How does Bloom's taxonomy continue to provide a framework to education?

What is Bloom's Taxonomy?

Bloom's taxonomy is a set of three hierarchical models used for classification of educational learning objectives into levels of complexity and specificity. Simply put, it is the classification of a subject into different levels of learning for better understanding by the learners.

How does Bloom's taxonomy continue to provide a framework for education?

We're sure all the teachers and aspiring ones must have come across phrases such as “objectives that help plan and deliver a lesson” or “hierarchical process that defines a child's progress in cognitive functions”. Well, well… the basis of all this lies in Bloom's taxonomy established by Benjamin Bloom in academic collaboration with Max Englehart, Edward Furst, Walter Hill, and David Krathwohl. The framework with a more profound emphasis on the skills and abilities of children distinguishes the imparting of knowledge in six significant hierarchical levels -

• Knowledge
• Comprehension
• Application
• Analysis
• Synthesis
• Evaluation

And every category is further divided into subcategories. Give us this little chance to explain the complexities that make teaching and learning simple and easy. We are just talking about the original taxonomy, not the revised one it opened vistas to with the dawn of the 21st century.

A child needs to understand details -

Specific to universal - A child first learns the names of the planets in the solar system, the sun and the moon, and the stars before deriving knowledge of the vast expanse of the universe.

Concrete to abstract - During the initial years of learning and practicing Mathematics, a child grasps the concept of numbers. The later levels involve the addition and subtraction of single-digit numbers before the child prepares to solve more significant and multi-digit problems.

Simple to complex - Imparting information that a child can handle is essential. A child who has just started learning to write cannot be taught to use complex tenses. What say you!? These strategies make the learning outcome effective, fetching only the good for the child and the school they belong to.

While the above points ponder upon the knowledge and comprehension of knowledge by children, what counts here is how they can apply and analyze the ability. Merely writing sentences in a book doesn’t make a child knowledgeable. Only when one can use the sentences in day-to-day conversations does it make knowledge worthy.

As educators strive to help students reach the highest levels of learning, the multi-layered approach put forth by Bloom’s taxonomy lays a solid foundation for developing outcomes and objectives even at the advanced stages of one’s academic knowledge.

Achieving Learning Outcome with Bloom's Taxonomy

For instance, if a teacher walks the steps from concrete to specific to teach the propagation of plants, she can start by -

Today's classrooms have become bubbling cauldrons of talent, and the transition from traditional methods of learning to learning with the implementation of ed-tech strategies makes it challenging for teachers to cope with the nuances of teaching-learning. However, sticking to the ways and techniques propagated by Bloom's taxonomy and giving way to new-age norms makes for a perfect amalgamation of the learning process.

• Recalling all that children know about nature around them.
• The picture they get in mind when they see varied plants around them.
• The teacher can then use that information from students to introduce how propagation takes place in plants.
• A teacher can use technology to explain the process divided into different arrays. Children can be shown video demonstrations on kitchen gardening, grafting, and more. Children can even apply that knowledge to grow their plants.

During a later session where children are evaluated on their knowledge about the recent chapter, children can come and display the plants they enjoyed growing at home as part of real-time learning. They can also participate in group discussions to exchange ideas and understand the topic better.

And when children start applying the knowledge derived in classrooms, the purpose of Bloom's taxonomy seems to have been achieved.

Scope of Bloom’s Taxonomy

It is relevant to all types of learning and all stages of learning. Teaching practitioners use the model to build strategies around learning outcomes in their lesson plans.

Bloom’s taxonomy and Email-writing

Let's see how we go about with this -

• Tap on the level of understanding of students in email-writing.
• Clarifying concerns that may arise in the minds of children; answering their questions.
• Assign an email writing task to children.
• Help the children put together the required information like the Sender's and the Recipient's details / the Body of the email / the Conclusion that can go in there.
• Give the children the space to come up with their content.
• Evaluate their works.

Summing up!

Bloom’s taxonomy is an educational model that found significance even during the days of the gurukul learning system and continues to be so now when education is a mix of teaching methodologies and technology. Providing the much-needed relevance to teaching-learning, the model also associates itself with the feelings and emotions of learners and their psychomotor skills and boosts critical thinking in children.

Vandana

Verified Writer

9 Oct, 2022