Misconceptions on Level of Difficulties

 There is nothing wrong with the defintioin of Blooms' Taxonomy. The problem comes in interpreting what it actually means. There are still disagreements on how they are to be interpreted.

How you interpret them should be based on your objective. If you just want to learn instead of following strictly to the literal meanings of the words, just use the simplified exaplanations.

The most difficult to decide is the synthesis level. What do you mean by producing new things? Is just to the level of patenting and copyrighting a design or creation?

When you want to patent a new design, you must do a lot of patent searching to ensure that you design is non obvious to other inventors. The Patent Office will do the checking and verify your design. Even here, there are a lost of arguments which needs to be settle by the highest courts of the land.

Surely, the patenting level is not practical for educational uses. We must find an alternative definition of synthesis. One simpler definition is a novel design. It means that your design has not been done before. This novelty design is similar to the copyright level. As long as you are the first person to produce the creation, you own the copyright to the exact design. Practicality and obviousness is not required in copyright.

The question again comes to where do we search for the other designs or creation? For copyright, it is the whole world. Do teachers have the resources to do the search for the whole world? Or is it really necessary? Does it mean that we cannot teach young children about high level questions such as synthesis? Of course not.

The searching should be withing the group of students. For kindergarden students, the level of creativity that kindergarden students are capable of. Similarly for high school students.

Another method is to refer to a level that a student has not seen before. Different student will have different exposure, so it is not fair to a good student. In a public examination, what level of newness should we aim for?

Another question is that the design cannot be completely new becuase most have already been invented, so it can only be an example of a design. For example, designing a car is not really an entirely new thing because there are so many cars already.

But you notice that  there are so many types of cars around. There are still avenues for synthesising new types of cars. So, synthesising objects that are already made or invented can still be considered as synthesis.

1. What if the synthesising process is a taught process where students just follow steps and rules in doing the design to come up with a product? They are still designing and creating things.

This is the controversy. Should we consider a syntheis of items using methods that are already taught, still considered as having the highest level of synthesis in the Bloom's taxonomy. Although it is implied in the definition of synthesis, this is not followed. As long as the design results are not known in advance, but subject to variations in choices of design parameters and various methods of doing them, it should still be considered as synthesis.

This is different from the workshop procedure of building items using exact blue prints.

2. The second controversy is the level of difficulties to various groups of people or cultures.
If you have not seen a problem before, it will look very difficult. But once you have seen the problem and find solutions to them, that problem is no longer complex. This applies to all Bloom's taxonomy levels, even synthesis.

The conclusion is simple. Expose our students to the most difficult problems and their solutions, then they will be taught high difficulty level questions. It is all a matter of memorising all the known methods of solving and designing complex problems.

Is it rote learning? Yes but it is beyond rote learning. You need a huge base of knowledge in order to answer questions. It is just like medical doctors who are exposed to all the various portions of the human body and ways of treating various parts of them. Even one doctor is not enough, so we have specialists for different parts of the body.

 So. How do we teach our secondary school students? Simple. Just teach them advanced maths and languages. And do google search. Actually scientific methodology. A scientific method of solving problems. Problem solving by using data and searching for data, i.e. experimenting.

All these are just memorising. The difference is that some students find them difficult to remember because of the high contextual levels. Never mind. They just need to get used to them. By exposing them to the high contextual level languages and methodologies, their high level problem solving abilities will increase.

If you teach them to do things by repeating what others are doing, such as in vocational schools, you are just destroying their minds.


I just refer to the latest information from the internet. 10 Dec 2019.
https://www.thoughtco.com/blooms-taxonomy-questions-7598

by Melissa Kelly

Updated June 11, 2019

What is the progression of steps for learning? That was the question answered in 1956 by American educational psychologist Benjamin Samuel Bloom in Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals. Bloom devised a way to categorize reasoning skills based on the amount of critical thinking and reasoning involved.

With Bloom's Taxonomy, there are six levels of skills ranked in order from the most basic to the most complex. Each level of skill is associated with a verb, as learning is an action. As a teacher, you should ensure that the questions you ask both in class and on written assignments and tests are pulled from all levels of the taxonomy pyramid.

Objective assessments (multiple choice, matching, fill in the blank) tend to focus only on the two lowest levels of Bloom's Taxonomy: knowledge and comprehension. Subjective assessments (essay responses, experiments, portfolios, performances) tend to measure the higher levels of Bloom's Taxonomy: analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.

To incorporate Bloom's Taxonomy into lessons, present different levels beginning with the most basic at the beginning of a unit. Once you reach the end of a unit, the lessons should incorporate the highest levels of Bloom's Taxonomy.

01

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Knowledge Verbs and Question Stems

Andrea Hernandez/Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0

The Knowledge level forms the base of the Bloom's Taxonomy pyramid. Because it is of the lowest complexity, many of the verbs in this section are in the form of questions. You can use this level of questioning to ensure that the students learned specific information from the lesson.

