Building an accurate understanding
based on factual evidence
Construct is the critical stage during which information is transformed into knowledge. It is skipping or spending insufficient time on this stage and moving straight from Investigate to Express that leads to “copy and paste” answers that do nothing to advance students’ understanding of a topic.
“Copy-and-paste” research where students produce a record of facts which they may not understand and will not remember is a key sign that the Construct phase has been missed. This is common where the focus is on the product and not the learning experience.
Consider
- Not telling students what their product will be until after the Construct phase. This isn’t always appropriate but can be effective in moving the emphasis from product to understanding.
- Giving students a scaffolding tool appropriate for your assessment criteria to help them to integrate all the information their have found to build a new understanding (see resources to the right)
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