The Taxonomy of Learning
A taxonomy is a nothing more than a classification system that arranges elements within a field of science according to their relationships. As educational psychology progressed in the early 1900's, researchers sought to improve methods of teaching and learning by classifying the response and reaction to information and mapping intellectual functions.
Benjamin Bloom and the educators he worked with in 1956 classified the behaviors associated with new information, defining what they expected students to exhibit at the conclusion of a lesson series. What they developed was a list of objectives that were arranged from the simplest to the most complex, or from factual to conceptual (Slavin, 2009, p.413).
Bloom's objectives were separated into three domains:
At the conclusion of the lesson, students will be able to complete a guided simple experiment to produce a bubble.
2. Affective objectives are those that display feeling and attitude and are often quite important in teaching and learning. Consider the following objective:
At the conclusion of this science course, students will have a love for experimentation and discovery.The emotion the teacher hopes to instill is indeed important for planning the lessons and activities, but it does not exhibit factual knowledge of the subject.
3. Psycho-motor objectives are related to the development of physical skills, movement and coordination. This domain was never fully completed by Bloom, though others have given it some attention. It includes actions such as imitation and manipulation (Atherton, 2005), These are often the things we would like a learner to 'do without thinking,' such as developing proper pencil grip.
Each of these three domains, cognitive, affective, and psychomotor, has significant importance in defining crucial aspects of human development. Yet, among educators, it was the taxonomy of the cognitive domain that gained the most attention. Task oriented and easily measurable, it has come to be known simply as Bloom's Taxonomy.
Bloom's Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain
Bloom's original taxonomy had six categories in the cognitive domain, each carefully defined and reaching across subject matter lines (Krathwohl, 2002). Presumed to have a hierarchical function, these categories are quite often seen today in a pyramid arrangement. Having knowledge that can be recalled is at the lowest objective level of the cognitive domain. It is often the who, what, when, and where tasks we assign.List the characters of the story. Recall what you had for dinner. When did the US become a country? Find Pennsylvania on a map.Complicated tasks related to utilizing and evaluating information fall into the upper cognitive categories. Often at these higher levels, learners will produce a tangible product that represents their learning, or they could perhaps provide argument for or against the information presented. In all cases, higher level learning goes beyond simple recall. Though variations of Bloom's Taxonomy have been made through the years, such classification of the cognitive domain functions is still a widely recognized model of learning.
Relevance to Critical Reading Skills
Among Instructional Designers, Bloom's Taxonomy is well-known tool for writing lesson objectives and learning standards. It provides a variety of outcomes we expect students to display after learning has occurred. Yet, its use does not need to stop there. In fact, Bloom himself saw his taxonomy of objectives as something greater; he believed the classifications could be used as a common language, opening up lines of communication between persons about what they were learning. (Krathwohl, 2002). Thus, teachers, parents, story-hour volunteers; anyone who reads aloud to an audience, or who assesses a reader's comprehension, can utilize Bloom's Taxonomy to discuss the learning that has occurred.
Set aside the fact that comprehension is the second classification level of Bloom's Taxonomy, assessing true reading compression skills must reach across the levels of the cognitive domain. Sight words are an excellent example of why. What learners do with the information they see in print and with what they hear can very greatly. The child below can point to a card and tell me the word he sees, because he has memorized it by sight. He has gained knowledge. Does that mean he can define the word for me? Not necessarily. Can he use the word in a sentence? If he were to read the word in a story, would he know its context? These are all critical reading skills we must assess if we want to ensure the learner can reach his fullest potential.
Set aside the fact that comprehension is the second classification level of Bloom's Taxonomy, assessing true reading compression skills must reach across the levels of the cognitive domain. Sight words are an excellent example of why. What learners do with the information they see in print and with what they hear can very greatly. The child below can point to a card and tell me the word he sees, because he has memorized it by sight. He has gained knowledge. Does that mean he can define the word for me? Not necessarily. Can he use the word in a sentence? If he were to read the word in a story, would he know its context? These are all critical reading skills we must assess if we want to ensure the learner can reach his fullest potential.
Pre-reading and Post-reading Questions
Asking questions before reading can provide valuable insight as to how a learner will process new information. Not only can background knowledge be quickly assessed by a few pre-reading questions, they can also assist learners in making early connections between previous instruction and new information. Further, the right pre-reading questions can also incite interest in a story or text, gathering the attention of the learner and focusing it where it needs to be.
Consider reading The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles with a 1st Grade student. Before you begin you may ask:
Likewise, post-reading questions are an excellent tool for assisting a learner with processing new information. Below is a passage from American Revolution Biographies by Linda Schmittroth and Mary Kay Rosteck. As you can see, this book is not a colorful children's book, but that does not mean that young students can not learn from it.
After reading this passage with a 10-year old boy, there are a number of questions you could ask to make this text more meaningful to him. The follow questions take the learner to the analysis level of learning.
Consider reading The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles with a 1st Grade student. Before you begin you may ask:Sammy, do you know who Ruby Bridges is? From the cover, can you predict what this story might be about?With the first question you are asking Sammy to recall knowledge, where as with the second question you are asking Sammy to think at a higher level by evaluating what he sees and predicting what it might mean.