• What do you remember about _____?
• How would you define_____?
• How would you identify _____?
• How would you recognize _____?

Define
Define mercantilism.

Who
Who was the author of Billy Budd?

What
What is the capital of England?

Name
Name the inventor of the telephone.

List
List the 13 original colonies.

Label
Label the capitals on this map of the United States.

Locate
Locate the glossary in your textbook.

Match
Match the following inventors with their inventions.

Select
Select the correct author of War and Peace from the following list.

Underline
Underline the noun.

02

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Comprehension Verbs and Question Stems

At the Comprehension level, you want students to show that they can go beyond basic recall by understanding what the facts mean. The verbs at this level should allow you to see if your students understand the main idea and are able to interpret or summarize the ideas in their own words.

• How would you generalize_____?
• How would you express _____?
• What can you infer from _____?
• What did you observe_____?

Explain
Explain the law of inertia using an example from an amusement park.

Interpret
Interpret the information found in this pie chart.

Outline
Outline the main arguments for and against year-round education.

Discuss
Discuss what it means to use context to determine the meaning of a word.

Translate
Translate this passage into English.

Restate
Restate the steps for a bill to become a law in your own words.

Describe
Describe what is happening in this Civil War picture.

Identify
Identify the correct method for disposing of recyclable trash.

Which
Which statements support implementing school uniforms?

Summarize
Summarize the first chapter of To Kill a Mockingbird.

03

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Application Verbs and Question Stems

At the Application level, students must show that they can apply the information they have learned. Students can demonstrate their grasp of the material at the Application level by solving problems and creating projects.

• How would you demonstrate ____?
• How would you present ____?
• How would you change ____?
• How would you modify ____?

Solve
Using the information you have learned about mixed numbers, solve the following questions.

Use
Use Newton's Laws of Motion to explain how a model rocket works.

Predict
Predict whether items float better in fresh water or salt water.

Construct
Using the information you have learned about aerodynamics, construct a paper airplane that minimizes drag.

Perform
Create and perform a skit that dramatizes an event from the civil rights era.

Demonstrate
Demonstrate how changing the location of the fulcrum affects a tabletop lever.

Classify
Classify each observed mineral based on the criteria learned in class.

Apply
Apply the rule of 70 to determine how quickly $1,000 would double if earning 5 percent interest.

04

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Analysis Verbs and Question Stems

The fourth level of Bloom's Taxonomy is Analysis. Here students find patterns in what they learn. Students move beyond simply understanding and applying knowledge. At the Analysis level, they begin to take a more active role in their own learning.

• How can you sort the parts _____?
• What can you infer_____?
• What ideas validate _____?
• How would you explain _____?

What?
What is the function of the liver in the body?

What is the main idea of the story "The Tell-Tale Heart"?

What assumptions do we have to make when discussing Einstein's Theory of Relativity?

Analyze
Analyze President Lincoln's motives for delivering the Gettysburg Address.

Identify
Identify any biases that might exist when reading an autobiography.

Examine
Examine the results of your experiment and record your conclusions.

Investigate
Investigate the propaganda techniques used in each of the following advertisements.

05

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Synthesis Verbs and Question Stems

At the synthesis level, students move beyond relying on previously learned information and analyzing items that the teacher has given them. Instead, they create new products, ideas, and theories.

• What alternative would you suggest for ___?
• What changes would you make to revise___? 
• How would you generate a plan to ___? 
• What could you invent___?  

Create
Create a haiku about a desert animal.

Invent
Invent a new board game about Industrial Revolution inventors.

Compose
Compose a new piece of music that includes chords in the key of C major.

Propose
Propose an alternative way to get students to clean up after themselves in the lunchroom.

Plan
Plan an alternative meal to serve vegetarians during Thanksgiving.

Design
Design a campaign to help stop teenage smoking.

Formulate
Formulate a bill that you would like to see passed in Congress.

Develop
Develop an idea for a science fair project that focuses on the effects of pollution on plant life.

06

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Evaluation Verbs and Question Stems

Evaluation means that students make judgments based on the information they have learned as well as their own insights. This is often the most challenging question to create, particularly for end-of-unit exams.

• What criteria would you use to assess _____?
• What data were used to evaluate _____?
• How could you verify _____?
• What information would you use to prioritize _____?

Evaluate
Evaluate the accuracy of the movie The Patriot.

Find
Find the errors in the following math problem.

Select
Select the most appropriate action that you should take against a school bully. Justify your answer.

Decide
Decide on a meal plan for the next week that includes all the required servings according to the Food Guide Pyramid.

Justify
Are the arts an important part of a school's curriculum? Justify your answer.

Debate
Debate the pros and cons of charter schools.

Judge
Judge the importance of students reading a play by Shakespeare while in high school.

Sources

• Mcdaniel, Rhett. “Bloom's Taxonomy.” Vanderbilt University, Vanderbilt University, 13 Aug. 2018, cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/.