Do I Really
Know It? (DIRKI)
Description
Do I Really Know It? Is a strategy
that uses a flowchart to confirm students understanding of a concept. The
process helps students check how well they understand key concepts and can be
used to review concepts in any discipline or subject area.
Procedure
1. What Kind of Idea is it? Name
the category the concept fits into. Be as specific as possible in naming the
group to which the idea belongs. This focuses attention on the idea at hand.
2. Can I Name Some Examples?
List the best examples you can think of. Examples help you to remember
the concept more clearly, and often are remembered more easily than the actual
concept. Examples are also used to explain the idea to someone else clearly.
3. What are Some Similar Ideas? Name
something that is similar in some important way, even from a different subject,
that helps you remember the concept being studied. Similarities help connect
what is being learned to what is already known.
4. What are Some Different Ideas? Name
something that is different from the concept being studied, that cannot be
confused with it. Identify how the difference means the two concepts cannot be
confused. Recognizing and knowing differences separates the new idea from the
other similar ones and helps to remember the concept clearly.
5. What are its Important Characteristics?
Name the qualities that make this concept what it is. If
something is really understood, you can explain what makes it special and sets
it apart from other ideas/things.
6. Can I give a Full Definition? Combine
the category from Question 1 and the characteristics in Question 5 to create a
complete definition. Naming the category and the characteristics helps
describes the idea or thing and shows that it is clearly understood.
Link
to Outcomes
Students describe and reason with patterns, structures and relationships
in order to understand, interpret, justify and make predictions.
Dynamic
Strategies
Think/Clarification
Thinking
and Reasoning Skills
Verbal sequences, verbal classification and clarification, identifying
attributes
Do I Really Know It? (DIRKI)
Topic What
Kind of Idea Is It? Can
I Name Some Examples? What
Are Some Similar Ideas? What
Are Some Different Ideas? What
Are Its Important Characteristics? Can
I Give a Full Definition?