Depth of Knowledge

It’s already April, and at Experience Writing that means it’s time for NaPoWriMo (National /Global Poetry Writing Month) and the A-Z Challenge. Continuing this year’s theme, I’m writing about the A to Z of Depth.

Deep Knowledge is a profound comprehensive understanding of a subject. It includes getting past the surface-level understanding to the specific details: the whys and hows. Deep knowledge leads to insights and the ability to apply that knowledge.

Deep knowledge requires focus, time, and reflection to reach an integration of facts and feelings.

Here are a couple of other interesting things I came across having to do with Deep Knowledge:

An article about “Deep Knowledge Tracing” which is using Recurrent Neural Networking machine models to track student learning in computer supported education.

Deep Knowledge Group: The word “consortium.” I’ll just leave it at that.

Webb’s Depth of Knowledge

Depth of Knowledge is a framework developed by Dr. Norman Webb in 1997. It’s a way to measure how deeply students need to engage with a topic or material, ranging from basic recall to advanced problem-solving and reasoning for educational tasks. It categorizes required complexity of cognitive engagement.

Webb introduced Depth of Knowledge to define criteria for evaluating the alignment of educational expectations and standardized testing. But we can use it as a tool to deepen our understanding of a subject.

A Deep Knowledge Exercise

So using ideas of Deep Knowledge, Depth of Knowledge, and Depth & Complexity, I created this Deep Knowledge worksheet:

Making this tool, I gained deep knowledge of how to acquire deep knowledge. To use the tool, I thought I would review the depth posts from this week to examine the depth of knowledge we’ve acquired, and also how to deepen our knowledge. I’ll share the results tomorrow.

Today’s Poem

Perils of 20,000 Leagues

I. Alarming rumors
of an avenging monster
living horror
of the deep
glowing gold eyes
haunt the fog
when it surfaces
and ram all
approaching vessels

Oh, Mr. Verne
so ahead of your time
imagining a frightening future
of modern machines
and madmen

II. Annonax and Land
on an adventure to find
the fish that got away
hurled into the sea
survive by climbing
onto the beast

Oh, Captain Nemo
such a surprising disguise
of your quest for knowledge
and secret existence

III. Aboard the Nautilus
beyond the reach
of government entities
of land-based ideologies
we see beauty and mysteries
even legendary Atlantis
isn’t beyond reach
but in those depths
the archangel of hatred
at the helm
no one is safe
we must escape
or drown

IV. Man had dreamed
of such miracles
means to explore
the depths of the seas
but the Nautilus
a technical marvel
in the hands of a man
lost to the depths of grief
became an agent
of destruction

This poem was inspired by today’s prompts at NaPoWriMo and Writer’s Digest’s April Poem a Day (PAD) Challenge.

Thank you so much for coming by and reading my post. Any thoughts on Depth of Knowledge? Did you try the worksheet? Come back tomorrow for the results of my Deep Knowledge Exercise and a new poem.