Likewise, post-reading questions are an excellent tool for assisting a learner with processing new information. Below is a passage from American Revolution Biographies by Linda Schmittroth and Mary Kay Rosteck. As you can see, this book is not a colorful children's book, but that does not mean that young students can not learn from it.
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| American Revolution Biographies (Schmittroth & Rosteck, 2000, p. 312) |
"George Mason was born in 1725 on the Virginia plantation of his parents, George and Ann Thomsom Mason. His father drowned when Mason was ten. With the approval of Mason's mother, his uncle, a lawyer named John Mercer, took charge of bringing up the boy. Mason had access to his uncle's large library of law books and was taught by private tutors. He gained a good grasp of the classics, the writings and the languages of the ancient Greeks and Romans."
After reading this passage with a 10-year old boy, there are a number of questions you could ask to make this text more meaningful to him. The follow questions take the learner to the analysis level of learning.
Brady, how is George Mason's childhood different from your own? What separates George Mason from other colonial children we have read about?Though lists of actions associated with Bloom's taxonomy vary from source to source, below I have included eight words per category that you might use with an elementary aged child.
As I prepared these lists, I heard in my mind, "It's not enough to know something, you need to use it!"
Teachers, mentors, parents... so many use this phrase to motivate others to do something with the their knowledge, whether they are aware of Bloom's Taxonomy or not. Perhaps it was the very same statement that led Benjamin Bloom to develop his classification system. Whatever the case may be, it is no secret that learning is a process, and levels of learning can be displayed by what we do with our new knowledge. These are the actions we want students, and even ourselves, to recognize and strive for when processing information.You will notice that some verbs appear in more than one category. For example, "classify" can indicate both comprehension and analysis. However, in order to use it appropriate you must consider the level of learning. Consider a book about the differences between herbivores or carnivores with the following post-reading questions:
Sally, let's look at the animal we read about on page 5. Would you classify it as an herbivore or a carnivore?
Thomas, here is a picture and description of an animal recently discovered in the rain forest. This animal has a lot of features that we read about today. Would you would classify it as an herbivore or a carnivore?
In the first you are simply asking, "Did they understand which animals in the book were herbivores and which were carnivores?" A higher inquiry that reaches into the analysis level will ask the learner to process what they have learned and utilize the new information. This occurs with the second objective, where by the animal to be classified was not previously presented.
Cognitive Learning Redefined
Though Bloom's original model is still quite common and used today, while exploring other resources, you find a number of variations of the model. Regardless of how the levels are organized and defined, it is less important to consider at what level an individual question is being asked, and more important to ensure that a variety of levels are being utilized when composing reading comprehension questions.
Image Sources:
(1.) https://sites.google.com/a/jtasd.org/dgabrielle/bloom-s-taxonomy
(2.) http://teaching.uncc.edu/resources/best-practice-articles/goals-objectives/objectives-using-bloom
(3.) http://sisltportfolio.missouri.edu/jepp54/A-Portfolio/Artifacts/BLOOMS-TAXONOMY.jpg
Image Sources:
(1.) https://sites.google.com/a/jtasd.org/dgabrielle/bloom-s-taxonomy
(2.) http://teaching.uncc.edu/resources/best-practice-articles/goals-objectives/objectives-using-bloom
(3.) http://sisltportfolio.missouri.edu/jepp54/A-Portfolio/Artifacts/BLOOMS-TAXONOMY.jpg
Putting Bloom's Taxonomy to Work
As I said above, it's not enough to know something, you need to use it. As much as that applies to students, it applies to teachers, mentors, and parents, too. Anyone can help a learner reach a higher cognitive level with the right probing questions. In fact, you do not even need to have a all-inclusive understanding of a learned concept to assist a learner in moving from a lower level to a higher one. For instance, if students were learning about ethnic foods, after reading a book about cultural cuisines, you may present your audience with the following task:
I want you to think about the foods you enjoy in your home, particularly for special occasions and holidays. Using the knowledge you just gained from the book, and your knowledge of your own family, let's organize some of our favorite foods according to ethic origins.
In this case, organize is pushing the students in to the synthesis level, even though I as the a teacher do not know what foods the students may present. They may in fact all tell me hot dogs/American, though it is quite likely that something such as baklava/Greek or tamales/Mexican could be come up. To help students reach that level, it may be necessary to probe with a question such as:
What do you eat at home that similar to what we read about in our book?
Questions such as these, take the students to the analysis level, one step below categorizing at the synthesis level, because they are comparing and contrasting what they know with what they just learned.
Taking a Closer Look
Gooney Bird Greene by Lois Lowry is an excellent children's book for putting Bloom's Taxonomy to work. It is the story of an eclectic 2nd Grade girl who captivates her classmates in fantastical tales and in turn teaches them the keys to great story telling. She engages them with her adventures by stressing the stories are "absolutely true" and interjecting "suddenly" whenever she wants to draw her audience in.Before reading this story aloud to a group of 2nd Grade students, you may ask the following pre-reading questions:
- Does anyone know the story of Gooney Bird Greene? (Knowledge)
- Looking at the book, how would you describe the girl on the cover? (Comprehension)
- Gooney Bird is a 2nd grader who likes to tell stories. How do you think we can apply what we are about to read to ourselves? (Application)
The first question will reveal if any are already familiar with the story.
