The 3 Whys
Planning Considerations:
Grade Level: 6th Grade
Content Area: Social Studies
Specific Unit: Ancient Civilization of Egypt
Materials:
Teacher:
Core concept or idea that is connected to standards
Harvard’s Project Zero Thinking Routine: The 3 Whys
Revised The 3 Whys graphic organizer
Student:
Supporting classroom resources connected to core concept or idea
Revised The 3 Whys graphic organizer
Pencil
Time: 15-20 minutes
Instruction:
Incorporating the The 3 Whys is a formative assessment given at the end of our Ancient Egypt unit. I wanted to see if students were able to make higher-order thinking connections between what we had learned in our unit and how those concepts or ideas relate to their own life and our world.
When giving this formative assessment, the teacher will:
Prompt students to use their unit resources for their claims and supporting evidence.
Read aloud each question for The 3 Whys formative assessment
Remind students to use TTQA (Turn the Question Around) when writing their responses
Include 2-3 sentences of supporting evidence for the claim they have written.
Remind students to use capitalization and punctuation skills.
Give feedback to students on their connections made.
Students can also share their thinking with others in the classroom (partners, small group, or whole group). This will allow students to learn from their peers the connections they made and gain multiple perspectives from others in the classroom.
Standards / Content Focus:
National Council for Social Studies Standards
#1 Culture
#9 Global Connections
Iowa 6th grade Social Studies Standard:
SS 6.21 Explain how and why perspectives of people have changed throughout different historical eras.
Student Artifacts:
Recommendations:
What advice or recommendations do you have for other teachers interested in using this activity in their classroom?
Students need to have a deep understanding of the core concepts and ideas presented in the lesson or unit prior to engaging with The 3 Why strategy. If students do not have a deep understanding, responses will be surface level and most likely will not allow students to think critically about different perspectives.
It is also important that throughout the unit of instruction teachers continually ask students to make connections to their own life and others around the world. By doing this throughout the unit, students are able to have practiced making those connections prior to engaging in this formative assessment.
This routine can be used in any grade level and in any content area.
Reflection:
*What went well?
Students were able to make really great connections between themselves and the world. They were also able to pull in specific concepts that were learned throughout the unit of Ancient Egypt. I was also proud of the students on how clearly they were able to articulate their thoughts while also using TTQA and capitalization / punctuation skills.
*What would you have done differently?
This was a new routine I implemented this year as a formative assessment. Next year, I plan to ask these specific questions throughout the unit so students are able to make those connections earlier and not just at the end of the unit.
*What feedback did you get from your students?
The students asked clarifying questions with each of the prompts as I was going through the directions. BEcause we do a lot of writing in social studies, specifically making claims and providing evidence, students felt confident engaging in the activity. My students began writing their responses immediately, which allowed me to think they were able to have their responses quite quickly.
*How do you know that this was successful?
I know this routine was successful because of the main concepts and connections students were to make in their responses. The claims and evidence in their responses provided written data for me to understand if they were able to make connections to their own life and the world.
*How do you plan to incorporate this activity in the future?
I think The 3 Whys routine can be easily implemented at any point during our unit, and especially as a formative assessment at the end of the unit.
*What else should be considered when incorporating this activity into instruction?
This activity can be incorporated in any content level and at any grade level.