Systematic Instructional Design and Nurturing Thinking Skills

This set of Readings, Watchings, Listenings, and Doings (RWLDs) is designed to prepare you for the lecture on "Systematic Instructional Design and Nurturing Thinking Skills." It will support you as you plan your Thematic Unit and give you useful benchmarks for designing activities that help children grow into curious thinkers, creative problem-solvers, and not just memorizers of facts.

This post will focus on 5 terms: 

• Systematic Instructional Design (SID)
• Backward Design
• Observable Verbs
• Bloom's Taxonomy
• Depths of Knowledge (DoK)

What is Systematic Instructional Design (SID)?

It is a methodical (systematic) approach to planning and creating (designing) educational experiences
that guide learners toward specific goals. By following a structured process, SID ensures that every element of the lesson (instruction) is organized, clear, and tailored to meet the unique needs of your students. This approach also supports continuous improvement, as ongoing evaluation and feedback help refine and enhance the learning experience.

Designing Your Instruction ...backward

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It's just common sense to begin with the end in mind when you are designing instruction. Begin by defining what you want your students to learn and plan your instruction to that result. This is called Backward Design.

If you don't know where you are going,
how will you know when you get there?

Let’s compare Systematic Instructional Design (SID) to planning a road trip:

1. Decide the Destination (Backward Design)

• Just like with a road trip, you start by deciding where you want to go. This is the end goal—where you want your learners to end up. In SID, this means defining clear learning objectives.
• Backward Design: You think about the destination first, and then plan everything else around it. In teaching, this means figuring out what you want students to know or do by the end, and then working backward to plan the journey.

        2. Understand Your Travelers (Learner analysis)

• You need to know who’s coming on the trip—how much they already know, their interests, and how they like to travel. This is like understanding your learners, their background knowledge, unique needs, and learning styles.
  

3. Map Out the Route (Content Sequencing and Structuring)

• Now, plan the best way to get to your destination. Do you want to take the scenic route or the fastest highway? In SID, this is organizing your content and activities in a logical sequence and scaffolding them from simple to complex.

4. Pack the Essentials (Instructional Strategies)

• Make sure you have everything you need—maps, snacks, gas money. In SID, this is about choosing the right teaching methods, tools, and materials to support learning. 
• Strategies may include direct instruction, collaborative learning, problem-based learning, and use of multimedia

5. Plan Checkpoints. (Assessment and Evaluation)

• Along the way, you’ll check your progress—are you still on track? This is like using formative assessments to see if learners are understanding the material as you go. 
• Use formative assessments to provide ongoing feedback and summative assessments to evaluate overall learning outcomes

6. Enjoy the Journey (Implementation)

• Now you’re on the road, following your plan. This is the actual teaching part, where you deliver the lessons. You’re confident in your journey because you planned it backward from the destination. The trip is designed to ensure you reach your final goal.

7. Reflect on the Trip (Evaluation)

• When you reach your destination, reflect on how the trip went. Did everything go as planned? This is like evaluating whether your teaching was effective—did the learners achieve the goals?

8. Improve for the Next Time

• Learn from the trip to make your next one even better. In SID, use feedback and results to refine your teaching methods. 
• Use the data from evaluations to make ongoing improvements to the instructional design process.
• Ensure that the instruction remains relevant and effective as learner needs and technology evolve.

Makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?

Measure Success through Observable Verbs

Observable verbs are action words used to describe specific behaviors or actions that can be seen or measured (assessed!).

Bookmark:  link to observable verbs, also discussed in the lecture: https://www.teachthought.com/critical-thinking-posts/blooms-taxonomy-verbs/ You may use it as a reference in a thematic unit assignment

Observable verbs help ensure that learning goals are specific, measurable, and focused on tangible outcomes. Example, 

If you want to check if your students understand the water cycle, you would use observable verbs to create assessments that clearly show whether they grasp the concept. Instead of asking if they "understand" the water cycle, you would ask them to perform specific tasks that demonstrate their understanding: 

• Identify (or label) the different stages of the water cycle in a diagram
• Describe what happens during the evaporation stage
• Create a simple model of the water cycle using household items and demonstrate how water moves through the cycle

If you want to check if your students have learned the multiplication table, you would use observable verbs to create assessments that reveal their proficiency. 

• Fill in the missing numbers in this multiplication table for 1 through 12
• Solve the following problems: 6 × 9, 4 × 7, and 8 × 5
• If you buy 3 packs of pencils and each pack contains 12 pencils, calculate how many pencils you have in total.

Using observable verbs helps ensure that learning objectives and assessments are clear and focused on what students can do, making it easier to observe and measure their progress and success.

But what kind of thinking are we asking students to demonstrate?

How can we help our children grow into curious thinkers, creative problem-solvers, and not just memorizers of facts? 
Thinking can be simple—like remembering a fact—or more complex, like solving a problem or creating something new. As educators, we help students grow across this full range.

• Lower-Order Thinking (LOTS) includes recalling facts and basic understanding.
• Higher-Order Thinking (HOTS) involves applying knowledge, analyzing ideas, evaluating outcomes, and creating new solutions.

To support this growth, we use tools like Bloom’s Taxonomy.  Think of it as building blocks for the mind:

• It starts with remembering and understanding.
• Then moves to applying and analyzing.
• And finally reaches evaluating and creating.

Bloom’s helps us design lessons that challenge students to think more deeply. It also guides us in writing clear learning goals using action words that show what students will do.

To watch: In this video, you can see a quick recap about Bloom's Taxonomy and also how it applies in a digital world 

Depths of Knowledge (DoK)

We also consider Depth of Knowledge (DoK) to assess how deeply students understand and apply their learning. DoK helps us design meaningful assessments that go beyond surface-level recall.

While Bloom's Taxonomy is commonly used to categorize and evaluate the thinking processes students use to understand and apply knowledge, it isn't specifically designed to assess the complexity of students' knowledge or the assessments teachers use.

In contrast, Depth of Knowledge (DoK) is a framework created to evaluate the depth and complexity of tasks, tests, and projects. It helps educators:

• Design assessments that challenge students appropriately
• Measure students' understanding and skills more accurately
• Align tasks with learning goals and standards

DoK involves 4 Levels:

Level 1: Recall and Reproduction - involves basic recall of facts or information.

Level 2: Basic Skills and Concepts - requires more than simple recall and includes applying skills or concepts.

Level 3: Strategic Thinking - involves reasoning, planning, and using evidence to solve problems.

Level 4: Extended Thinking - requires complex and abstract thinking, often over an extended period.

This week, you’ll practice writing objectives that challenge students at all levels of thinking. Remember: the verb is the key to clarity and success.

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Extra Resources (not Required)

What is Bloom’s Taxonomy, and how can learning and development professionals use it in real-world training programs