Three Story House - Costa's Levels of Questioning

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​To better understand the content being presented to you in various subject areas, it is important that you learn to think critically and to ask higher levels of questions.

By asking and understanding how to create higher levels of questions, you will deepen your knowledge and make connections with the ideas, themes or concepts being presented. This will then allow to your question and learn in a critical way.

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​One- Two- Three-Story Intellect Poem

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There are one-story intellects,

two-story intellects,

and three-story intellects with skylights.

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All fact collectors who have

no aim beyond their facts

are one-story people.

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Two-story people compare, reason,

generalize, using the labor of

fact collectors as their own.

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Three-story people idealize,

imagine, predict—their best illumination

comes through the skylight.

Adapted from a quotation by Oliver Wendell Holmes

​Now let's imagine an actual house!

​Think about the poem and look at the levels in the house.

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​Take a minute to really study the house and the three levels.

​One- Two- Three-Story Intellect Poem

​

​

There are one-story intellects,

two-story intellects,

and three-story intellects with skylights.

​

All fact collectors who have

no aim beyond their facts

are one-story people.

​

Two-story people compare, reason,

generalize, using the labor of

fact collectors as their own.

​

Three-story people idealize,

imagine, predict—their best illumination

comes through the skylight.

Adapted from a quotation by Oliver Wendell Holmes

​One- Two- Three-Story Intellect Poem

​

​

There are one-story intellects,

two-story intellects,

and three-story intellects with skylights.

​

All fact collectors who have

no aim beyond their facts

are one-story people.

​

Two-story people compare, reason,

generalize, using the labor of

fact collectors as their own.

​

Three-story people idealize,

imagine, predict—their best illumination

comes through the skylight.

Adapted from a quotation by Oliver Wendell Holmes

​On the page, between the lines, beyond the page!

​Learning about and learning to understand the three levels of thinking can be pretty daunting... but I have a cheat sheet for you, or as they say in the USA a crib sheet to help you remember what you need to do.

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​On the page - Literal/Facts

​Between the lines - Infer/Interpret

​Beyond the page - Imagine/Speculate

​Level 1: Remember

• Define

• Repeat

• Name

• List

• State

• Describe

• Recall

• Memorize

• Label

• Match

• Identify

• Record

​Level 1: Show understanding

• Give examples

• Restate

• Discuss

• Express

• Rewrite

• Recognise

• Explain

• Report

• Review

• Locate

• Find

• Paraphrase

• Tell

• Extend

• Summarise

• Generalise

​LEVEL 2: Use your Understanding

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• Dramatize

• Practice

• Operate

• Imply

• Apply

• Use

• Compute

• Schedule

• Relate

• Illustrate

• Translate

• Change

• Pretend

• Discover

• Solve

• Interpret

• Prepare

• Demonstrate

• ​Infer

Level 2: Examine

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• Diagram

• Distinguish

• Compare

• Contrast

• Divide

• Question

• Inventory

• Categorise

• Outline

• Debate

• Analyse

• Differentiate

• Select

• Separate

• Point out

• Criticise

• Experiment

• Break down

• Discriminate

Level 2: Create

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• Compose

• Design

• Propose

• Combine

• Construct

• Draw

• Arrange

• Suppose

• Formulate

• Organize

• Plan

• Compile

• Revise

• Write

• Devise

• Modify

• Assemble

• Prepare

• Generate