How is Bloom's taxonomy best used in education settings?
As I read through the articles so many thoughts were coming to mind that I needed the time to process and understand its context to this question. A few questions and subquestions came to mind:
- Why has there been a shift in how teachers use Bloom’s Taxonomy?
- Does it have to do with how teachers want to scaffold student learned to establish a stronger foundation?
- Does it have to do with distant influences of the Rockefeller approach to education, which was used to support the industrial age?
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- Is it the term ‘taxonomy’ that has limited the model?
- Do teachers feel more comfortable categorizing students on a spectrum, so it’s easier to monitor progress?
- ‘Theory of assessment or theory of teaching’?
- Should Bloom’s Taxonomy be renamed to be used a taxonomy of thinking?
Three points really stood out and helped me address these questions from the reading:
I think that Bloom’s taxonomy could be used to support ‘theory of assessment’, which it was originally devised for, as well as the ‘theory of teaching’. As I believe models can shape our thinking to form new ideas. If as teachers we want to support thinking we want students to think. For me I really like using Bloom’s Taxonomy to generate questions to ‘differentiate the difficulty’. (Unfortunate, 198) However, I think that there needs to be a shift in mindset to see the taxonomy to support higher order thinking in any of the ‘taxonomy’s’ literally speaking.
When I looked up the term, taxonomy it comes from the ancient Greek word ‘taxis’ which means “arrangement”. (Wikipedia) I think there is a danger of compartmentalizing individuals, which was the motivator of the industrial age and Rockefeller’s education model. However, in the ‘New Vision for Education - Unlocking the Potential of Technology’ report states in global education it needs attention:
“To thrive in a rapidly evolving, technology-mediated world,” the report begins, “students must not only possess strong skills in areas such as language arts, mathematics and science, but they must also be adept at skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, persistence, collaboration and curiosity.” (Forbes)
This supports the concept all forms of thinking by developing the concept of what understanding is which is not a low level of thinking. It develops and synthesizes as we have a deeper understanding. Take the concept of the bicycle helmet. We all know and understand that we need to wear it for our safety and we should. To be honest I don’t like how it feels on my head. The Swedes developed an invisible helmet which inflates like an airbag in a car (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKeqmjAzv9E), which solves my issue of comfort and of course esthetics. I understand the purpose of a helmet but how can this concept be synthesized?
This is where the ‘teaching the tools’ comes in, it supports teaching by shifting the ‘Habits of Mind’. How can we bring what we learn into life which is supported by integrating critical thinking into the curriculum. As Case explained, perhaps the taxonomy should be ‘flipped’ “placing ‘understanding’ at the apex”. (Unfortunate, 198) Since understanding is shifting and molding it is moving towards ‘metacognitive knowledge’. Bloom’s could support assessment, but it gives a structure which gives structure, but as Mark Hoffman expressed in his video, ‘the danger is when you are not specific and keep things general in what logic is and how to reason...Life doesn’t work like a syllogism.’ He further explains that,’critical thinking brings awareness to the information brought to us and we need to discriminate how we find it and judge this information.’
Bloom’s for assessment may look like…
However Bloom’s for teaching would have the structure more like the image below as a structure.
- Perhaps the taxonomy should be ‘flipped’ “placing ‘understanding’ at the apex” (Unfortunate, 198),
- Teaching the tools (Main Stage), and
- The knowledge dimension (Revision, 214)
I think that Bloom’s taxonomy could be used to support ‘theory of assessment’, which it was originally devised for, as well as the ‘theory of teaching’. As I believe models can shape our thinking to form new ideas. If as teachers we want to support thinking we want students to think. For me I really like using Bloom’s Taxonomy to generate questions to ‘differentiate the difficulty’. (Unfortunate, 198) However, I think that there needs to be a shift in mindset to see the taxonomy to support higher order thinking in any of the ‘taxonomy’s’ literally speaking.
When I looked up the term, taxonomy it comes from the ancient Greek word ‘taxis’ which means “arrangement”. (Wikipedia) I think there is a danger of compartmentalizing individuals, which was the motivator of the industrial age and Rockefeller’s education model. However, in the ‘New Vision for Education - Unlocking the Potential of Technology’ report states in global education it needs attention:
“To thrive in a rapidly evolving, technology-mediated world,” the report begins, “students must not only possess strong skills in areas such as language arts, mathematics and science, but they must also be adept at skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, persistence, collaboration and curiosity.” (Forbes)
This supports the concept all forms of thinking by developing the concept of what understanding is which is not a low level of thinking. It develops and synthesizes as we have a deeper understanding. Take the concept of the bicycle helmet. We all know and understand that we need to wear it for our safety and we should. To be honest I don’t like how it feels on my head. The Swedes developed an invisible helmet which inflates like an airbag in a car (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKeqmjAzv9E), which solves my issue of comfort and of course esthetics. I understand the purpose of a helmet but how can this concept be synthesized?
