Blank Cubing Template

DiceMaker :http://www.toolsforeducators.com/dice/

 

Subject	Level	Cubing	Technology
Language Arts	MS	PoetryUnit	Venn Diagram, Graphic Organizer, Podcasts http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/diamante-poems-30053.html
Language Arts	MS	Holes
Math	MS	FibonnacciCube
Math	MS	Number Patterns&Relationships
Math	MS	Plane Geometry
Math	HS	Trigonometry1
Science	HS	Classification1 Classification2
Science	MS	Energy_Sources_1 Energy_Sources_2 Energy_Sources_3
Science	MS/HS	Airbags
Science	HS	Cell Organism

 

 

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Question Cubes

 

Who	What	When
Where	Why	How

 

Might	Can	Will
Is	Should	Did

 

 

Story Starter Cubes

 

On the moon	Caught in a Tornado	The Best Vacation
The game winning play	The new invention	Favorite animal
The rainforest	On the farm	Cafeteria Disaster

 

 

Cube Commands

 

Describe	Illustrate	Evaluate	What is the significance of
Compare	Change	Cartoon	Put __ in historical perspective
Associate	Solve	Contrast	What are the causes/effects
Analyze	Question	Investigate	Relate ___ to ___
Apply	Rearrange	Argue for…	Tell the parts of
Connect	Satirize	Argue against...	In your opinion

 

 

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Cubing & Think Dots explanation & examples from

http://www.teach.virginia.edu/files/nagc_cubing__think_dots.pdf

 

Cubing

·        Cubing is an instructional strategy that asks students to consider a concept from a variety of different perspectives.  Use of Blooms Taxonomy higher level thinking skills is highly recommended.

·       Multiple cubes are designed by Readiness or interest.

·      The cubes are six-sided figures that have a different activity on each side of the cube.

·        A worksheet or instructions let students know how many of the activities must be completed.

·        Individually, in pairs or small groups, each student takes a turn rolling the cube and doing the activity that comes up. Students have the choice to roll again (once for the entire project) if they don’t like the activity that turns up.

 

·         Students each roll the cube 2-6 times, based on the assignment instructions.

 

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Look to Blooms Taxonomy for higher level thinking application for your cubing activities: 

Consider these: 

 

Cubing

 

What is Cubing?

            Cubing is an instructional strategy designed to help students think about a topic or idea from many different angles. A cube includes 6 commands, one on each of its six faces, followed by a prompt that describes the task the students should do related to the command. Cubing can help students think at different levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

 

How are cubes used?

·         Step 1: Identify the concept or targeted skill that will be the focus of the activity.

·         Step 2: Create commands for the cubes that align with the key concept. The commands on each cube should be differentiated to meet the needs of the learners

·         Step 3: Make sure that students understand the commands and the directions of the tasks.

·         Step 4: Group students according to readiness, interest, or learning profile. Cubes or task cards can be different colors in order to align with the needs of the different groups.

·         Step 5: Students in each group take turns rolling the die. To provide choice, allow the student to roll again if he/she did not want to do the first command. Each student rolls the die and completes their given task. The group members should all be doing different tasks.

 

What are the advantages to using Cubing?

• Incorporates higher level thinking skills.
• It is a simple way to differentiate, while still instructing each student on the same topic or skill. Each cube may contain the same commands, but the tasks on the cubes will be different according to the needs of the various groups.
• Rolling the die adds excitement and anticipation. It takes what may be a “boring” assignment and makes it fun and engaging.
• Cubing is an excellent strategy for the tactile/kinesthetic learners.

 

Things to Remember:

• Cubes are differentiated by readiness, interest, and learning profile.
• Each side of a cube must have a command followed by a prompting question or statement.
• Cubing doesn’t have to only be used in small groups. It can also be used independently or with pairs of students.
• All of the cubes should cover the same types of questions and skills, just at various levels.

 

Terrific Tips for Cubing:

• Use more than one cube. Each cube should contain commands and tasks that are aligned with the ability levels of the different groups.
• Create 1 average ability cube first. Then, use those tasks as a guide to create 2 other cubes- low ability and high ability.
• Allow students to roll the die 2-4 times (if they choose) depending on the length and magnitude of the assignment.

Terrific Tips Continued…

• Leave one face on the cube as an opinion task where there is no right or wrong answer.
• Always have one easier question and one harder question on each cube, regardless of the level the cube is intended for.
• For some cubing activities, students may be responsible for doing more than one of the sides of the cube.
• Differentiate cubing questions by color-coding the cubes. Ex. Blue=Knowledge and Comprehension (Low) Green=Application and Analysis (Average) Red=Synthesis and Evaluation (High). But remember to change the colors periodically to align with different levels so that students do not get “labeled” as the low blue group, etc…
• Differentiating by Interest or Learning Profile: Create many cubes for learning or review activities. 2-3 sides of all the cubes can have the same task. The remaining 3-4 sides can have tasks related to specific interests or learning profiles.

 

Example of how a command and task can be related to the same topic, but differentiated in order to meet the needs of lower ability and higher ability students:

1.      Lower Question- Describe the desert using as much information as you can, and involve your five senses in the description.

2.      Higher Question- Describe how your life would change if you moved to the desert. Use your senses and explain why changes would occur.

 

Where can I find questions for cubes? 

• Quizzes
• Worksheets
• Textbooks
• Study Guide Problems
• Teacher Generated/Student Generated

 

Cubing Activities for Stories (Product Options)

• Write a letter to Character.
• Create and perform a puppet show of the story
• Create a mural or picture to show a scene from the story.
• Make a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast 2 characters, 2 stories, etc…
• Develop a story map for Book.
• Create an art project that illustrates the sequence of events in the book (1^st, 2^nd…)
• List characteristics of the characters.
• Write a different ending.
• Write a letter to the author.
• Read another book by the same author. Compare and contrast.
• Read another book about the same topic. Compare and contrast.
• Choose 4 interesting words from the story. Then, use a thesaurus to find synonyms for each of the words.

 

 

References and Resources

 

http://schools.webster.k12.mo.us/education/components/docmgr/default.php?sectiondetailid=40845&fileitem=8996&catfilter=1925&PHPSESSID=6bce30dbea33cb12e8bd9a62e9a29173

 

http://www.foridahoteachers.org/strategies.htm

 

http://www.lincolnparkboe.org/DI.htm

 

http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/files/nagc_cubing_think_dots.pdf

 

http://boe.ming.k12.wv.us/teachers/di/di_docs/strategies_cubing_think_dots/

            CubingThinkdotpp.ppt#256,1,CUBING/THINKDOTS

           

 

 

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Subject	Grade	Example
Language Arts	MS	Poetry Unit, Friendship in "Holes"
Science	MS, HS	Classifications see below

 

Cubing examples

Science - High School

http://www.bsu.edu/gate/Instruction/Cubing/Classification.htm

Classification - 

Science - Middle School

 

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