Wellness Calendar: Tuesday 14 October

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Some ways of thinking are considered skills that can help us to process information so that we may then solve problems, make decisions, pick up clues and find solutions. To make it easier for us to understand more about thinking skills, American educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom broke them down into six classifications or stages, which became known as Bloom’s Taxonomy. They are as follows:

(1) gathering information

At this stage you’re using your knowledge to gather information for a purpose. You may already have some knowledge within you, yet you’ll also likely need to find it elsewhere.

The types of thinking skills you’ll be using here are:

Labelling. Remembering. Naming. Collecting. Examining. Generating.

Some of the types of questions you may be asking at this point are: Where shall I start to look for information? Who might I need to talk to? What might help to jog my memory? How shall I record the information?

(2) understanding information

At this point you’re working through the raw data. You know you’re making progress because you can grasp the ideas and concepts that you need. Skills here include:

Describing. Discussing. Estimating. Contrasting. Comparing. Explaining. Outlining. Classifying. Showing. Predicting. Summarising.

Questions here might include:

How can I explain this? What is meant by that? How can I properly describe what’s happening?

(3) using information

Here, you’ll be able to solve problems by using your increased knowledge. You’ll also be able to look at things in different ways.

Applying. Building. Constructing. Developing. Organising. Experimenting. Planning. Selecting. Solving. Modifying. Computing. Calculating.

How can I apply the knowledge that I now possess? How can I work out what to do next? How can I change?

(4) analysing information

Having built up a good case-load, the next stage is to break down the information you’ve compiled, so that it can be used to back up (or disprove) a hunch or an idea. This way, patterns or themes may start to form.

Classifying. Arranging. Connecting. Comparing. Contrasting. Discovering. Dividing. Examining. Inspecting. Testing. Ordering.

What shall I do with these bits of information? What evidence can I find to support my idea? How does this compare to that?

(5) evaluating information

At this stage, you’re looking to make judgments on the work that you have done to date.

Deciding. Judging. Proving. Concluding. Arguing. Explaining. Recommending. Predicting. Measuring.

Was the quality good? Is everything sorted out? Did you complete your actions and tasks? Did you solve the problem? Did you get what you wanted?

(6) combining information (to create new information)

Following on from your evaluation, you might find that there’s a need for you to create new information and to go through the process again. Or you might find that you’re able to combine some of your new ideas or information with your old information, to create something even more useful than before.

Combining. Designing. Constructing. Changing. Inventing. Adapting. Innovating. Developing.

How can I improve on what I have? What happens if I combine two ideas? What changes do I need to make? Can I construct a new model?

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