Semester 1 2010
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Benjamin Bloom (1956) developed a classification of
levels of intellectual behaviour in learning.
The taxonomy is a way to classify instructional
activities or questions as they progress in difficulty.
This taxonomy contained three overlapping
domains:
Cognitive
Psychomotor
Affective.
These domains and levels are still useful today as you
develop the critical thinking skills of your students.
Cognitive Domain
Within the cognitive domain, he identified six levels:
• knowledge
• comprehension
• application (Lower level)
• analysis
• synthesis
• evaluation (Higher level)
The lower levels require less in the way of thinking
skills. As one moves down the hierarchy, the
activities require higher level thinking skills.
Higher Order
Thinking Skills
(HOTS)
↑
Lower Order
Thinking Skills
Creative Thinking
Creative thinking involves creating something
new or original.
It involves the skills of flexibility, originality,
fluency, elaboration, brainstorming,
modification, imagery, associative thinking,
attribute listing, metaphorical thinking, forced
relationships.
The aim of creative thinking is to stimulate
curiosity and promote divergence.
Critical Thinking
Critical thinking can be thought of as more left-
brain and creative thinking more right brain, they
both involve "thinking."
When we talk about HOTS "higher-order thinking
skills" we're concentrating on the top three levels of
Bloom's Taxonomy: analysis, synthesis, and
evaluation.
Using the key verbs provided is beneficial to
writing effective learning objectives
Affective Domain
Domain Attributes: interpersonal relations, emotions, attitudes,
appreciations, and values
accepts
attempts
challenges
defends
disputes
joins
judges
contributes
praises
questions
shares
supports
volunteers
Psychomotor Domain
This domain is characterized by progressive levels of
behaviours from observation to mastery of a physical skill.
Key verbs associated with this domain.
bend
grasp
handle
operate
reach
relax
shorten
stretch
differentiate (by touch)
perform (skillfully)
Why Do We Need Learning
Objectives?
Stating clear course objectives is important because:
Objectives guide the content materials and the
teaching methods.
You can use objectives to make sure you reach your
goals.
Students will understand expectations.
Assessment and grading is based on the objectives.
They specify what behaviour a student must demonstrate
or perform in order for an instructor or facilitator to infer
that learning took place.
In summary, goals and objectives guide all
teaching, learning and assessment.
What are learning objectives?
Instructional objectives are specific, measurable,
short-term, observable student behaviours.
They indicate the desirable knowledge, skills, or attitudes
to be gained.
Objectives are the foundation upon which you can build
lessons and assessments that you can prove meet your
overall course or lesson goals.
The purpose of objectives is not to restrict spontaneity or
constrain the vision of education in the discipline; but to
ensure that learning is focused clearly enough that both
students and teacher know what is going on, and so
learning can be objectively measured.
What are learning objectives?
•Think of objectives as tools you use to
make sure you reach your goals.
•They are the arrows you shoot towards
your target (goal).
•Different archers have different styles, so
do different teachers. Thus, you can shoot
your arrows (objectives) many ways.
•The important thing is that they reach
your target (goals) and score that bull's-eye!
Common types of learning objectives
Cognitive Objectives
Relate to understandings, awareness, insights.
Example: "The student will be able to evaluate the
different theories of learning as demonstrated by
his/her ability to compare and discuss verbally or in
writing the strengths and weaknesses of each theory.”
This includes knowledge or information recall,
comprehension or conceptual understanding, the
ability to apply knowledge, the ability to analyze a
situation, the ability to synthesize information from a
given situation, and the ability to evaluate a given
situation.
Common types of learning objectives
(Cont.)
Affective Objectives
Relates to: attitudes, appreciations, relationships.
Example: "Given the opportunity to work in a team
with several people of different races, the student
will demonstrate a positive increase in attitude
towards non-discrimination of race, as measured
by a checklist utilized/completed by non-team
members.”
Common types of learning objectives
(Cont.)
