If “think bigger!” is the motto of the capitalists, “think better!” is the motto of the philosophers. The latter is a much more strenuous job because it’s wildly abstact and nearly impossible to pin down. Besides, you have to know something first to do it “better”. So, in order to understand “thinking” itself, philosophers break the metaphysical phenomenon down to its basics, and try to classify it in concrete terms, as best as they can. This is what Benjamin BLOOM seems to have done in his REVISED TAXONOMY, which is a hierarchy especially relevant in academia, and valuable to educationists everywhere.
Helping the Teacher in Planning:
Lesson planning is an important part of teaching. Isn’t is difficult to plan ahead a whole series of lessons when you don’t even know, concretely, your students’ level of understanding? Granted, it is. But with a systematic grid at hand, that delineates all the steps which mark the progression of cognition, lesson planning becomes as easy as lemon squeezing. The application of BLOOM’S REVISED TAXONOMY IN TODAY’S CLASSROOM becomes helpful to the teacher. He/she can craft their lessons accordingly, working on lower order thinking skills and moving towards higher order thinking skills.
Helping the Teacher in Assigning:
Often teachers fuss over the question: “what sort of a test/project should I give the students that is all comprehensive?” Usually, what happens is that one aspect is focused upon, while the others are left out. As a result, skill development lags behind. Here, BLOOM’S REVISED TAXONOMY comes to the teacher’s aide. Its hierarchy of skills, in correlation with kinds of knowledge, enables the teacher to give out assignments that are fitting to the students’ cognitive level.
Helping the Teacher in Assessing:
According to Chomsky, a child’s performance fails to keep up to its competence. There’s a whole world of ideas in its head but only the scrapes are translated on paper. A teacher understands this deficient response, but has no idea how to gauge it. Nor worries! BLOOM’S REVISED TAXONOMY offers categories to the teacher on the basis of which marking can be done. A student’s work can be assessed on the terms of his/her thinking level. If a student “applies” the idea learnt, it means he/she has lower order thinking skills. If a student “creates,” it means that he/she has the highest order thinking skill.
Levels of Cognition and Hamlet:
An example can be offered in terms of the text “Hamlet” and how it is placed in BLOOM’S hierarchy by a teacher in a test:
- Remember: Describe the scene in which Hamlet meets the Ghost on the Tower.
- Understand: Summarize the monologue in your own words.
- Apply: Construct as theory as to why Hamlet saw the Ghost.
- Analyse: Differentiate between how Hamlet reacted and how you would react in his shoes.
- Evaluate: Assess whether or not Hamlet really saw the Ghost.
- Create: Rewrite the scene in the form of a short story using the mechanics of Stephen King.
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