INTRODUCTION TO BLOOM ’ S TAXONOMY

1. INTRODUCTION TO BLOOM’S TAXONOMY 6th Grade 2013

2. Who is Ben Bloom? • Benjamin Bloom was an educator and Psychologist • He is the creator of Bloom’s Taxonomy. • Bloom looked at the way we learn best. • He learned that there are 6 different levels of comprehension ranging from basic to advanced. • His ultimate goal was to understand how we learn best so everyone would be able to master learning.

3. What does Taxonomy mean? • Taxonomy is one of those words that most people never hear or use. Basically, a taxonomy is a way to group things together. • Bloom uses his “taxonomy” to categorize the levels of reasoning and thinking skills. • The 6 levels are arranged from easiest to most difficult to master. The higher up the pyramid you climb, the more challenging the tasks become.

4. Three Domains of Learning • The three ways we develop as fully functional human beings are broken down into the following categories: • Cognitive – Mental skills, thinking and reasoning • Affective - Growth or feelings in emotional areas • Psychomotor – Manual and physical skills.

5. The cognitive domain • The cognitive domain is all about knowledge and the development of intellectual skills. • This includes the recall or recognition of specific facts and concepts. • The lower level are: knowledge, comprehension, & application. • The higher levels are: analyzing, evaluating, and creating. • “Basic thinking” takes place in the first 3 levels. • “Critical thinking” occurs in the top 3 tiers.

6. Metacognition • Cognition is the mental process of how we learn. It is how we gain knowledge, comprehension. • Metacognition refers to higher order thinking which involves active engagement in learning. • Metacognition or “thinking about how you learn” plays an important role in our learning.

7. How do we use this stuff? • By thinking about what and how you are learning, students can apply their learning styles. • When you have an assignment and you think about how you will learn or do it best, you are checking your “cognition” (how you learn) and then “plan” how you can complete the task. • Finally, because metacognition plays a critical role in successful learning, it is important to study metacognitive activity and development to determine how students can be taught to better apply their cognitive resources through metacognitive control.

8. Level 1 - Knowledge • This is the most basic level where you test if you have recall or remember information. Can you remember the main ideas? • You should be able to: list, defines, describes, identifies, knows, labels, matches, names, outlines, recalls, recognizes • Ex: I know that clouds are in the sky.

9. Level 2 - Comprehension • At this level you are able to go past remembering facts. You can explain the facts in your own words. • You are able to: describe, explain, interpret, compare/contrast, summarize, infer. • Ex: I know that there are several types of clouds & that each are shaped for a specific reason.

10. Level 3 - Application • You are able to use and apply the information you learned. You can solve a problem with the information you have. • You are able to: complete, solve, examine, illustrate, show, relate. • Now lets try it!