Psychomotor Objectives
These are Physical skills
Examples:
"The student will be able to ride a two-wheel
bicycle without assistance and without pause as
demonstrated in gym class.”
Actions which demonstrate the fine motor skills
such as use of precision instruments or tools, or
actions which evidence gross motor skills such as
the use of the body in dance or athletic
performance.
Different levels of learning
objectives (Cont.)
Different levels of objectives can also be
categorized according to different levels of
learning that you want the students to achieve.
That is, whether you want the students to
remember factual information, distinguish
among the concepts, apply rules/principles, or
do problem solving, these expectations should
be expressed as different types of objectives
(Dwyer, 1991).
Different levels of learning
objectives (Cont.)
The above graphic (Adapted from Dwyer) shows a hierarchy of learning.
•In order for the students to learn concepts, they should have a basic supporting
knowledge, e.g.: facts.
•In order to problem-solve, students need to understand concepts and rules, etc.
Fink’s Taxonomy of Significant
Learning.
Fink tries to move beyond Bloom's taxonomy and to push the
ideas there a bit farther.
Some think that Fink has only restated parts of what Bloom
proposed in his taxonomy. But Fink insists from the beginning
that faculty members who want significant learning in their
students must build an integrated course designed with
learning goals that go beyond simple content mastery and
include the parts of Fink's taxonomy as sub-goals all along the
way.
He states (without evidence) that "if teachers use a
combination of significant learning goals, it will be possible to
create some interaction effects and synergy that greatly
enhance the achievement of significant learning by students".
The Taxonomy of Significant Learning
(1) Foundational knowledge: Refers to what is most expected of
students; it is the nuts and bolts of the "information of most courses"
and is needed for any additional learning about the subject.
(2) Application: Refers to the skills and critical thinking that most
professors desire in student learning. This also refers to managing
complex projects.
(3) Integration: Integration implies the ability to make connections
among different sorts of learned ideas and expands intellectual power.
(4) Human dimension: Deals with the learners' discovering something
about themselves and their interactions with others and how this
interaction might happen more effectively.
(5) Caring: Caring reflects possibly a change in student attitude either
about themselves or what they are learning.
(6) Learning how to learn: Enables a student to continue learning
beyond the classroom; i.e. encourages Life Long Learning (Fink, 2003)
THE TAXONOMY OF SIGNIFICANT LEARNING
Learning
How to Learn
Foundational
•Becoming a
Knowledge
better student
Understanding
•Inquiring
and
about a subject
remembering:
•Self-directing
•Information
learners
Caring •Ideas
Developing Application
new… •Skills
•Feelings •Thinking
•Interests (Critical, creative &
•Values practical thinking)
Human •Managing projects
Dimension Integration
Learning Connecting:
about: Dr. L. Dee Fink
• Ideas Director, Instructional Development
•Oneself • People Program
•Others • Realms of life University of Oklahoma
Author of Creating Significant
Learning Experiences
(Jossey-Bass, 2003)
THE INTERACTIVE NATURE OF SIGNIFICANT
LEARNING
Application of Fink’s Taxonomy
Problem area: Measurement of such things as
"personal and social implications of knowing
about the subject," "care about the subject
(and learning more on the subject)," and
"know[ing] how to keep on learning about this
subject after the course is over."
The goals are admirable; measuring them
appears nearly impossible for an individual
educator.
References
Dwyer, F. M.(1991). A paradigm for generating curriculum
design oriented research questions in distance education.
Second American Symposium Research in Distance Education,
University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University
Fink, L. D. 2003. What is “Significant Learning”? In Creating
Significant Learning Experiences . Jossey-Bass
http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/researchskills/Dalton.htm.
Retrieved 27/02/2009.
http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/research/Why_Objectives.sh
tml. Retrieved 27/02/2009.
http://mtprof.msun.edu/Spr2007/lottrev.html#T1. Retrieved
27/02/2009.
