Sample Design Tool to Promote Instruction to the SVOs[1]

SVO Indicator / Thinking
DESIGN LEVEL 1 / DESIGN LEVEL 2 / DESIGN LEVEL 3 / DESIGN LEVEL 4
Analyze and/or evaluate evidence, arguments, claims, alternative points of views and/or beliefs / Identifyarguments, claims, beliefs, or points of view to make inferences based on limited background knowledge or over-generalized evidence. / Analyze and explain ideas, beliefs, claims, evidence and/or representations to compare points of view or draw inferences with evidence / Analyze and evaluate ideas, claims, evidence and/or representations to distinguish patterns and make connections between alternative points of view / Analyze and evaluate concrete and conceptual ideas, claims, evidence and/or representations to distinguish patterns, make connections, synthesize points of view, and apply understanding to other context
Instructional implications
Students need to know what an inference is, what a claim is, what point of view is, and what constitutes evidence / Students need to know how to hold two points of view in their heads and support each with claims. They also need to know that claims can be weaker and stronger depending on the evidence / Students need to understand how to look at the biases in the claims and the sources the claims are coming from. They also need to know how to compare and contrast points of view / Students need to know how to analyze the specific vocabulary of the claim to recognize biases such as the claim that one item is better (better than what? On the basis of what criteria?). They need to recognize generalizations that have no basis. The need to understand what synthesis looks like.
Questions students could respond to
●What evidence do I have to support this inference?
●Have I distinguished fact from opinion?
●What is the source of this evidence> / ●What inferences am I making about the claims or ideas that I see here?
●What evidence do I have to support each inference?
●How valid is the evidence?
●What are the different points of view?
●How are the points of view different or similar? / ●Who is making the claims and what are their points of view?
●How are the points of view biased?
●What similarities and differences cut across points of view? / ●Where else in school or in my life can I use this critical thinking skill?
●What do I need to understand about the criteria that make claims more or less credible in different situations?
●What is central to all points of view?

[1] Adapted from Kallick and Zmuda, Design Tools PK-12 Cross-disciplinary capacities, 2017