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Bloom’s Taxonomy: A Revolutionary Learning Approach

Researched and Prepared by

Rajeev Ranjan

Principal

B.Ed(English)

Post Graduate Diploma in Teaching English (PGDTE)

English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad

&

BA & MA (English)

Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi

Email .Id: rajeevbhuvns@gmail.com

The very word 'education' means drawing something out, to draw

something out. When something is drawn outwards from your centre,

it is education. My own vision is that each student should be given an

opportunity to teach too. Every teacher once in a while should sit with

the students and start learning again. Each teacher once in a while

should be a student, and each student once in a while should be a

teacher too. This difference between the teacher and the taught has to

be dissolved; the teacher and the taught are part of one process.

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Bloom’s Taxonomy: A Revolutionary Learning Approach

Time and tides wait for none. Of course, great mind of the world never ever waits for both but brings revolution for the welfare of world civilization. Benjamin Samuel Bloom (1913-99), is an intellectual, social, educators and a world citizen of 21st century educational globe. Bloom’s higher education with his mentor Ralph Tyler at Pennsylvania State University had sown the seeds to bring revolution in “Educational Philosophy”. His aim was to develop a system of categories of learning behaviour to assist in the design and assessment of educational learning. In 1956, Benjamin Bloom with collaborators Max Englehart, Edward Furst, Walter Hill, and David Krathwohl published a framework for categorizing educational goals: Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. This taxonomy is familiarly known as “Bloom’s Taxonomy”. Bloom's Taxonomy was primarily created for academic education; however it is relevant to all types of learning. He strongly believed that education should focus on “Mastery” of subjects and promotion of higher forms of thinking. Bloom demonstrated that traditional teaching tended to be focused on fact- transfer and information recall- the lowest level of training rather than true meaningful of personal development. In fact, this remains a central challenge for educators and trainers even in 2020 decades of 21st century.

Taxonomy means 'a set of classification principles', or 'structure', and

Domain simply means 'category'. Bloom's Taxonomy is a multi-tiered

model of classifying thinking according to six cognitive levels of

complexity. Throughout the years, the levels have often been depicted

as a stairway, leading many teachers to encourage their students to

"climb to a higher (level of) thought." The lowest three levels are:

knowledge, comprehension, and application. The highest three levels

are: analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. "The taxonomy is

hierarchical; [in that] each level is subsumed by the higher levels. In

other words, a student functioning at the 'application' level has also

mastered the material at the 'knowledge' and 'comprehension'

levels." (UW Teaching Academy, 2003).

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Bloom's Taxonomy at a glance:

It is really nice and fruitful to know something briefly. Bloom’s

Taxonomy vision and mission is so concrete and minute that it

demands much time to grasp. It demands keen passion to read, to

grasp and implement. If we become successful to do so, we can do

wonder on actual level.

Bloom's Taxonomy provides an excellent structure for planning,

designing, assessing and evaluating training and learning

effectiveness.

Bloom's Taxonomy underpins the classical 'Knowledge, Attitude,

Skills' structure of learning method and evaluation.

Bloom Taxonomy continues to be useful and very relevant to the

planning and design of:

School, college and university education

Adult and corporate training courses

Teaching and lesson plans and learning materials

Serve as a template for the evaluation of: training, teaching,

learning and development, within every aspect of education and

industry.

Bloom's Taxonomy model is in three parts, or 'overlapping domains'.

1. Cognitive domain (intellectual capability, i.e., knowledge, or 'think')

2. Affective domain (feelings, emotions and behaviour, i.e., attitude, or 'feel')

3. Psychomotor domain (manual and physical skills, i.e., skills, or 'do')

In each of the three domains Bloom's Taxonomy is based on the premise that the categories are ordered in degree of difficulty. An important premise of Bloom's Taxonomy is that each category (or 'level') must be mastered before progressing to the next. As such the categories within each domain are levels of learning development, and these levels increase in difficulty.

