw material at their fingertips.
• Intelligent knowing how (and why) is the extent to which students know why they use a particular skill or
procedure for a particular purpose, and their ability to judge their performance in relation to the chosen skill
and to its quality.
21. • Each competency requires responses at increasingly higher order or
abstract cognitive levels.
• After learning about different approaches to poetry writing the
student ought to be able to apply the rules of a particular approach
and write a poem.
