Discussion post:

BLOOM'S TAXONOMY

Understanding Bloom's taxonomy will help you develop the critical thinking skills you need to take a practitioner-scholar approach. As you progress in your academic journey, you will move from pure practitioner to practitioner-scholar. This requires you to:

· Synthesize key principles from theories, within your field.

· Support your analysis and resolution of problems with credible, up-to-date information, theory and best practices.

· And ask the right questions.

Bloom's Taxonomy is a model that can help you to understand how to effectively develop these new skills, knowledge, and attitudes. Within your coursework, Bloom's Taxonomy with help you to:

· Develop appropriate responses to discussion questions.

· Create work with sufficient depth for assignments.

· And develop critical thinking skills.

Within the workplace, Bloom's Taxonomy helps you to:

· Analyze problems.

· Synthesize appropriate theory, best practices, and information from multiple sources to generate new ideas and create innovations.

· And evaluate ideas and information as needed to support decisions.

This presentation provides an introduction to Bloom's Taxonomy and offers suggestions for how to apply it both in your coursework and your workplace. So, what is Bloom's Taxonomy?

In 1956, Benjamin Bloom led a group of educational psychologists to develop categories for the outcomes for learning. These categories, also called domains, are:

· The Cognitive Domain which describes one's progressive development of critical thinking skills.

· The Affective Domain, which describes one's progressive development of attitudes and behaviors reflecting values, ethics and self-esteem.

· Psychomotor Domain, which describes the progressive development of kinesthetic skills and physical coordination skills needed to perform tasks.

To place all of these in context, consider the act of updating a website.  In the Cognitive Domain, we need to know the terms to use and think about how to explain our mission in a way that emphasizes our brand, products, and message. We need to apply up-to-date web, mobile, and social networking approaches. We need to analyze the audience, and synthesize available information in ways that appeal to the customer. Finally, we will need to evaluate whether the site works to achieve our goals.  In the Affective Domain, we need to make sure we are respecting customer privacy, using ethical practices for collecting customer data, and that we are presenting honest and truthful information about our products. We want to convey our company's values and socially responsible positions.  Finally, we need to be cognizant of the physical skills such keyboarding or access so we make sure the site is ADA compliant.  While all of the domains have importance, our focus here is on the Cognitive Domain.  Bloom's group identified six levels of increasing complexity within the cognitive domain.

1. At the knowledge level, we grasp definitions for terminology, basic principles and procedures.

2. At the comprehension level, we describe the terminology and principles in our own words.

3. At the application level, we use terminology and principles in new situations or contexts.

4. At the analysis level, we break down the ideas, steps, and factors involved.

5. At the synthesis level, we integrate ideas and steps from diverse sources and develop new approaches and language to describe them.

6. At the evaluation level, we judge what works effectively and why.

Each time we encounter something new, we start at the first level of knowledge and work our way up. We build new knowledge bases, so we can learn new skills and approaches to advance our thinking.  So, how do you apply Bloom's Taxonomy to your coursework? Let's look at discussion questions as an example.  First, analyze the language of the question to understand what is being asked of you. What level of the taxonomy is needed to describe? What about to predict? To compare and contrast?  Next, refer to Bloom's Taxonomy and structure your response in a way that clearly demonstrates each level of your understanding.  The following questions help you to work through the levels of Bloom's Taxonomy: 

· What basic knowledge and principles do you gain from the readings?

· How can you describe them in your own words?

· How can you apply them to the specific discussion?

· What other questions can you ask to deepen your analysis?

· How can you integrate ideas from different sources in your response?

· What steps are needed to proofread your work and self-evaluate?

Course discussions focus on the higher levels of Bloom's and will ask you to analyze, interpret, and compare ideas to provide robust dialogue. You will be asked to do more than simply recite ideas or paraphrase from your readings.  As mentioned in the introduction, Bloom's Taxonomy helps you to develop critical thinking skills. As a practitioner-scholar, you are expected to consistently demonstrate critical thinking in your coursework.  There are many theories and principles of critical thinking, but it really comes down to two key questions: So what and says who?  So what? asks us to consider the relevance of the material we examine and use. With all the information available to the professional, the so what becomes very important. This key question asks us to: 

· Formulate vital questions and problems clearly and precisely.

· Gather and assess relevant information using appropriate ideas, models, and frameworks.

· Develop well-reasoned, well-supported conclusions and solutions.

· Test those conclusions and solutions against relevant criteria and standards.

Says Who? looks at the credibility of the evidence, author or source. This key question asks us to:

· Recognize potential biases.

· Think open-mindedly about new sources of information or alternative systems of thought.

· Recognize and assess assumptions, implications, and practical consequences of the information and systems.

Bloom's Taxonomy can help you to focus your review and provide insight that is likely superior to those who are not well schooled in the different levels of critical thinking.  For example: 

1. At the knowledge level, you may grasp definitions and procedures for a new project. This could include knowing regulatory parameters and company procedures or knowing how to use software.

2. At the comprehension level, you may describe what you know to a new team member or report.

3. At the application level, you use approaches to complete routine work or to solve new problems.

4. At the analysis level, you use the critical thinking questions so what? and says who? to examine approaches and identify steps, talent, technology, costs, and time involved with moving forward.

5. At the synthesis level, you integrate successful approaches with current frameworks to come up with new ways to complete projects.

6. At the evaluation level, you judge what worked, who was successful or needs more supervision, and whether the project aligns with the company goals.

Can you see how Bloom's and enhancing your critical thinking skills can be helpful both in your studies and also in your professional work?  To recap, Bloom's Taxonomy and critical thinking helps you to succeed in your graduate level coursework and your workplace. To apply these principles, remember to:

· Consider Bloom's Taxonomy to develop appropriate discussion responses and assignments.

· Use So what? and Says who? critical thinking questions to analyze the relevance and credibility of sources.

· Apply Bloom's Taxonomy and critical thinking to complex issues in your workplace.

· Aim toward becoming a practitioner-scholar by integrating theory and practice in everything you do!