Discussion Cubes

Discussion Cubes generate classroom discussions based on Bloom’s Thinking Levels. Students consider topic in terms of questions posed on different sides of the cube. In this way, responsibility for answering questions rests on the students. When students gain familiarity with the process, it becomes possible to increase the incidence of discussions that occur at higher thinking levels.

You will need to make the cubes once, and then you can save them for future use.

For assistance in developing discussion questions visit this website.

Implementation

To make Cubes:

1. On a piece of card stock draw three equal columns from top to bottom of the page.
2. Turn the paper to landscape direction and draw four equal columns.
3. Turn the paper lengthwise and label each square from 1 to12.
4. Number the squares from left to right first on the upper row and then move to the second and third rows.
5. Label the squares:
• Square 2: Define the problem or issue.
• Square 5: Explain the problem or issue in your own words.
• Square 7: Give an example or illustration of the problem or issue.
• Square 9: Offer a possible solution to the problem or issue.
• Square 11: Analyze possible solutions to the problem or issue according to their strengths and weaknesses.
• Square 8: Evaluate possible solutions to the problem or issue.
• Remove Squares 1, 3, 4, 6, 10, and 12.
6. Fold the box with the labels facing out and tape securely to form a die.

Summary of Bloom’s Revised Levels of Thinking

1. Remembering: recognizing and recalling terms, facts, procedures, or concepts from long-term memory.
2. Understanding: Constructing meaning from information presented in a variety of forms by interpreting, classifying, summarizing, inferring, comparing, and explaining.
3. Applying: Completing a procedure that involves implementing a practice, generalizing from theory to practice, solving a problem, or suing use information in a new context.
4. Analyzing: De-constucting large pieces of information into their constituent parts, determining how parts related to one another and to the whole by differentiating, organizing, and making attributions.
5. Evaluating: Making determinations based on appropriate criteria by carefully reviewing and critiquing information or data.
6. Creating: Combining and reorganizing constituent elements creatively to produce new coherent and functional wholes.