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Most educators are familiar with Bloom’s Taxonomy–A model that classifies different levels of human cognition and thinking, learning and understanding. As a teacher you have likely used this taxonomy to guide the development of curriculum assessment and instructional strategies.
But wait, how is this model affected in an age of digital technology?
OR
How might it influence your instructional design?
To know these questions answers let’s take a look at who created the Bloom's Taxonomy.
Bloom's Taxonomy was created in the 1950s by educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom and his colleagues.
These are the most basic levels of cognition. They are also called lower order thinking levels. This would include concrete thinking, memorization and understanding.
These reflect higher order thinking skills including abstract, critical, metacognitive, creative thinking. Many educators likened the mode to a mountain or a stairway where teachers set learning outcomes and design learning experiences to guide to higher level of thinking. The taxonomy has become an important model for structuring students' learning processes.
In 1990’s, the Bloom’s Taxonomy was updated by a group led by David Kraft Wall–one of the original authors and Lauren Anderson, a former student of Bloom’s.
To make the mode relevant to 21st century learning one of the main changes was to update the noun associating with each level to the action - oriented verbs.This differentiation positions thinking as an action based process rather than one of passive acquisition.
Let’s take an example to understand it more clearly:
‘Knowledge’ was replaced with ‘Remember’, ‘Analysis’ was changed as ‘Analyse’ and so on. They also reordered the last two steps. ‘Evaluation’ which was previously at the top was now moved down and ‘Creating’ formally ‘Synthesis’ was moved to the top.
With the help of this framing educators have several different verbs, questions and instructional strategies associated with each level.
How can teachers use Bloom’s taxonomy in English writing and verbs? Check out some examples in the table below to understand clearly.
Examples of english writing according to ‘New Bloom’s Taxonomy’
In recent years there have been many iterations used for Bloom’s Taxonomy. For example, a flipped pyramid illustrating an emphasis on higher order thinking skills.
Let’s take another instance to understand bloom taxonomy more efficiently:
If a student is able to remember the content then only that student will be able to make a decision and create something new out of that understanding.
OR
When a student understands the concept only the student will be able to take the evaluation test.
How can we use this taxonomy in the aspects of technology?
Let’s consider it as Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy.
This latest updated version aims to expand upon the skills associated with each other levels. As technology becomes more ingrained and an essential part of the learning.
Adding digital verbs to the taxonomy also promotes 21st century 4C’s skills of education. Educators should integrate these tools to help students to remember the content like showing the students flashcards.
With these examples the focus should not necessarily be on the tools themselves but on how the tools can be vehicles in transforming students' thinking at different levels.
So, when you receive the technology into your teaching ask yourself how can the tool used by you for teaching support different cognitive levels.
OR
Which tools help you address lower order thinking and which tools challenge students’ higher level thinking?
Happy Learning!
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