Module 5

 Complex Tasks Transfer

Chapter 5 "Design Complex Tasks"

    In Chapter 5, "Design Complex Tasks", of Rigor by Design, Not Chance, author Karin Hess discusses the importance of designing complex tasks for the classroom, ensuring children are challenged with deeper level thinking and transfer understanding in meaningful context.

    In "Design Complex Tasks", Hess explains what designing these tasks should look like by comparing previously used project-based assessments that she feels do not fit the mold of a complex task. For example, engagement with no grade or the use of a pass/fail system or focusing on the final product and contributing to content grades would not fall under the mold of a complex task, however, focusing on both the process and product while contributing to a student's portfolio in demonstrating competency would fall under the mold of a complex task (Hess, 2023, p.178). She goes on to further explain complex tasks as including a requirement to do something with opportunity for disciplined inquiry and critical creative thinking and must include evidence of far transfer, or "applying what you know in ways you might not have been explicitly taught" (Hess, 2023, p.179). She states that complex tasks must have the following characteristics: open-ended context, productively challenging, ability to uncover thinking, promote authentic doing and sharing, require far transfer, integrate academic knowledge, personal skills, and student input, and spark reflective and metacognitive thinking. Finally, Hess provides a series of questions to ask yourself when considering the complexity of integrated tasks followed by the eight steps to designing performance-based assessments. The questions Hess mentions to consider when integrating a complex task include the following:

1. What will be transferred during learning and will be assessed?

2. How does this task align with local competencies or academic strengths?

3. Within what real-world context and format- a case study, a design problem, an investigation, or a simulation- will students solve a problem or investigate an essential or driving question?

4. How will PBAs reflect the cultural diversity of learners?

5. Will all students have an opportunity to develop knowledge that they can transfer to a new situation or problem by engaging in this task?

The steps Hess mentions to follow when designing performance-based assessments include the following:

1. Identify what you want the assessment to measure.

2. Identify one or more authentic contexts for applying these skills, concepts, and dispositions in the assessment.

3. Identify appropriate formats for how students will apply their knowledge, skills, and dispositions.

4. Identify which choices, input, or decisions students will make.

5. Describe the task.

6. Develop an overview of the PBA with directions and general teacher instructions.

7. Finalize success criteria.

8. Develop a scoring guide or rubric.

    After reading Chapter 5 "Design Complex Tasks", I chose to look further into transfer learning, a term that has repeatedly been mentioned in Rigor by Design, Not Chance thus far, and is also mentioned by Hess in "Design Complex Tasks" as a necessary piece of complex tasks. As I am working toward a primary education degree, I searched for a transfer of learning article related to elementary school students. Through my search, I found "Chapter 3: Learning and Transfer" in National Academies Press How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition, which discusses how to support transfer learning in the classroom, including possible challenge and barriers. I found many connections amongst this source when comparing it to Hess' Chapter 5 "Design Complex Tasks" in Rigor by Design, Not Chance.

    The first thing that I came across mentioned by the National Research Council which relates to Hess's "Design Complex Tasks" is the statement, "Different kinds of learning experiences can look equivalent when tests of learning focus solely on remembering (e.g., on the ability to repeat previously taught factors or procedures), but they can look quite different when tests of transfer are used" (1999, p. 51). Throughout "Design Complex Tasks", Hess emphasizes the importance of using complex tasks that involve critical thinking, or require transfer, subsequently requiring the students to apply knowledge flexibly. She further argues that complex tasks within assessments show the ability to extend knowledge supporting evidence that deeper learning has been reached.

    The next connection between the two sources is the mention of the importance of multiple contexts when learning. National Research Council states "Knowledge that is overly contextualized can reduce transfer..." (1999, p. 53) while Hess states "Students are expected to use multiple approaches, tools, and resources. Solutions don't require a single correct solution path..." (2023, p.180). These quotes both support the notion that the concepts should be provided in multiple contexts, allowing the students to use their deep understanding of the concept to problem solve flexibly. 

    Another connection between the sources is the role of metacognition in successful transfer. National Research Council states, "Metacognitive approaches to instruction have been shown to increase the degree to which students will transfer to new situations without the need for explicit prompting" (1999, p. 67). Similarly, Hess states that complex problem-based assessments should spark "metacognitive thinking" (2023, p. 183). She further states, "Self-reflection is intentional in the task or project design" (1999, p.183).

    Overall, the sources use their platform to argue the emphasis on transfer equating to a testament of deep learning. To implement this type of transfer learning, one must be intentional in the rigorous curriculum and assessments provided. Through transfer learning, students can reach a higher level of success through their gained ability to problem solve and think flexibly. 

Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Rocking, R. C. (1999). Chapter 3: Learning and Transfer. In How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition (pp. 51–78). essay, National Academy Press.

Hess, K. (2023d). Chapter 5: Design Complex Tasks. In Rigor by Design, Not Chance: Deeper Thinking Through Actionable Instruction and Assessment (pp. 174–246). essay, ascd.