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Taxonomy
Critical thinking is a crucial 21st Century and social-
emotional skill
Challenge students in all grade levels with various types of questions as
defined by Bloom's Taxonomy. They will be doing higher-level thinking and
you will have a more interesting classroom! New teachers will find this
resource particularly valuable. Includes an in-depth discussion of the
different levels of questioning with suggested examples to help you form
your own higher-level questions to use in your classroom.
Looking for more resources on 21st Century skills and social-emotional
learning? Find them in our FutureFit resources center.
TEACHING STRATEGIES:
Bloom's Taxonomy (4)
GRADES:
Pre-K |
K|
1|
2|
3|
4|
5|
6|
7|
8|
9|
10 |
11 |
12
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The goal of classroom questioning is not to determine whether students have
learned something (as would be the case in tests, quizzes, and
exams), but rather to guide students to help them learn necessary
information and material. Questions should be used to teach students rather
than to just test students!
Jabberwocky
Taxonomy is an orderly classification of items according to a systematic
relationship (low to high, small to big, simple to complex).
Although questions are widely used and serve many functions, teachers tend
to overuse factual questions such as “What is the capital of California?” Not
surprising, many teachers ask upward of 400 questions each and every
school day. And approximately 80 percent of all the questions teachers ask
tend to be factual, literal, or knowledge-based questions. The result is a
classroom in which there is little creative thinking taking place.
It's been my experience that one all-important factor is key in the successful
classroom: students tend to read and think based on the kinds of questions
they anticipate receiving from the teacher. If students are constantly
bombarded with questions that require only low levels of intellectual
involvement (or no involvement whatsoever), they will tend to think
accordingly. Conversely, students who are given questions based on higher
levels of thinking will tend to think more creatively and divergently.
Fire Alarm
Observations of both elementary and secondary classrooms has shown that
teachers significantly overuse knowledge questions. In fact, during the course of an
average day, many teachers will ask upward of 300 or more knowledge-based
questions.
Knowledge
Comprehension
Application
Analysis
Synthesis
Evaluation
Knowledge
This is the lowest level of questions and requires students to recall
information. Knowledge questions usually require students to identify
information in basically the same form it was presented. Some examples of
knowledge questions include …
Expert Opinion
Never end a presentation by asking, “Are there any questions?” This is the surest
way to turn off students. Instead, say something like, “Take five minutes and write
down two questions you have about the lesson. Share those questions and discuss
possible answers with a partner.”
Comprehension
Simply stated, comprehension is the way in which ideas are organized into
categories. Comprehension questions are those that ask students to take
several bits of information and put them into a single category or grouping.
These questions go beyond simple recall and require students to combine
data together. Some examples of comprehension questions include …
“If I put these three blocks together, what shape do they form?”
Jabberwocky
In analysis, you move from the whole to the parts. In synthesis, you move from
the parts to the whole.
Application
At this level, teachers ask students to take information they already know
and apply it to a new situation. In other words, they must use their
knowledge to determine a correct response. Some examples of application
questions include …
“How would you use your knowledge of latitude and longitude to locate
Greenland?”
“If you had eight inches of water in your basement and a hose, how
would you use the hose to get the water out?”
Analysis
An analysis question is one that asks a student to break down something into
its component parts. To analyze requires students to identify reasons,
causes, or motives and reach conclusions or generalizations. Some examples
of analysis questions include …
“How would your life be different if you could breathe under water?”
Evaluation
Evaluation requires an individual to make a judgment about something. We
are asked to judge the value of an idea, a candidate, a work of art, or a
solution to a problem. When students are engaged in decision-making and
problem-solving, they should be thinking at this level. Evaluation questions
do not have single right answers. Some examples of evaluation questions
include …
“Do you think that the pioneers did the right thing?”