Bloom's digital taxonomy

Bloom's digital taxonomyAdapted for students on the autism spectrum

By Karina Barley M.Ed. and Digital Learning Tree

www.digitallearningtree2.com

In 1956 Benjamin Bloom, an educational psychologist working at the University of Chicago, developed his taxonomy of Educational Objectives.

His taxonomy of learning objectives has become a key tool in structuring and understanding the learning process.

The Cognitive Domain Bloom's TaxonomyEssentially Bloom's theory outlines an order in which we learn and integrate that learning into knowledge.

Bloom categorized and ordered thinking skills and objectives. His taxonomy identifies the thinking process and that you can not understand a concept if you do not first remember it, similarly you can not apply knowledge and concepts if you do not understand them.

This infers that there is a continuum from Lower Order Thinking Skills (LOTS) to Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS).

They are arranged in increasing order, from lower order to higher order.

Bloom's Revised TaxonomyIn the 1990's, former students of Bloom, Lorin Anderson and David Krathwohl, revised and published this

Bloom's Revised Taxonomy in 2001. Key to this is the use of verbs rather than nouns for each of the categories and a rearrangement of the sequence within the taxonomy.

Reference: http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/Bloom's+Digital+Taxonomy

Collaboration is a key element to the acquisition of 21st Century Skills and for children on the Spectrum this is one of the challenging aspects of their condition as most have socialization issues.

Using technology can be extremely helpful for these students as the technology can become the buffer they need that enables them to communicate.

SAMR Model

The Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition Model is a method of seeing how technology might impact teaching and learning. It also shows a continuum that educators using technology can follow as they progress through teaching and learning using technology. Reference: https://sites.google.com/a/msad60.org/technology-is-learning/samr-model

Kathy Schrock has combined the two models to reflect the impact of technology on learning.

Visit Kathys website to see her amazing work.

http://www.schrockguide.net/bloomin-apps.html

Tying all this togetherI can't stress enough how important it is to understand that technology does not replace the teacher and good pedagogical practices.

Handing the iPad to a child and expecting them to instantly learn is NOT using the iPad for educational purposes.

Using the iPad purposefully with educational outcomes in mind elevates this technology to an educational tool that can be integrated into the curriculum.

Back to Bloom

Bloom suggested that learning occurs like a pyramid in that you need to go through each step to get to the next.

Personally, I believe this model can also be viewed as a continuum where a child might move back and forth between steps over time. Even when knowledge is acquired and demonstrated through creating, oftentimes a student might go back to remembering, understanding or applying to revisit a concept before using it. This means learning can be a fluid, organic and evolutionary process.

The following pages illustrate Bloom's Digital Taxonomy and provides suggestions of apps that can be used in each learning area.

This is not a definitive list and many apps can be used across the continuum of Bloom's Taxonomy. You can click on each of the icons to be taken to the app in the iTunes App Store.

Thanks for joining us today

I have put this presentation together as a resource for my students taking learning units in the iPads for Autism Education Course Series.For further information on the course please visit us at

www.digitallearningtree.com/courses/ipads-for-autism-education