Bloom's Taxonomy

What is Bloom's Taxonomy?

According to Collins (2014), Bloom's Taxonomy is widely used framework which aims to promote higher forms of thinking in education, such as analysing and evaluating instead of just teaching students to remember facts. 

                                                        https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/474707616951859180/ 

How is the Taxonomy used in Education?

According to Collins (2014), teachers use the framework to scaffold teaching thinking skills in a structured way. To do this, teachers can follow the following stages: 

1) Specifically teaching the language and concepts of high-order thinking 

 Teachers not only teach the language and concepts but also tell students what they are doing and why higher order thinking skills are essential for them to problem-solve at school as well as in life. 

2) Planning classroom questioning and discussion time to tap into a particular higher-order thinking skills

Teachers need to meticulously plan lessons and discussions that ask students questions with a higher-order thinking learning objective in mind. Teachers should also encourage students to reflect on their learning so they understand their thinking strengths and weaknesses. 

3) Explicitly teaching subject concepts

The research is overwhelmingly in favour of explicit, direct instruction. Students need to understand the critical features that define what higher-order thinking skills they are practicing. In any subject area, students need to be aware of the key concepts they must learn, as well as be able to identify and practice them. Teachers need to alert students when a key concept is being introduced, and help them identify the explicit characteristics of the concept. Students need to understand whether the concept is concrete, abstract, verbal, nonverbal, or process. 

Thomas and Thorne (2009) suggest multi-step process for teaching and learning concepts, which includes:

1. name the critical (main features) of the concept

2. name some additional features of the concept

3. compare the new to the already known 

4. name some false features of the concept

5. give the best examples or prototypes of the concept (what it is)

6. give some non-examples or non-prototypes (what the concept isn't)

7. identify other similar or connected concepts

4) Providing scaffolding

Scaffolding involves giving students support at the beginning of a lesson and then gradually turning over responsibility to the students to operate on their own. Without this scaffolding students are unlikely to develop higher-order thinking skills; however too much scaffolding can be as detrimental as not enough. Kauchan and Eggen (1998) suggest teachers should provide only enough support so that learners make progress on their own'.

5)  Consciously teach to encourage higher order thinking

In order to foster deep conceptual understanding, consider using the following strategies:

• Teach skills through real-word contexts
• Vary the context in which student use a newly taught skill
• Emphasise the building blocks of higher order thinking
• Build background knowledge 
• Classify things in categories
• Arrange items along dimensions
• Make hypotheses
• Draw inferences 
• Analyse things into their components
• Solve problems
• Encourage students to think about the thinking strategies they are using

Source

Reflection Prompt 

Secondary discipline areas are often content-laden. Use Robyn Collins Curriculum and Leadership as a foundation, and consider the Australian Curriculum in your selected junior discipline area. Identify the process/research/inquiry skills that are required. They are skills that, according to Collins, are best developed through application to real-life contexts. Use the Aims, rationale and structure of the curriculum to uncover the global approaches of importance, as well as the content.

English (Year 7-9) According to the Australian Curriculum, ''the study of English is central to the learning and development of all young Australians. It helps create confident communicators, imaginative thinkers and informed citizens. It is through the study of English that individuals learn to analyse, understand, communicate and build relationships with others and with the world around them''.  The Australian Curriculum: English aims to ensure that students: 

• learn to listen to, read, view, speak, write, create and reflect on increasingly complex and sophisticated spoken, written and multimodal texts across a growing range of contexts with accuracy, fluency and purpose 
• appreciate, enjoy and use the English language in all its variations and develop a sense of its richness and power to evoke feelings, convey information, form ideas, facilitate interaction with others, entertain, persuade and argue 
• understand how Standard Australian English works in its spoken and written forms and in combination with non-linguistic forms of communication to create meaning 
• develop interest and skills in inquiring into the aesthetic aspects of texts, and develop an informed appreciation of literature. 

In Year 7 students need to start by understanding how text structures can influence the complexity of a text and are dependent on audience, purpose and context. They demonstrate understanding of how the choice of language features, images and vocabulary affects meaning. Then students need to explain issues and ideas from a variety of sources, analysing supporting evidence and implied meaning. They select specific details from texts to develop their own response, recognising that texts reflect different viewpoints. They listen for and explain different perspectives in texts.  

In Year 8 students interpret texts, questioning the reliability of sources of ideas and information. They select evidence from the text to show how events, situations and people can be represented from different viewpoints. They listen for and identify different emphases in texts, using that understanding to elaborate on discussions. 

In Year 9 students analyse the ways that text structures can be manipulated for effect. They analyse and explain how images, vocabulary choices and language features distinguish the work of individual authors. They evaluate and integrate ideas and information from texts to form their own interpretations. They select evidence from texts to analyse and explain how language choices and conventions are used to influence an audience. They listen for ways texts position an audience. 

This aligns with Collins' views of critical thinking. She describes critical thinking as ‘reasonable, reflective thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe or do', while it also includes ''reasoning, questioning and investigating, observing and describing, comparing and connecting, finding complexity, and exploring viewpoints''.   

References

Collins, R. (2014). Skills for the 21st Century: Teaching high order thinking. Curriculum and Leadership Learning, 12(14). 

Australian Curriculum Link