LibGuides: Cubing: An Instructional Strategy Toolkit: Home

Cubing: An Instructional Strategy Tool Kit

Jessica Bucholz, Associate Professor of Education, Tusculum University

THIS TOOLKIT WILL SHOW YOU HOW TO

Cubing is an instructional strategy that can help to differentiate instruction and challenge students to think about a topic more critically and in different ways.

KEY OBJECTIVES

Participants will learn how to incorporate cubing as an instructional strategy in their classroom or online face-to-face class sessions.
Participants will learn how to use this strategy to differentiate for the different readiness levels of the students in their class.
Participants will develop a list of topics from their curriculum that could be taught using the cubing strategy.

HOW TO IMPLEMENT THIS TOOLKIT

Steps to follow for a live face to face class:
Step 1: Identify a topic or unit of study that you would like students to think about in different ways
Step 2: Create six questions or activities that ask for information about the topic of study on each side of a paper cube. Create different cubes with different levels of questions/activities as needed to differentiate based on the readiness level of the students in your class. Examples of question starters are:

Describe it.
Compare it.
Associate it.
Evaluate it.
Argue for or against it.
Illustrate it.
Create a cartoon about it.
Develop a graphic organizer about it.

Step 3: Have students work alone, in pairs, or in small groups to roll the question cube and complete the activity/question that comes up on the cube.
Step 4: Have students share their responses with the class to begin a more in-depth conversation about the topic of study. If students are working in pairs or small groups, have the team work together to write out their response to the question/activity and then share with the whole group.
Step 1 – Identify the topic or unit of study that you would like students to think about in different ways.
Step 2 – Create six questions or activities that ask for information about the topic of study on a document that can be shared (e.g., PowerPoint slide, Word document, Google file). Create different lists with different levels of questions/activities as needed to differentiate based on the readiness level of the students in your class. Post the document(s) for students to access.
Step 3 – Have students find a die to roll. Students would roll their die and then complete the corresponding activity from the list that you created. If working in pairs or small groups use breakout rooms for the students to collaborate on their activity/question.
Step 4 – Have students return to the whole group to share their responses with the class.

DESCRIPTION

Learning involves more than just rote memorization, which makes it important to provide learning opportunities that require students to do more than just memorize. Create a learning environment where students want to connect with each other and with the topics being taught can help to improve student engagement and learning. Cubing is one activity that can help instructors to engage their students in a topic while challenging them to think in different ways and to go deeper than just memorizing facts. Additionally, by changing up the questions/tasks that are assigned on the cubes an instructor can easily differentiate to meet each student where they are in the learning process. As an example, I teach about the concept of inclusion as it relates to students with disabilities in an introductory course on special education. I have used the cubing strategy to get students engaged and to think differently about inclusion and what it means in practice. These are the questions I’ve used:

Describe it: What does inclusion look like in practice? What might happen in a classroom where inclusion is implemented?

Associate it: What does the concept of inclusion make you think of? What comes to mind? How does it make you feel?

Create it: Create a pamphlet or brochure to explain your philosophy of inclusion to parents.

Pretend: Pretend you are a classroom teacher, and you are explaining to your 8^th grade students that two students with significant disabilities are going to be joining your class. What might you say to them?

Argue for or against it: Should students with disabilities be included in the general education classroom? Why or why not?

REFLECTION

While at times I use lectures to introduce topics and share important information I feel that classes that consist of only lectures can be difficult for students with varying learning styles and/or disabilities. Since I teach in the area of special education, I feel that it is important that I model for my students’ techniques that should be engaging for university students but that they can also use with their students in K-12. I have found that the cubing activity is a great way to get students to work collaboratively, engage more deeply with a topic, and think beyond just memorization of facts.

RESOURCES TO EXPLORE

Gregory, G.H. (2013). Differentiated instructional strategies professional learning guide: One size doesn’t fit all (3rd ed.). Corwin. (includes a number of examples of questions/activities to use for a lesson including cubing)