Every child is unique in terms of their learning needs, attention span, problem-solving attitude, interest, etc., and
these elements should not be seen as obstacles. Instead thinking of a strategy that benefits students with their
respective needs would be the right approach.
Most students perform great in the subject of their interest however, knowledge of every foundational subject is essential for students.
Here Bloom’s Taxonomy identifies as a wonderful tool in the education field. Being an educator, you would’ve come across this term many times and felt its demand while creating lesson plans, developing content, or doing both.
Observing the need, this blog post explains Bloom’s Taxonomy means, its importance in education, and how it helps students incorporate critical thinking.
So, let’s get started!
What Is Bloom's Taxonomy?
Bloom’s Taxonomy explains a sequential way of teaching which ensures students’ progress towards mastery in every subject.
Isn’t it sound amazing?
The sequence has six levels of facilitating learning. Each step in the taxonomy ensures every student irrespective of their learning needs comprehends knowledge.
American education psychologist Benjamin Samuel Bloom and his team present Bloom’s taxonomy aim to evoke critical thinking in students. Also, simplify the teaching-learning process with every step for students to learn/understand.
In 1956, the first Bloom’s paper - The Taxonomy of Educational Objectives released that covers the classification of learning objectives and later it is known as Bloom’s Taxonomy. The Bloom revised taxonomy was published during the year 2001. Since then there have been a few revisions, but they are all connected to the first Bloom’s taxonomy.
Domains And Levels In Bloom’s Taxonomy
Bloom’s Taxonomy covers three domains which are:
1. Cognitive Domain
2. Affective Domain
3. Psychomotor Domain
The cognitive domain covers a large part of the taxonomy. It explains six levels and provides strategies to improve students’ knowledge and critical thinking ability.
The affective domain explains emotions like pain, confidence, or other important emotions students show while learning something new.
The psychomotor domain explains students’ sensory development or body movements while doing involving in a physical activity like playing a musical instrument.
Cognitive Domains
(Pictorial representation of Cognitive Domain’s levels)
Bloom’s taxonomy focuses on cognitive thinking (Processing new information) so supporting students to achieve mastery can become easier.
Knowledge/Remember (Revised):
Learning a new topic or a term. E.g. Grammar rules, property of a substance, a proven theorem, or a concept from any subject.
Understanding:
Comprehending new knowledge which can be about any term or universally proven topic. Here, the brain process the new information.
It can be through summarising the knowledge, explaining it to peers, and also by comparing the oral and written text for better understanding.
Applying:
When students comprehend new knowledge. It’s time to apply through solving problem-based on the topic. After finishing a topic, solve 5-7 quick questions and deepen their knowledge.
Analysing:
Think and see various real-life contexts where the concept is being used E.g. a topic from science, and explore the fields where it is used. Research its various property, and think deeply about the benefits connected to its property.
Evaluating:
Now step, evaluating help student to create a new perspective about the new term/concept they learnt. Overall they can form a new conclusion by analysing its properties.
Creating:
Now, students are confident about the new concepts and have explored enough about them by following the mentioned level. The last phase of taxonomy encourages learners to think of a completely new application or develop a new product using their new knowledge.
Understanding Bloom’s Levels Using An Example
As mentioned above, all six levels of bloom’s cognitive domain take the students towards mastery.
Let’s get more clear about all six levels through one example.
Subject: Maths, Class: Fifth, Topic: Ratio
1. Knowledge/Remembering: Students’ knowledge about pre-requisite (Fraction, simple division, comparison) should be checked orally or through some simple questions-solving. After bridging the gap, if required explain the term Ratio, how to represent them, how to simplify a ratio, and defining an equivalent ratio.
2. Understanding: Students should be assessed by offering simple computational questions to write ratio, simplify ratio, creating a new ratio by using the equivalent ratio concept.
3. Applying: Start with a simple word problem, where students may have two quantities that are being compared, write a ratio for them, what they understand by that ratio, and how to write a new ratio when one quantity is being increased/decreased.
4. Analysing: Add some units like Rupees with the quantity, and check if students can solve the problem. What do they analyse when numbers come with certain units?
Let them recall a real-life context where they use ratio in their day-to-day life.
5. Evaluating: Give them a situation from real life, where they need to use ratio using all its related concepts. Let them apply their knowledge and evaluate their results. Now, open a discussion forum and listen to every student’s evaluation with a proper reason.
6. Creating: After crossing all the learning levels, students will become confident about the ratio. Give them a task where they’ve to come up with their creation or an idea with a proper plan using ratio.
It could be organizing a birthday party, cooking a new dish, designing a new pattern in art, their travel plan to a nearby place, etc. or asking them to come up with a constructive idea where they can use their Ratio concept perfectly.
Importance of Bloom’s Taxonomy In Education
The importance of Bloom’s level and domains has been explained so far. Each level benefits the student from clearing their doubt to teaching a new concept to help them create something new out of that knowledge.
Isn’t the method feel so impactful?
The taxonomy benefits students and educators both. Let’s understand Bloom’s importance through the listing.
For Teachers:
It helps them design a suitable lesson plan that explains the topic to every student irrespective of their learning level and that too in a detailed manner.
Taxonomy has enough scope to insert ideas and different methods to make learning easy and smooth as much as possible.
Using different levels, teachers can analyse the student’s progress like where most of them are struggling or at which level they need to change their strategy to make it easy to follow.
Making the learning environment interactive so that teachers don’t have to push too much to explain. All they’ve to do it to break the concept as per the levels and then perform the discussion to facilitate new knowledge.
For Student:
The more you say, the less it feels. Bloom’s Taxonomy has been updated as per the insights of education research scholars, but its use has never been stopped.
The reason is its immense positive impact on children’s cognitive thinking and their growing interest towards new learning..
Students get the direction to learn and apply their new learning.
They get involved in the discussion while analysing the various application and develop critical thinking skills.
While applying their new knowledge, students learn and practice problem-solving skills and understand their importance.
Performing well with the support of their teacher boost students’ confidence and it help them to think more and come up with more questions to clear their doubt.
Creating something new through a new concept makes them confident more and overcome their fear of scoring marks or doing wrong and right. Because while creating, they’ll learn to focus on the process that’ll take them towards the desired result.
Final Thoughts on Bloom’s Taxonomy And Its Importance
Hopefully, the post could explain the importance of using Bloom’s in education. If a method has been used for so long, it implies its positive impact.
Bloom’s taxonomy and its levels are pretty useful while facilitating learning. When it comes to preplanning, teachers often feel doubtful about explaining things in a way that benefits every student in the class.
Bloom’s gives a path to prepare your lesson in a suitable manner. Well, saying it always gives satisfactory results won’t be fair, but it has created an impact largely in teaching.
Also, being a teacher you have a better idea about your students. So you can customise your lesson plan accordingly which leaves you and your class with the most satisfactory result. In the end, it’s the student’s progress that shows the result.
Overall, everything that goes in the student’s favour and helps them grow mentally and cultivate a positive attitude must be practised. Bloom’s taxonomy is certainly one such technique in education.
So start educating the Bloom’s way!
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