Benjamin Bloom was an educational psychologist at the University of Chicago. In 1956 he proposed a classification of learning objectives known as Bloom's Taxonomy. (What is a taxonomy?)
Bloom's Taxonomy divides learning objectives into three domains: Affective, Psychomotor, and Cognitive. (Refer to the Learning Objectives Wikipedia entry for more details.)
Bloom's Taxonomy of Cognitive learning objectives provides teachers with a framework in which they can develop a learning environment that recognises and makes provision for a range of feasible and measurable cognitive activities, as per the diagram on the right.
This Taxonomy of Cognitive Learning is hierarchical, and helps to provide an understanding of the learning process:
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Before we can Understand a concept we have to Remember it; |
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Before we can Apply a concept we have to Understand it; |
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Before we can Analyse an idea we must be able to Apply it; |
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Before we can Evaluate a concept we must have Analysed it; |
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Before we can Create new information or ideas, we must have Remembered, Understood, Applied, Analysed, and Evaluated existing information and ideas. |
In the early days of exploring the possibilities for using ICT in schools we were "teaching computers", almost as a new learning area. We were adopting and adapting. Now that these technologies are thoroughly "embedded" in our lives, the use ICT is an integral part of all learning environments.
But are we using ICT in schools to support deep and meaningful learning?
The table below considers the use of ICT in our classroom activities within Bloom's cognitive learning framework.
Click on each blue button in the hierarchy below to see ICT activities that are related to that particular stage of cognitive learning. (Very much under construction!)
From a school planning perspective, what professional learning and infrastructure programs do we need to implement to support these student learning objectives?
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Generating new ideas, products, or ways of viewing things |
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Justifying a decision or course of action |
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Breaking information into parts to explore understandings and relationships |
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Using information in another familiar situation |
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Explaining ideas or concepts |
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Recalling information |
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