We should go ahead step by step. We should do it by creating task oriented goal according to the level. The learner should benefit from

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development of knowledge and intellect (Cognitive Domain); attitude and beliefs (Affective Domain); and the ability to put physical and bodily skills into effect - to act (Psychomotor Domain).

Cognitive Domain:

The cognitive domain involves knowledge and the development of intellectual skills (Bloom, 1956). This includes

The recall or recognition of specific facts Procedural patterns Concepts that serve in the development of intellectual abilities

and skills Six Major categories of cognitive domain starting from simplest behaviour to the most complex in other words as degrees of difficulties: Affective Domain: Best part of a human being. Human beings developed in a state of conflict personality in terms of persons’ oneself, family, society and circumstance. The materialistic approach of life, aspiration to achieve these materialistic things, feeling of possession of these things, overburdened, over pressured and over possessiveness are the main cause of conflict. We need to develop positive attitude within the sky limit to create an aura of success. The affective domain (Krathwohl, Bloom, Masia, 1973) includes the manner in which we deal with things emotionally. These are:

Feelings, Values, Appreciation, Enthusiasms, Motivations , Attitudes,

The five major categories are listed from the simplest behaviour to the most complex. Psychomotor Domain: Poise, pause and balance according to the need of the task is the psychomotor domain. Physical involvement increases the value of task, maximize outcome of the task, and define

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positive result of the task. Physical involvement also creates interest in the task. The psychomotor domain involves:

Physical movement Coordination Use of the motor-skill areas

Development of these skills requires practice and is measured in terms of speed, precision, distance, procedures, or techniques in execution. It is worthy enough to go through Allyn and Bacon approach of integrating skills through BT. Integration of Skills through Bloom’s Taxonomy: Allyn and Bacon, Boston, MA developed a logical and rationale ways of integrations of skills with competence.

Competence Skills Demonstrated

Knowledge observation and recall of information knowledge of dates, events, places knowledge of major ideas mastery of subject matter Question Cues:

list, define, tell, describe, identify, show, label, collect, examine, tabulate, quote, name, who, when, where, etc.

Comprehension understanding information grasp meaning translate knowledge into new context interpret facts, compare, contrast order, group, infer causes predict consequences Question Cues:

summarize, describe, interpret, contrast, predict, associate, distinguish, estimate, differentiate, discuss, extend

Application use information use methods, concepts, theories in new situations solve problems using required skills or knowledge Questions Cues:

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apply, demonstrate, calculate, complete, illustrate, show, solve, examine, modify, relate, change, classify, experiment, discover

Analysis seeing patterns organization of parts recognition of hidden meanings identification of components Question Cues:

analyze, separate, order, explain, connect, classify, arrange, divide, compare, select, explain, infer

Synthesis use old ideas to create new ones generalize from given facts relate knowledge from several areas predict, draw conclusions Question Cues:

combine, integrate, modify, rearrange, substitute, plan, create, design, invent, what if?, compose, formulate, prepare, generalize, rewrite

Evaluation compare and discriminate between ideas assess value of theories, presentations make choices based on reasoned argument verify value of evidence recognize subjectivity Question Cues

assess, decide, rank, grade, test, measure, recommend, convince, select, judge, explain, discriminate, support, conclude, compare, summarize

From Benjamin S. Bloom Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Published by Allyn and Bacon, Boston, MA (1984) by Pearson Education Knowledge should go up to evaluation level. It is two tier, first , to check , how and how much has been grasped and , second, whether the receiver is able to analyze his/her status or not.

