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Hi, my name is Stephen Bevan and I am Principal at Tuart Hill Primary School in Perth, Western Australia. Research shows that open and clear communication between home and school is important which is why I have created this blog. As Principal of Tuart Hill Primary School I value your opinions and encourage your comments. Feel free to comment on any of the posts.

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Tuart Hill Primary School prides itself on the positive, open and friendly culture that has been established. Our vision is to raise the literacy level of all students through the provision of quality teaching and learning opportunities.

Monday 4 June 2012

Bloom's Taxonomy Modified

I found this post online while doing some professional reading. I like the 'interlocking of cognitive processes model'. It seems to provide a more accurate representation of how people learn. The original Bloom's model was too linear in its representation.


Taken from http://blog.kathyschrock.net/


Yesterday on Twitter, Dr. James Norwood (@JRNorwood) posted a short tweet entitled "Flipping Bloom's Taxonomy". The intriguing title led me to click to the link that led to his Teaching in the Middle blog post about a blog post he had read on Shelley Wright's blog, Powerful Learning Practice.

 


The gist of the blog post was Shelley's idea to start with the creating cognitive process and "flip" the pyramid so it looks something like the image below.. She states, "Here’s what I propose. In the 21st century, we flip Bloom’s taxonomy. Rather than starting with knowledge, we start with creating, and eventually discern the knowledge that we need from it."

 

http://plpnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/bloom_pyramid-2.png
 


I do not think I agree. I do promote the use of problem, project, inquiry, and/or challenge based learning models to allow students to take control of their learning. However, I truly believe students need to have at least some knowledge-base in a topic before they can analyze, evaluate, or create something with the content at hand. In addition, during the acquisition and creation of new knowledge, learners move up and down the cognitive levels as they need to.

Shelley states that she (and many others) were taught that "Blooms becomes a “step pyramid” that one must arduously try to climb with your learners." I am glad my professors at Rutgers College of Education did not teach it this way! I am a big fan of the pedagogical model and thinking about the different levels has always allowed me to plan activities at any (or all) of the levels at any point in the teaching and learning process. I never thought of Bloom's Taxonomy as a series of steps to the top.


However, I do agree with Shelly that the pyramid shape, with the little tip left for creating, may confuse some educators into thinking only some students are capable of getting to that level or creativity is a small component of the cognitive skills process.


I gave it some thought, and developed a different graphic to represent the taxonomy based on how I utilize it. Take a look at the image below and let me know what you think!







References:
Norwood, James. 17 May 2012. "Flipping Bloom's Taxonomy". Blog post. Teaching in the Middle,
Wright, Shelley. 15 May 2012. "Flipping Bloom's Taxonomy". Blog post. Powerful Learning Practice.

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Location: Eastham, MA 02642, USA

Labels: Bloom's Taxonomy Shelley Wright Kathy Schrock James Norwood

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