Deeper Learning Tasks

"Deep understanding requires both a significant repository of factual knowledge and the ability to use that factual knowledge to develop interpretations, arguments, and conclusions."

— from "The Why, What, Where, and How of Deeper Learning in American Secondary Schools," by Jal Mehta and Sarah Fine (Jobs for the Future's Students at the Center initiative, December 2015)

Deeper Learning Tasks are designed with a clear Purpose, Problem, Product, and Criticality resulting in students demonstrating Mastery, Identity, and Creativity. For the purposes of Deeper Learning, these terms are defined as:

• Purpose: Students engage in a task that is part of a coherent, standards-aligned curriculum. The task is accessible to all students and engages students in the work of the field or discipline.

• Problem: Students solve a problem or explain a phenomenon, and craft logical and reasonable conclusions supported by evidence. This requires students to examine resources that provide diverse perspectives within real-world and socially relevant contexts.

• Product: Students create and answer questions, generate hypotheses, gather materials, collaborate with one- another and discover opportunities to apply learning in a meaningful product; and share their ideas and solutions with those directly and/or indirectly impacted by the problem.

• Criticality: Educators and students not only engage with resources from diverse perspectives but also analyze who is centered, who is excluded, what social narratives are preserved, and the purpose for preserving those narratives. This attention to criticality drives educators and students to deepen thinking skills to better understand the connections between content and societal contexts.

Last Updated: October 26, 2021