By Jeff
Dunn on August 7, 2014
The
various levels of Bloom’s (Revised) Taxonomy are pretty well known to most
teachers at this point. The gradated levels of critical thinking allow teachers
to build lesson plans and identify learning outcomes that are appropriate for
the level of exploration of material for the students at that time.
A useful
way of understanding how to put Bloom’s into action in your classroom (and
ensuring that you’re using the right level of the taxonomy while doing it) is
through the use of action verbs. Expanding on the basic verbs used in the
taxonomy (Creating, Analyzing, Remembering, etc), you can add other verbs that
fall into each category to help you delineate different types of activities
that address the specific level of Bloom’s Taxonomy you’re looking for. Mia
MacMeekin has created the below graphic with a huge variety of different verbs
that can apply for each category. What other verbs would you add? Weigh in by
leaving a comment below, mentioning @Edudemic on Twitter or leaving your
thoughts on our Facebook page.
Bloom’s
Verbs
CREATING
•devise
•build
•design
•formulate
•imagine
•collect
EVALUATING
•verify
•recommend
•criticize
•debate
•critique
•calculate
ANALYZING
•divide
•explain
•categorize
•identify
•estimate
•compare
APPLYING
•execute
•utilize
•complete
•produce
•dramatize
•illustrate
UNDERSTANDING
•summarize
•discuss
•describe
•explain
•outline
•predict
REMEMBERING
•recollect
•remind
•memorize
•identify
•cite
•reproduce
How To
Teach Critical Thinking Using Bloom’s Taxonomy
By Jeff Dunn on September 27, 2013@edudemic
The
various levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy are well known to teachers, students, and
the rest of the education world at this point. You need to slowly ascend the
pyramid in order to effectively reach your goal(s). That’s great. But what
happens when you try to apply other time-tested methodologies to the famous
taxonomy?
This
happens.
The visual
guide you see below is from Flickr via Kris McElroy’s Pinterest board (she
shares a lot of fabulous resources so check ‘em out!). It details the many
critical thinking skills and related questions that you should use.
Level One
From the
base knowledge level of the taxonomy you can see that you start with the usual
‘who’ ‘what’ ‘where’ and other questions. Those are useful fill-in-the-blank
questions that help identification and recall of information.
Level Two
You’re
asked to re-tell and dive in a bit deeper into the topic you’re researching or
discussing. This helps aid in comprehension and organization / selection of
facts and ideas.
Level
Three
How do you
actually apply the skills you’re learning? How can your newfound critical
thinking skills be used to interpret new data from outside sources?
Level Four
Like a
good scientist (this is close to the Scientific Method after all), we must
analyze the results that are now coming forth. We should pause and figure out
how critical thinking skills are being incorporated into our everyday lives.
Just ask the questions in level four and you’re off to a great start!
Level Five
Time to
remix and synthesize some new ideas or formulations. In other words, let’s take
what we know and combine a bit of what we just discovered. That’ll help us form
new ideas and interpretations of what we’re studying or discussing.
Level Six
Boom. You
made it. Time to form your own opinion and be able to discuss the finer points
of why you think the way you do! Who knew it took so much work to actually be
able to accurately form your own opinion?
Think
about that the next time you’re asked your opinion. It takes time to ponder and
consider every level of the taxonomy.
@edudemic
© 2013 by
Edudemic