Investigating Bloom's Taxonomy

If I were to suggest an addition to Bloom’s Taxonomy, I would include sharing/collaborating as a Key Term. Although several of the digital tools and uses in the digital taxonomy imply sharing, they do not explicitly say so. Sharing and collaborating with others requires some forethought. How many times have we experienced making those decisions to share our digital posts with everyone or a select group? That takes higher order thinking skills to determine when and with whom to share our final products.

We are currently in the midst of teaching a Career Research Paper to our 10^th grade students. After reviewing several outdated components, this year we made some revisions to the process of producing this paper. One of the easiest revisions to make was to drop the pencil-paper notecards for resources students used to complete. Since few of us complete research in that manner anymore, we opted for a digital note-taking task. This change employs the revised Bloom’s taxonomy because this procedural knowledge is something students will have to learn to complete. It also incorporates the digital taxonomy because the higher order thinking involved in creating such a document requires some analysis of the sources students are selecting to use. As students evaluate their resources, they then select the most appropriate material to post to their notes.  

Integration Table

In my classes, I have already made a bold change to include a social bookmarking page for my students to keep all their research materials. This makes finding those resources that much easier and quicker for students. Learning how to create tabs for their specific materials has been quite fun but also frustrating. Many students have faced a few challenges with the lower order thinking skills like remembering their passwords (the biggest challenge thus far) and just navigating the sites and using the tools to locate their information. I have had to introduce a naming convention for student files so they can find these documents on their Fusion pages later; they have a host of files with the name “Essay”.

I am already beginning to see that when I teach this research paper next year, the process needs to be more solidly in place before we begin the lessons. I want to scaffold Bloom’s taxonomy more effectively so that those skills can be built on each other more seamlessly than the current process. I also need to create How-To guides that clearly define the Bloom’s skills needed for each step involved in this paper. I am learning to incorporate Learning Targets and those must be part of this lesson plan. Although I am integrating a few of Bloom’s digital taxonomy skills that will benefit my students, I know I need to incorporate more purposeful planning with a stronger focus for a more authentic learning experience.    

Resources

Churches, A. (2008, April 1). Bloom's taxonomy blooms digitally. Retrieved from Tech & Learning: http://www.techlearning.com/studies-in-ed-tech/0020/blooms-taxonomy...

Hammond, J. (2011). Summer academy 2011. Retrieved from Chambersburg Area School District : http://www.chambersburg.k12.pa.us/education/components/scrapbook/de...

Northern Illinois University. (2009, February 9). Teaching with the revised Bloom's Taxonomy. Retrieved from Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center: http://www.niu.edu/facdev/programs/handouts/blooms.shtml