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Deep knowledge

Does the lesson cover operational fields in any depth, detail or level of specificity?

Explanation
Continuum of practice
Example

Explanation

Knowledge is deep or thick when it concerns the central ideas of a topic or discipline and because such knowledge is judged to be crucial to a topic or discipline. Knowledge is deep when relatively complex connections are established to central concepts.

Knowledge is shallow, thin or superficial when it is not connected with significant concepts or central ideas of a topic or discipline, and it is dealt with only in an algorithmic or procedural fashion. Knowledge is also shallow when important, central ideas have been trivialized by the teacher or students, or when it is presented as non-problematic. This superficiality can be due, in part, to instructional strategies such as when teachers cover large quantities of fragmented ideas and bits of information that are unconnected to other knowledge.

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Continuum of practice

Almost all of the lesson's content knowledge is very thin because it does not deal with significant topics or ideas.
Knowledge is treated unevenly during instruction i.e., deep knowledge of something is countered by superficial understanding of other knowledge.

At least one significant idea may be presented in depth, but in general the focus is not sustained.
Knowledge is very deep because almost all knowledge presented in the lesson sustains focus on a significant topic, and does so either through a complex structure or by demonstrating the problematic nature of information and/or ideas.

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Example

Year 11 Multistrand Science students were nearing the completion of an extensive study of the ecosystem of the town's river. Previous work included a substantial amount of in-class and fieldwork activities, such as using classification systems, water quality monitoring and studying impact of flood and industry along the river, which sought to make the students 'experts' on the ecosystem of their local river.

The students were asked to apply this deep knowledge to the task of creating a creature adapted to the conditions of the river ecosystem. They were required to draw the creature and describe its physical and behavioural adaptations. The creation of this creature was dependent upon the students having a thorough knowledge of the topic.

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