This is where the ‘teaching the tools’ comes in, it supports teaching by shifting the ‘Habits of Mind’. How can we bring what we learn into life which is supported by integrating critical thinking into the curriculum. As Case explained, perhaps the taxonomy should be ‘flipped’ “placing ‘understanding’ at the apex”. (Unfortunate, 198) Since understanding is shifting and molding it is moving towards ‘metacognitive knowledge’. Bloom’s could support assessment, but it gives a structure which gives structure, but as Mark Hoffman expressed in his video, ‘the danger is when you are not specific and keep things general in what logic is and how to reason...Life doesn’t work like a syllogism.’ He further explains that,’critical thinking brings awareness to the information brought to us and we need to discriminate how we find it and judge this information.’
Bloom’s for assessment may look like…
However Bloom’s for teaching would have the structure more like the image below as a structure.
In practice to support critical thinking it should look more like the image below.
Thinking is linked with a greater awareness to bring on metacognitive knowledge and understanding of our world. This image was taken from the ‘Track the Trackers’ project. Within this report there was a statement which really made it all come together for me,
“The newly developed tool also allows us to create connections among websites, defining relations based on their connection to the same tracking devices, giving insight into the fluidity of content.”
Let’s not compartmentalize ourselves into ‘arrangements’, but instead bring ‘fluidity’ to knowledge.
“The newly developed tool also allows us to create connections among websites, defining relations based on their connection to the same tracking devices, giving insight into the fluidity of content.”
Let’s not compartmentalize ourselves into ‘arrangements’, but instead bring ‘fluidity’ to knowledge.
Source:
Case, Roland. "Bringing Critical Thinking to the Main Stage." Edu Can 45.2 (Spr. 2005): n. pag. Wilson Web. Web. 9 July 2016.
Krathwohl, David R. "A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy: An Overview." Theory Into Practice 41.4 (2002): 212-18. Web.
Learning to Think Critically. Perf. Mark Hoffman. CUNNYBMCC, 2009. YouTube. Web. 9 July 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-NGhKc-pjE>.
N.d. Pinterest. Web. 12 July 2016. <https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/19/5e/55/195e559fdab656dab418f39bcfc20f13.jpg>.
Shapiro, Jordan. This Year At The 'Davos of Education.' Plus, The 16 Most Critical 21st Century Skills." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 15 Mar. 2015. Web. 12 July 2016. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/jordanshapiro/2015/03/22/this-year-at-the-davos-of-education-plus-the-16-most-critical-21st-century-skills/#4ab5218d4840>
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"Taxonomy (biology)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 12 July 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxonomy_%28biology%29>.
"Track the Trackers." Tracking the Trackers. Wiki Digital Methods, n.d. Web. 12 July 2016. <https://wiki.digitalmethods.net/Dmi/DmiWinterSchool2012TrackingTheTrackers>.
Case, Roland. "Bringing Critical Thinking to the Main Stage." Edu Can 45.2 (Spr. 2005): n. pag. Wilson Web. Web. 9 July 2016.
Krathwohl, David R. "A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy: An Overview." Theory Into Practice 41.4 (2002): 212-18. Web.
Learning to Think Critically. Perf. Mark Hoffman. CUNNYBMCC, 2009. YouTube. Web. 9 July 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-NGhKc-pjE>.
N.d. Pinterest. Web. 12 July 2016. <https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/19/5e/55/195e559fdab656dab418f39bcfc20f13.jpg>.
Shapiro, Jordan. This Year At The 'Davos of Education.' Plus, The 16 Most Critical 21st Century Skills." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 15 Mar. 2015. Web. 12 July 2016. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/jordanshapiro/2015/03/22/this-year-at-the-davos-of-education-plus-the-16-most-critical-21st-century-skills/#4ab5218d4840>
.
"Taxonomy (biology)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 12 July 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxonomy_%28biology%29>.
"Track the Trackers." Tracking the Trackers. Wiki Digital Methods, n.d. Web. 12 July 2016. <https://wiki.digitalmethods.net/Dmi/DmiWinterSchool2012TrackingTheTrackers>.