Elementary Tasks

This is how I sorted the following elementary tasks:

High Level Cognitive Demand:    J, M, N

Low Level Cognitive Demand:  A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, K, L, O, P

Please keep in mind, I use to be a high school teacher!!! From my frame of reference, I ranked many of the tasks low, however, those of you who work with elementary students on a daily basis have a better frame of reference.

As I reviewed each task, I thought about the thinking involved to solve each of them.  For a high level cognitive demand task, I used the following as a criteria:  how much reasoning, number of steps to solve, manipulatives, how much information was provided for students, evaluate, analyze, draw conclusions, and non-routine problem.  For a low level cognitive demand task, I used the following as a criteria:  recall of information, show understanding of concept, use a formula, explain their thinking, and and solve a problem.

In most of the tasks I ranked low, students would show an understanding of the problem.  For example, In task C, I ranked that as high, but when I thought about it, students are only demonstrating an understanding of division by providing a real-life situation.  Task G may be difficult for students because they have not mastered the steps of division and those are just routine division problems.  When I first reviewed task H, I thought the answers could be A and B.  Then I reread and realized that the problem said "most" of the students had pockets so it must be B.  This task measures how to interpret graphs.  In Task K, students had to solve by using a number sentence then explain with a picture or words.  This shows understanding of the word problem.  Many times, people think because you justify, summarize, or explain it bumps the question to a high level of cognitive demand and that is not always true.

In the tasks I selected for a high level of cognitive demand, there was a level of reasoning that students had to do and there maybe more than one answer or several methods to solve.  For example, in Task J, students could have several different answers to the problem.  Students need to have an understanding of 1/2 and realize that 1/2 is not the same number for different sizes but it is the same ratio.  I am not sure about task M. Would students know what leveling off mean?  Maybe this problem is low and the choice of vocabulary would trick students.  Let me know what you think.