ICE Model

In the ICE Model, the first step is Ideas, the building blocks of learning, which include the steps in a process, vocabulary, facts and definitions in a textbook, etc. Most fill-in-the-blanks and multiple choice questions assess at the level of Ideas. Connections are the links or relationships that students make among the Ideas, and the relationships that students establish between new learning and prior learning. Extensions can be seen in how students internalize learning so that it becomes part of the way they view the world. Extensions are revealed when students use their learning in novel ways, distinct from the initial learning situation, and when they answer the hypothetical question, “So what does this mean for me and how I see things?” The ICE Model suggests that assessment should match teaching, in that the level of assessment should match the level of your outcomes for the students. In classes with diversity it is likely that students will be working at all three level, and may be stimulated by your assessment to show that they are beginning to make Connections or Extensions that you were not anticipating. Because you are trying to move all your students along this continuum, you will probably use questions from all three levels, although some students may be encouraged to demonstrate their learning at a specific level.

In mathematics, students who memorize algorithms are learning Ideas, while those who use their knowledge to solve new problems or apply new learning to solve an old problem are making Connections. Making Connections enables students to combine steps, understand formulas, and explain one phenomenon in terms of another.