using bloom’s taxonomy to plan questions usefulness of bloom’s taxonomy is not in being able to...

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Copyright © 2017 Arizona Board of Regents, All rights reserved • SanfordInspireProgram.org

For a complete list of references, refer to the On-Demand Module ‘Using Bloom’s Taxonomy to Plan Questions.’

Using Bloom’s Taxonomy to Plan Questions

Transcript

Chapter 1: Introduction

Purpose

Transcript:

Questioning is one of the most powerful resources in a teacher’s instructional toolbox. By asking questions strategically, teachers can lead students to greater levels of understanding and prompt higher-order thinking (Carm & Davis, 2005; DiRocco, Goldberg, & Teinken, 2010).

This is both a skill and an art. It’s not always easy to determine the most helpful question to ask in a given instructional situation. While there’s no single way to make this determination, one approach is to ask yourself: “What kind of thinking would I like my students to be doing?” Then, you can craft questions that help them get there.

That is the purpose of this module. For the next few minutes, you’re going to learn some tips and strategies for

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planning questions that move students to higher levels of thinking.

Guiding Questions

Transcript:

There are three things to consider when you’re getting ready to plan questions for an upcoming lesson. They are:

What are the different levels of thinking students can demonstrate?

When should I target different levels of thinking in my lesson?

AND

How can I craft questions that will guide students to reach a desired level of thinking?

Let’s take a closer look at each of these considerations.

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Chapter 2: Levels of Thinking

Taxonomies-Base

Transcript:

One way to categorize different levels of thinking is through Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy (Krathwohl, 2002, p. 215). The six levels are sequenced in a manner that builds from lower level, knowledge-based thinking to higher-level, open-ended thinking.

It should be noted that these levels are fluid and interconnected. For example, a given question may require a student to both analyze and evaluate.

The usefulness of Bloom’s Taxonomy is not in being able to “label” questions according to their cognitive level, but in crafting questions based upon the kind of thinking you want students to do. Ideally, teachers will use questions to push students toward higher levels of thinking - which is where true learning occurs.

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Cognitive Levels

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Transcript:

Click the titles of each level of thinking if you would like to see a definition and sample question.

Then, click Proceed to move on to the next section.

Instructional Situations

Transcript:

In order to determine when to target different levels of thinking, a teacher should consider the instructional situation, and what she wants her students to do.

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Level Examples

Transcript:

Click the tabs to explore the mental tasks and instructional situations associated with each level of thinking. Click “Proceed” when you have gone through each level.

Create

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Evaluate

Analyze

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Apply

Understand

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Remember

Check for Understanding

Transcript:

Let’s look at an example.

Mr. Serena teaches 8th grade social studies.

His class is currently studying the Holocaust as part of a World War II unit. Students have developed general background knowledge about the history of the Holocaust over the past week. They have also defined and discussed the topics of racism and intolerance in other contexts, like the Civil War and current events.

Today’s lesson objective is: Describe how racism and intolerance contributed to the Holocaust.

Mr. Serena expects students to take what they already know about racism and intolerance, and explain how these issues contributed to the Holocaust. Students will need to examine cause and effect relationships in order to fulfill this objective.

With this background information, choose the highest level of thinking Mr. Serena must target in his lesson.

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CFU Feedback

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Chapter 3: Crafting Questions

How

Transcript:

Now that we know what some different levels of thinking are and when a teacher might target them, we are ready to begin crafting the questions.

To make good questions, simply ask yourself: “What kind of thinking do I want my students to do, and what question could I ask that will help get them there?” Sometimes the question could incorporate a verb associated with the levels of thinking you just learned about, but sometimes not. Let’s take a look at some examples.

Question Stems

Transcript:

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Let’s take a look at some examples. Click on each tab to see an example question and question stems for each level.

Create

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Evaluate

Analyze

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Apply

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Understand

Remember

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Check for Understanding

Transcript:

Let’s return to Mr. Serena’s 8th grade social studies class.

As you recall, the lesson objective is to describe how racism and intolerance contributed to the Holocaust. Mr. Serena wants to target “analyze” level thinking during his questioning session.

Remember, when students analyze they need to examine how the parts of a work relate to one another and to the whole. They also could infer what’s not explicitly stated.

Here are some of the questions he prepared for the lesson. Select the questions that require analytical thinking, then click “Submit.”

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CFU Feedback

Transcript:

The first and fourth questions represent “analyze” level thinking. Click any question for an explanation of why it does or does not reach the analyze level of thinking.

First Question

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Second Question

Third Question

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Fourth Question

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Chapter 4: Practice

Directions

Transcript:

In this practice, you will be doing two things. First, you will identify the level of thinking that students must reach, based on the requirements of a lesson objective.

Then, you’ll have a chance to examine some sample questions to determine which one would be most effective in pushing students toward a given level of thinking.

You will not be creating questions from scratch, but this practice will scaffold you toward the point of creating effective questions on your own.

Elementary Level

Elementary Scenario

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Transcript:

Use the buttons to review background information about this lesson.

Standard

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Objective

Classroom Activity

Choose the Question

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Transcript: Which of the following questions would best elicit thinking at the “analyze” level? Remember, at the “analyze” level, students examine how the parts of a work relate to one another and to the whole. Students can also infer what’s not explicitly stated.

Question 1 Feedback

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Question 2 Feedback

Question 3 Feedback

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Resource

Next Steps

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Secondary Level

Secondary Scenario

Transcript:

Use the buttons to review background information about this lesson.

Standard

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Objective

Classroom Activity

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Resource

Choose the Level

Transcript:

Using the resource, and based on what you know about Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy, what is the highest level of thinking required by this objective? Remember to think about what the teacher’s students will need to do in order to reach the desired level of thinking.

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Create

Evaluate

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Analyze

Choose the Question

Transcript:

Which of the following questions would best elicit thinking at the “create” level? Remember, when students are thinking at the “create” level, they are synthesizing their learning and most likely crafting a new idea, concept or product.

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Question 1 Feedback

Question 2 Feedback

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Question 3 Feedback

Conclusion

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Transcript:

Questioning is a powerful tool for eliciting different kinds of thinking from our students (Brookfield & Preskill, 1999; Caram & Davis, 2005; Cazden, 2001). Remember, to create questions effectively you should: be familiar with the different levels of thinking, determine when to target a given cognitive level, and craft your questions to engage student thinking at that level.

using bloom’s taxonomy to plan questions usefulness of bloom’s taxonomy is not in being able to...

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