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Educational Articles
Critical Thinking & Bloom's Taxonomy
By Marion Hindes
for Remedia Publications
With today's emphasis on
meeting standards and raising test scores, teachers are well advised to
build higher level thinking skills into a solid, basic curriculum.
Thinking skills such as logic and reasoning are clearly linked to better
academic performance and higher test scores.
How does a teacher
incorporate these skills into an already demanding schedule? It may not
be as difficult as one might think.
The purpose of this
article is threefold. First, we will briefly review Bloom's Taxonomy.
Next, we will provide a model of how to apply it in the everyday
classroom. Finally, we will offer suggestions for supplemental materials
that can be used to foster thinking at a higher level.
Bloom's
Taxonomy of Thinking Skills
Note: please bear in mind
that in educational settings these categories will overlap and
intertwine.
Knowledge:
This is the foundation. If a student does not know the basics of any
subject, how can he think critically about it?
Recalling information
Knowing dates, places, and events
Knowing major ideas
Mastering subject matter
Comprehension:
Understanding information and its meaning
Interpreting facts
Comparing and contrasting
Ordering and sequencing
Grouping and classifying
Understanding cause and effect
Predicting consequences
Application:
Making use of knowledge learned
Using information already acquired to expand
information and build skills
Applying knowledge to real life
Converting abstract content to concrete
situations
Analysis:
Taking apart the known
Breaking a whole into its component parts
Seeing how parts relate to the whole
Seeing patterns
Recognizing hidden meanings
Synthesis:
Combining parts of a whole in a new and
different way
Using old ideas to create new ones
Generalizing from given facts
Predicting outcomes
Drawing conclusions
Relating knowledge from several different areas
Evaluation:
Making judgments
Forming personal values
Recognizing bias
Judging source credibility
Evaluating facts for accuracy
Weighing value of evidence
How does all this apply
to the real classroom? Following are examples of story questions that
can be used to correlate with each level of Bloom's Taxonomy. (Of
course, the wording will need to be adapted to the grade level).
Questions pertain to the story The Lion and the Mouse.
Knowledge:
Literal comprehension questions.
Who was sleeping under the tree?
What did the mouse promise the lion?
When did the lion and the mouse meet again?
Comprehension:
What is the main idea of the story?
Tell the main events in the order they happened.
What caused the lion to let the mouse go free?
Application:
Can you think of an example of a person returning a favor like the
mouse did?
Draw a picture of the mouse helping the lion.
How are the mouse and the lion like real people?
Analysis:
What are the two main parts (or scenes) of this story?
What pattern of behavior do you see in the lion and the mouse?
What is the moral of this story?
Synthesis:
Tell this story in a new way. Use people instead of animals as
characters.
What do you think the hunter will do when he finds the lion gone?
Do you know any other stories about mercy or kindness?
Evaluation:
How important do you think it is to be kind?
Do you think the lion and the mouse did the right thing? Why or why
not?
If you were the lion, would you let the mouse go free? Why or why not?
Not only can critical
thinking be fostered through the regular curriculum, it can be taught
directly as well, through materials created for that purpose. Remedia
Publications' newly revised Critical Thinking Series
(Grades 3-6) targets these important skills. Based on Bloom's
Taxonomy, this entertaining 16 book series fosters creativity while
building language, reading, math, logic and reasoning skills (REM
201G).
Younger learners will be challenged by our Primary Thinking Skills
4-book set (REM
205E) and our Cut, Paste & Color 5-book
set (REM
52F). Both series deal with primary thinking skills. For
information on these and other skills-based material, visit our web site
at www.rempub.com. or call 1-800-826-4740
and request a catalog.
Material adapted from
Internet sources
www.ops.org/reading/blooms_taxonomy.html
www.coun.uvic.ca/learn/program/hndouts/bloom.html
www.kent.wednet.edu/KSD/MA/resources/blooms/teachers_blooms.html.
-- Marion
Hindes
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