[Looking for other grade levels? The button below allows you to download all of them or you can look here.]
If you’ve been looking for a way to challenge your students that was simultaneously accessible for all students but still challenged your high flyers, then you’ll love the problems on my Open Middle Depth of Knowledge matrix. I’ll be releasing each grade level separately but if you want to see all of them now, you can download high quality, printable PDFs by clicking the button below.
It includes:
- Elementary & Secondary matrix (a selection from 8 grade levels)
- Elementary matrix (kindergarten through 5th)
- Secondary matrix (6th grade through calculus)
- 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2 matrices (separate matrices for each grade level)
You’ll notice that the first problem in the column is traditional and familiar. It’s something you’d expect students in your class to eventually be able to figure out. Then look at the Open Middle problems at DOK 2 and DOK 3. You’ll notice that they’re on the same topic, yet are significantly more challenging. You may start to wonder whether or not your students can solve them, and what that may imply about how well they understand the concept.
- I’ve recorded a free webinar with versions for elementary (K-5) and secondary (6-12) math teachers called Why We Should Reconsider Using Worksheets (And What We Should Be Doing Instead) where I make the case for less worksheets and more Open Middle problems like these.
- I’ve written a book called Open Middle Math: Problems That Unlock Student Thinking, Grades 6-12 that walks you the entire process of using problems like these including:
- how to choose a problem
- how to prepare for a lesson
- how to facilitate classroom conversations
- what to do when things don’t go as expected
- how to make your own Open Middle problems
It’s available now in paper or Amazon Kindle versions.
- I’ve created an online workshop called Empowered Problem Solving that I offer every fall and spring where I dive deep into how to implement these problems (and others like my real world lessons) so that you feel prepared to use them with your students.
- The DOK 2 probability problem written by Daniel Luevanos.
- The DOK 3 probability problem written by Audrey Mendivil, Daniel Luevanos, and me.
I attended your seminar in Nebraska recently. You had mentioned you would soon be releasing more DOK Matrices; however, I’m unsure if that means a more comprehensive set for each grade level, or if that meant you would release 2-page sets for more grade levels.
I value these and would love to use them frequently. This is a product I would invest time and my own money to implement for my students on a regular basis.
I’m not sure if I understand your question Carina. So, here’s what I have (and they’re all free):
– My first DOK matrix covered topics from all over elementary and secondary
– Then I made ones that were specifically for elementary (K-5) and another for secondary (6 to Calculus)
– Now I’ve made ones that are specific to 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, Algebra, Geometry, and Algebra 2.
With the grade level specific matrices, you can download them all right now by clicking on the button above. I’ll be blogging about each one separately over the coming months. Let me know if you have more questions.
I was wondering if you were going to eventually go more in-depth for each grade level and cover more of the standards.
Right now, my only goal is to make matrices for K, 1, and 2. Other than that, I would go to openmiddle.com and get lots of problems on lots of standards.
Do you have an answer explanation for the circles and how there is a range of area estimates with one radius? “Using the digits 0 to 9 at most one time each, fill in the boxes to create two possible circles. You may reuse all the digits for each statement. I’d appreciate any help you can offer. Thank you!
Hi Megan. Check over on openmiddle.com. All the answers should be there.