Explanation (15-30 min): Sharing new content, mini lecture, video lecture, etc. - identify, label, recall, outline, reproduce, describe, illustrate, predict, summarize, translate, etc.
Application (40-60 min): Putting the content into practice - demonstrate, apply, compare/contrast, manipulate, sketch, write, dramatize, illustrate, modify, etc.
Synthesis (15-30 min): Putting it all together and assessing learning - create, design, develop, assemble, plan, revise, reconstruct, evaluate, support, judge, argue, justify, critique, etc.
Additionally, here's a copy of the lecture that Dr. Lowe shared with us at the beginning. Take a look at the slides to get a review of the content.
1. What happens when a teacher designs a lesson that doesn't make it all the way to synthesis?
2. How does spending an excessive amount of time on explanation affect student learning?
3. Let's take it the opposite direction. What happens when you ask students to create something (say a video, arguments for a debate, or a model of something, etc...) but skip the explanation phase? Hypothesize if you haven't experienced this or share a story about what this looked like when you did it.
4. Share a success story about an effective lesson you recently gave that took students through all three stages of explanation, application, and synthesis. (note: with our current schedule, this might have been over two days b/c it's really hard to fit all three stages into one 45 minute lesson). It would be amazing to see what lessons look like in other classes. Share objectives and activities in your response.
5. What instructional strategies have you found most effective in the application, and synthesis stages of a lesson?