Bloom's 6 Levels of Taxonomy in Education & Training

Bloom’s taxonomy, known for its popularity in education and training, is widely used as a learning theory. Educationists use Bloom's taxonomy as a means to develop learning outcomes, assessments and student progress reports. The focus is not only to deliver the subject matter but also to give students an in-depth understanding of what is required of them to achieve.

Focus of Taxonomy

Bloom’s taxonomy deals with different levels of learning which sum up into 3 hierarchical domains, that are cognitive, affective and psycho-motor. Each hierarchical domain represents different levels of thinking. The overall taxonomy is used to develop and evaluate the complexity of assessments, simplify activities to promote personalised learning, designing summative assessments, promote project-based learning and encourage group discussions. Here are 6 levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy:

Remembering

It is focused on the intellectual skills of the learner, which includes critical thinking, problem-solving and their knowledge base. For instance, the ability to memorise spellings and poems, recalling the capitals of countries, remembering maths formulas and remembering the names and relations of characters from a story/play. Multiple-choice assessments are designed to assess the students for this domain.

As a trainer of remote teaching, it is important to note that the first stage of giving ‘knowledge’ to the learners is practically applied in your session. You can use graphics, text, animations, videos and other resources to deliver knowledge. Remember to ask questions at the end of the session to check the level of understanding and knowledge of your learners. 

Understanding

Understanding concepts, ideas and formulas are essential to retaining them for a long period of time. It can be done if the students are asked to illustrate/write the difference between an oval and a square, summarise a story or organise the plant kingdom based on a predefined framework. Summarising a story is one of the best ways to check the understanding of the students. The summary must consist of important events and the roles of characters in it. It encourages them to think critically and come up with the plot.

In order to check the understanding of remote learners, ensure that you use different testing tools on your Learning Management System (LMS). Use the SMART goals criteria to assess the level of initial and current knowledge of the students. 

Applying

The 3rd step of Bloom’s taxonomy is the concept of applying the aspects that were remembered and understood. Applying formulas, selecting a design that suits best in a given situation or reconstructing a given law are parts of applying. An activity to assess the application is to ask the students to write advice for a particular character of the play according to the given situation.

This is the most applicative aspect of Bloom’s Taxonomy where the remote trainer must actively ensure that learners are able to put their knowledge into practical action. As a trainer, you can conduct tests, role-plays, give learners real-life scenarios and simulations to apply their knowledge to solve problems. 

Analysing

Post application is the analysing phase which requires critical thinking and observation to answer the questions for ‘how?’ For instance, explain how an engine works? This answer requires critical thinking skills and a detailed analysis of how it works. Another example can include ‘How Pedagogy and Andragogy styles of teaching are different from one another?’

In remote teaching, you can use the testing function on the LMS or create discussion forums on social media platforms to let learners openly discuss the topic of the lecture with others.  It will help them interact, exchange ideas and knowledge. Clarification of any confusion would help deepen their understanding.

Evaluating

Making judgments and interpreting the significance of scientific work are a few types of evaluations required in this step. Writing an evaluation or making a judgment for a certain part of the act in a play based on the character’s actions is one way of assessing the situation. It also allows commenting, criticising, debating, predicting or reviewing an outcome to make the situation better.

Evaluating learners' level of knowledge in remote teaching is essential. It is ideal to evaluate the lesson delivery to make it even better. Ensure that the learners have sufficient knowledge for them to become competent enough to indulge in discussions and become mentors. 

Creating

This step requires something to be created from scratch. For instance, writing a song or poem based on a situation, coming up with hypotheses in research or discovering something completely new. Teachers can ask the students to write a story with different situations and come up with a good moral of the story.

In remote teaching, ask your students to develop a whole subject-related plan from scratch to promote to this level. By this stage, the learners must have the required knowledge and potential to create their own idea/plan that is functional and beneficial to their own special area. 

Bloom’s Taxonomy can be used not only for education and training but is also useful for other technical aspects. For instance, the raw material and costs related to construction to optimise the overall procedure. Remembering, understanding, applying, analysing, evaluating and creating are steps that are followed to come up with unique and innovative ideas and solutions. You should never stop being curious.

Reference:

https://www.celt.iastate.edu/teaching/effective-teaching-practices/revised-blooms-taxonomy/

https://www.teachthought.com/learning/what-is-blooms-taxonomy-a-definition-for-teachers