Cognitive Demand of Integrated Tasks

What is it about?

Recent policy and curriculum documents call for teachers at all levels to teach mathematics, science, technology, and engineering in integrated ways. There are many benefits to integrated instruction, but there are also many unknowns with respect to what students are learning in each discipline. Our work is motivated by the belief that it is important to know the kinds of intellectual activities in which students are engaged as they work on tasks involving multiple disciplines. Our research investigates the depth of thinking expected and observed in fourth-grade students as they worked in small groups on a series of integrated tasks involving mathematics and coding/robotics. We found students’ depth of thinking was consistent with the level of thinking required by the task with respect to each discipline, and teacher interventions had the potential to change the depth of thinking by providing supports or extensions for students.

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