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Simple ways of comparative skill categories wise of Cognitive, Affective and Psychomotor Domain of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Cognitive

Affective

Psychomotor

knowledge attitude skills

1. Recall data 1. Receive

(awareness) 1. Imitation (copy)

2. Understand 2. Respond

(react) 2. Manipulation (follow

instructions)

3. Apply (use) 3. Value

(understand

and act) 3. Develop Precision

4. Analyse

(structure/elements)

4. Organise

personal

value system

4. Articulation (combine,

integrate related skills)

5. Synthesize

(create/build)

5. Internalize

value system

(adopt

behaviour)

5. Naturalization

(automate, become

expert)

6. Evaluate (assess,

judge in relational

terms)

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Comparison of Bloom’s Taxonomy from 1956 to 2001

Time never stops at a place. Time never becomes lazy. It always goes on. In due course of time, new need and requirement compels us to revise on and review a philosophy. The best disciple of Blooms’ Anderson, a former student of Bloom’s worked hard to revise and analyze “Taxonomy” and given a new life to Bloom’s Taxonomy which works worth enough for the welfare of educational world in the title “A Taxonomy for Teaching Learning and Assessment”.

The new terms are defined as:

Remembering: Retrieving, recognizing, and recalling relevant knowledge from long-term memory.

Understanding: Constructing meaning from oral, written, and graphic messages through interpreting, exemplifying, classifying, summarizing, inferring, comparing, and explaining.

Applying: Carrying out or using a procedure through executing, or implementing.

Analyzing: Breaking material into constituent parts, determining how the parts relate to one another and to an overall structure or purpose through differentiating, organizing, and attributing.

Evaluating: Making judgments based on criteria and standards through checking and critiquing.

Creating: Putting elements together to form a coherent or functional whole; reorganizing elements into a new pattern or structure through generating, planning, or producing.

(Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001, pp. 67-68)

It would be better to know now the original version of education guru Blooms’ philosophy. Let see the difference between the teacher and the taught Anderson’s review-----------------------------------------------------

The Original Taxonomy (1956)

Here are the authors’ brief explanations of these main categories in from the appendix ofTaxonomy of Educational Objectives (Handbook One, pp. 201-207):

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Knowledge “involves the recall of specifics and universals, the recall of methods and processes, or the recall of a pattern, structure, or setting.”

Comprehension “refers to a type of understanding or apprehension such that the individual knows what is being communicated and can make use of the material or idea being communicated without necessarily relating it to other material or seeing its fullest implications.”

Application refers to the “use of abstractions in particular and concrete situations.”

Analysis represents the “breakdown of a communication into its constituent elements or parts such that the relative hierarchy of ideas is made clear and/or the relations between ideas expressed are made explicit.”

Synthesis involves the “putting together of elements and parts so as to form a whole.”

Evaluation engenders “judgments about the value of material and methods for given purposes.”

(The 1984 edition of Handbook One is available in the CFT Library in Calhoun 116)

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Why do we use Bloom’s Taxonomy in Academy?

I personally feel that Bloom’s Taxonomy is more than an educational philosophy. It should be implemented in real life teaching learning process. It develops a human being into integrated human being. The authors of the revised taxonomy suggest a multi-layered answer to this question, to which the author of this teaching guide has added some clarifying points:

1. Objectives (learning goals) are important to establish in a pedagogical interchange so that teachers and students alike understand the purpose of that interchange.

2. Teachers can benefit from using frameworks to organize objectives because

3. Organizing objectives helps to clarify objectives for themselves and for students.

4. Having an organized set of objectives helps teachers to: o “plan and deliver appropriate instruction”; o “design valid assessment tasks and strategies”;and

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o “ensure that instruction and assessment are aligned with the objectives.”

Use of Bloom’s Taxonomy in School: Educational philosophy is to be

implemented in real life situation, its implementation makes it lively

and worth enough. I find, very useful suggestions from the Omaha

Public Schools Teacher’s corner and I have taken completely (without

any correction), which is really eye-opener and supportive for a

teacher.

Using the Revised Taxonomy in an adaptation from the Omaha Public

Schools Teacher's Corner, a lesson objective based upon the story of

Goldilocks and the Three Bears is presented for each of the six levels

of the Cognitive Process as shown on the Revised Taxonomy Table.

