Transcript Costa’s Levels of Questioning

Do Now 9/27:
• Get your journal (BUT LEAVE YOUR
WRITING BINDER – WE ARE NOT
USING IT TODAY)
• Read the poem on the following slide and
answer the question in your journal.
“There are one-story intellects, two-story intellects, and
three-story intellects with skylights.
All fact collectors who have no aim beyond their facts are
one-story men.
Two-story men compare, reason, generalize, using the labor
of fact collectors as their own.
Three-story men idealize, imagine, predict - their best
illumination comes from
above the skylight.” - Oliver Wendell Holmes
• Do you aspire to be a one-story, twostory, or three-story person? Why?
Costa’s Levels of Questioning
One who asks a question is a fool for five
minutes; one who does not ask a question
remains a fool forever.
Chinese Proverb
Teaching Costa’s Three
Levels
• Students will learn the concept of
Higher Order Thinking
• Students will practice formulating
questions of increasing complexity
• Students will reflect on how
questioning skills can help them learn
Level One
Knowledge
Comprehension
Define
Restate
Repeat
Label
List
Identify
Describe
Summarize
Recall
Paraphrase
Level 1 Questions…
• Level 1 is like the ground floor- the
foundation of a building- important
information you need to have, such as
definitions, numbers, formulas.
– The answers can be found in the text or other
sources
– Very concrete and pertains to the text
– Asks for facts about what has been heard or read
– Information is recalled in the exact manner/form
it was heard
Level Two
Application
Analysis
Use
Analyze
Practice
Differentiate
Diagram
Revise
Contrast
Experiment
Construct
Generate
Level 2 Questions…
• The answer can be inferred from the text
• Although more abstract than a Level 1
question, it deals only with the text
• Information can be broken down in parts
• Involves examining in detail, analyzing motives
or causes, making inferences, finding
information to support generalizations or
decision making
• Questions combine information in a new way
Level Three
Synthesis
Evaluation
Combine
Debate
Organize
Conclude
Judge
Interpret
Predict
Justify
Measure
Argue
Level 3 Questions…
• The answer goes beyond the text
• Is abstract and does not pertain to the text
• Ask that judgments be made from
information
• Gives opinions about issues, judges the
validity of ideas or other products and
justifies opinions and ideas
• Provoke discussion of abstract ideas or issues
Practice - LOTF
• With your group, create 5 level 1
questions, 4 level 2 questions, and 3
level 3 questions
• Prepare to share you best question
from each level.