Blooms Taxonomy

Based on my past experiences, most of my teachers relied on Bloom’s Taxonomy to some extent. Just as Dr. Richard Paul suggests, many teachers attempt to foster critical thinking skills when they “ask questions that call for analysis, synthesis, and evaluation,” even though this approach, according to Dr. Paul, “is seriously misleading” (521). As pointed out in the article, simply asking these questions does not teach students critical thinking skills. I can recall several of my teachers who would request that students “compare and contrast,” “determine as a whole,” or “defend a position” on tests or homework. In fact, my American History final exam consisted of a single essay question asking students to compare and contrast a set of two historically-based

Using Bloom’s taxonomy to determine the cognitive level of the hypothetical objectives, LO4 is found to be at the knowledge based level. The knowledge level is the first and foundational skill level in Bloom’s taxonomy. This level denotes the memory and retention of certain information such as definitions, facts or step-by-step processes (Adams, 2015). LO6 is also in the knowledge based level since it too requires a listing of information from memory. Both objectives require the students to retrieve information through straight forward means which further confirms that they are knowledge-based (Adams, 2015).

Bloom’s Taxonomy is a classification of learning objectives in education that was developed by a committee of educators in the late 1940s to early 1950s. It shows us that lower level knowledge must be mastered

A non-standardized curriculum allows students to focus on higher level thinking skills. Students are encouraged to learn from each other. Students are encouraged to challenge each other. Teacher’s use Bloom’s Taxonomy to have student think deeper into concepts. Instead of students learning ten concepts over the course of a year, students learn six that are more in depth. Students use a variety of alternative assessments to show their depth of knowledge. A student can choose how to display their knowledge. Students may give a presentation, create a 3-D model, design a PowerPoint, or write a story or a variety of other ways to present their ideas.

Write one developmentally appropriate learning objective for the goal related to each level of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Students will be challenged and asked questions that push them to refer back to what they’ve read. This stresses critical-thinking, problem-solving, and analytical skills that are required for success in college, career, and life (p.1)

Higher education can help people improve their social class and income. As the core reading The Lesson by Toni Bambara, Miss Moore showed the poor young girl a new world that higher education could offer. People like the young girl in the story want to get into good education facilities for a better life. Standardized tests are the stepping-stones to universities. Standardized tests score are often used to evaluate students’ performance.

E.D. Hirsch in chapter five of his book The Schools We Need & Why We Don't Have Them (1996) asserts that the goal of educators is to give their students a high level of general competence, and develop individual's who can think critically about a diverse subjects, who can communicate well, can solve a diversity of problems, and are ready to tackle unfamiliar challenges (p. 143). The author maintains that although modern day educators are in agreement that these are worthy aspirations, many of today's schools lack the capacity to attain these outcomes and are hindered in their quest for finding and developing best practices by research that is invoked selectively by the educational community in order to preserve the status quo. The author alleges that a lot of research in education is merely material for ideological warfare and some research based practices, such as an emphasis on metacognition may actually be harmful to certain elements of the student population.

Standardized tests have become a recent controversial topic across the nation. Americans strive for a great education system, but fail to realize that testing is the main issue. It is believed that they are a simple way to evaluate students from all different areas. However, there are countless faults that cannot truly show students’ ability. Standardized tests in the United States do not accurately measure intelligence and should be modified to prevent issues in academics.

“What any person in the world can learn almost all persons can learn if provided with appropriate prior and current conditions of learning” (Bloom, 2017). This belief was held by Dr. Bloom in 1956 when he and his team created Bloom’s Taxonomy. Since then educators have been utilizing these “goals of the learning process” (Clark, 2015) and making assumptions of its usage and implications. I too did have assumptions but have not thought about how I developed them or how they would affect my use of the taxonomy. When starting this reflection I held three assumptions true about Bloom’s Taxonomy. The first is if the educator uses Bloom’s Taxonomy for planning through assessment, then the student will develop higher order thinking skills. Secondly, a student can move on to a higher order thinking level only if they first mastered a lower order thinking level. Thirdly, if educations use different levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy in lessons students will retain more information. Interestingly, I uncovered two additional assumptions that I did not know I had. The first of which is that the focus on cognitive development of Bloom’s devalues importance of other domains. The other is that Bloom’s Taxonomy is used only by educators in K-12 and college. Here are some things I understand about this subject that informed or changed

Today’s education system has become focused on standardized intelligence testing and what works best for the majority. This system, although created to help the masses, is impersonal and only benefits a specific group of students who learn the best through testing. Those students who think creatively and use imagination are left behind. This is why intelligence tests are not accurate measurement of a child’s knowledge as it does not account for creativity and the child’s individual strengths. Changes need to be made within the school system. Instead of focusing on what is “correct” schools should be encouraging problem-solving through the process of making mistakes and failing. This challenges a student to learn about themselves and the world around them. When everything is already laid out for them it is easy to follow. There is no single way of thinking. By making a student have to think on their own it stimulates creativity and allows them to better connect concepts to real world situations.

Education is just one of the many academic cultures found within the social sciences. Education can be defined as a subject involving the use of studying and training to develop knowledge and skill. In the article, An Active Learning Approach to Bloom’s Taxonomy: 2 Games, 2 Classrooms, 2 Methods, author Fred Weigel and Mark Bonica explain that the study of cognitive learning, affective learning, and psychomotor learning are all associated with Bloom’s Taxonomy, an important tool used in education (21). Knowledge produced within this discipline is important because it explores how people learn and develop.

Bloom’s taxonomy can be used in the field of psychology to solve problems. Psychology focuses on the study of the mind and human behavior, using the taxonomy will serve as a tool for understanding cognition and thinking process. As a practitioner a common goal is to help others solve problems. The taxonomy will help me as a practitioner to analyze the problem with a client or student. The use of the taxonomy will help to promote new ideas and approaches through evaluation before making final decisions when helping clients. The taxonomy can help identify the needs of the client, ways to help the client, and what methods have and has not worked for the client as a practitioner in psychology. As a graduate learner in psychology, the taxonomy

Although schools have recently incorporated requirements to help the development of critical thinking, it remains a skill that is often learned outside of the classroom. Through the program of Common Core, schools have created an environment of higher standards and problem solving courses. Along with critical thinking, abstract thinking looks at the deeper meaning of things, and they both begin in young ages in children. The jump from concrete to abstract and critical thinking comes with time and lessons from not only the classroom, but everyday experiences. How do schools help children develop critical thinking skills and move on from concrete to abstract thinking?

Teachers can use this theory in the classroom each and every day. These different levels or categories of learning can help the teachers to assess students in different areas. Bloom’s Taxonomy gives more options instead of just test students by written