Remember: Describe where Goldilocks lived. Understand: Summarize what the Goldilocks story was about. Apply: Construct a theory as to why Goldilocks went into the

house. Analyze: Differentiate between how Goldilocks reacted and how

you would react in each story event. Evaluate: Assess whether or not you think this really happened

to Goldilocks. Create: Compose a song, skit, poem, or rap to convey the

Goldilocks story in a new form. Although this is a very simple example of the application of

Bloom's taxonomy the author is hopeful that it will demonstrate both the ease and the usefulness of the Revised Taxonomy Table.

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Conclusion: In developing country as well as developed country, the whole education system is going to be totally (e)s, (i)s i.e. e- learning, i-pod-------------and my own observation is that the less you depend on memory , the more intelligent you become. Breath in fresh air, feel healthy, create a new world. Training or learning design and evaluation need not cover all aspects of the Taxonomy - just make sure there is coverage of the aspects that are appropriate. If you are involved in the design, delivery or evaluation of teaching, training, courses, learning and lesson plans, you should find Bloom's Taxonomy useful, as simple checklist to ensure you are using the most appropriate type of training or learning in order to develop the capabilities required or wanted. Bloom's Taxonomy has stood the test of time. Due to its long history and popularity, it has been condensed, expanded, and reinterpreted in a variety of ways.

I am really feeling happy to restate and repeat same thought, where I started, this Ramayana and Bible of educational philosophy, Blooms’ Taxonomy. The very word 'education' means drawing something out, to

draw something out. When something is drawn outwards from your centre,

it is education. My own vision is that each student should be given an

opportunity to teach too. Every teacher once in a while should sit with the

students and start learning again. Each teacher once in a while should be a

student, and each student once in a while should be a teacher too. This

difference between the teacher and the taught has to be dissolved; the

teacher and the taught are part of one process.(Rajeev Ranjan)

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References:-

Anderson, L. W., Krathwohl, D. R., Airasian, P. W., Cruikshank, K. A., Mayer, R. E., Pintrich, P. R., Raths, J., Wittrock, M. C. (2000). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. New York: Pearson, Allyn & Bacon. Biggs, J. B. and Collis, K. (1982). Evaluating the Quality of Learning: the SOLO taxonomy. New York, Academic Press Bloom B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I: The Cognitive Domain. New York: David McKay Co Inc. Dave, R. H. (1975). Developing and Writing Behavioral Objectives. (R. J. Armstrong, ed.). Tucson, Arizona: Educational Innovators Press. Harrow, A. (1972) A Taxonomy of Psychomotor Domain: A Guide for Developing Behavioral Objectives. New York: David McKay. Krathwohl, D. R., Bloom, B. S., & Masia, B. B. (1973). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, the Classification of Educational Goals. Handbook II: Affective Domain. New York: David McKay Co., Inc. Pohl, M. (2000). Learning to Think, Thinking to Learn: Models and Strategies to Develop a Classroom Culture of Thinking. Cheltenham, Vic.: Hawker Brownlow. Simpson E. J. (1972). The Classification of Educational Objectives in the Psychomotor Domain. Washington, DC: Gryphon House. Paul, R. W. (1985a). Bloom's taxonomy and critical thinking instruction, Educational Leadership (Vol. 42, pp. 36): Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development. 1958a. Evaluation in Secondary Schools. New Delhi, All India Council for Secondary Education 1961a. Evaluation in Higher Education. New Delhi, University Grants Commission. Useful Web links:- http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html www.routledge.com - laurant.edublogs.org www.weac.org

http://www.coun.uvic.ca/learning/exams/blooms-taxonomy.html http://classweb.gmu.edu/ndabbagh/Resources/Resources2/bloomstax.htm http://www.ion.uillinois.edu/resources/tutorials/id/developObjectives.asp#top http://ets.tlt.psu.edu/learningdesign/objectives/writingobjectives http://web.mit.edu/tll/teaching-materials/learning-objectives/index-learning-objectives.html