Bloom's Taxonomy is one of those "school-ey" terms that gets thrown around, but is really important because it sits at the bedrock of education. It is an organization for the thinking process. Created in the 1950's, it has been the standard against which all other taxonomies are measured.
In 2001, it was revised and this was big news. The highest level of thinking skill changed from evaluation to creation, the verbs associated with each level changed as well, and were expanded to include the digital skills associated with the Internet, Web 2.0 and social media.
Here is an example for the new language for the most basic level:
knowledge / remembering
- original "knowledge" verbs: recognizing, listing describing, identifying, retrieving, naming, locating, finding
- new additional "remembering" verbs: bullet pointing, highlighting, bookmarking, social networking, social bookmarking, local bookmarking, searching, Googling
(I think it is pretty cool the Google has entered the lexicon in this way.)
What does this mean for research and inquiry? It isn't just about finding stuff anymore. High performing students will know how to search deeply, analyze and evaluate what they find, and create new content. Students will elevate discourse, not just regurgitate. Make no mistake, this is hard, challenging work. It is a skill that needs to be taught, practiced and learned. National organizations like the American Association of School Libraries have rewritten the educational frameworks to reflect this change. This is the challenge.
Bloom's Taxonomy Blooms Digitally, Andrew Churches
Flickr Creative Commons
Uploaded on April 23, 2009
by Marco Braun