The next question gets the students thinking about the main character. In the first paragraph of the book we learn that Gooney Bird is a new student, transferring into the school in October. By asking the students how they would describe her, you are putting them in the same position as her new classmates, observing her peculiar way of dress and forming a first impression. This not only shows how well they comprehend what they see on the cover and there ability to put it to words, but also sets them up for a greater comprehension of what her classmates thought the day she walked into the class.
With the third question, you are informing the students that she is one of them, with the intent that they might consider applying some of Gooney Bird's skills to their own story telling,.
The next question gets the students thinking about the main character. In the first paragraph of the book we learn that Gooney Bird is a new student, transferring into the school in October. By asking the students how they would describe her, you are putting them in the same position as her new classmates, observing her peculiar way of dress and forming a first impression. This not only shows how well they comprehend what they see on the cover and there ability to put it to words, but also sets them up for a greater comprehension of what her classmates thought the day she walked into the class.
With the third question, you are informing the students that she is one of them, with the intent that they might consider applying some of Gooney Bird's skills to their own story telling,.
Chapter 3 ends with the following:
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| Excerpt from Gooney Bird Green (Lowry, 2002, p.34) |
- Jason, can you identify the characters in the story so far? (Knowledge)
- Tom, how would you describe the teacher's role in this story? (Comprehension)
- Shawn, how can we use what we leaned from Gooney Bird so far? (Application)
- Sally, what is making Gooney Birds stories different and interesting? (Analysis)
- Can someone tell me how to modify a story to make them more like Gooney Bird's? (Synthesis)
- Gracey, can you predict how the class will respond to Gooney Bird's next story? (Evaluation)
Internet Resources for Applying Bloom's Taxonomy
A quick Google search revealed for me 'About 109,000 results in 0.22 seconds'. That's quite a bit to sift through! Below are several links that deal with the application of Bloom's Taxonomy in a teaching setting.
A Blooming Butterfly Bloom’s Taxonomy Poster for Elementary Teachers
Bloom's Digital Taxonomy by Andrew Churches At Educational Origami, you'll find a variety of PDFs that apply Bloom's Taxonomy to various learning situations.
Bloom's Revised Taxonomy A variety of resources for putting Bloom's Taxonomy to use in the classroom.
"Bloom's Taxonomy - An Overview" and "Bloom's Taxonomy - Designing Activities" Interactive tutorials from Colorado Community Colleges Online
Bloom's Taxonomy Verbs A simple printable list of verbs that allign with Bloom's Taxonomy is available from TeacherVision
Sample Questions and potential activities and products utilizing Bloom's Taxonomy
Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing A mouse-over stepped diagram that integrates Bloom's Taxonomy with the Factual, Conceptual, Procedural, and Metacognitive levels of learning. Prepared by Rex Heer, Iowa State University's Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching.
Writing Objectives Using Bloom's Taxonomy from the Center for Teaching and Learning. This is a clean, straight forward presentation of four interpretations of Bloom's taxonomy that you can use for writing objectives as well as pre- and post-reading questions.
(Links last updated July 31, 2011)
Atherton, J. S. (2005). Learning and teaching: Bloom's taxonomy. Retrieved from http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/bloomtax.htm
Coles, R. (1995). The story of Ruby Bridges. New York, NY: Scholastic.
Krathwohl, D. (2002). A revision of Bloom's taxonomy: An overview. Theory Into Practice, 41(4), 212-218. Retrieved from http://www.unco.edu/cetl/sir/stating_outcome/documents/Krathwohl.pdf
Lowry, L. (2002). Gooney Bird Greene. New York, NY: Random House.
Schmittroth, L., & Rosteck, M.K. (2000). American revolution: biographies. S. McConnell, (Ed.). Detroit, MI: U-X-L.
Slavin, R. E. (2009). Educational psychology: Theory and practice (9th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson/Merrill.
Writing Objectives Using Bloom's Taxonomy from the Center for Teaching and Learning. This is a clean, straight forward presentation of four interpretations of Bloom's taxonomy that you can use for writing objectives as well as pre- and post-reading questions.
(Links last updated July 31, 2011)
References:
Coles, R. (1995). The story of Ruby Bridges. New York, NY: Scholastic.
Krathwohl, D. (2002). A revision of Bloom's taxonomy: An overview. Theory Into Practice, 41(4), 212-218. Retrieved from http://www.unco.edu/cetl/sir/stating_outcome/documents/Krathwohl.pdf
Lowry, L. (2002). Gooney Bird Greene. New York, NY: Random House.
Schmittroth, L., & Rosteck, M.K. (2000). American revolution: biographies. S. McConnell, (Ed.). Detroit, MI: U-X-L.
Slavin, R. E. (2009). Educational psychology: Theory and practice (9th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson/Merrill.
Post ID: WGU REAT11
