Bloom vs. Barrett.doc

Bloom?s Taxonomy The cognitive domain involves knowledge and the development of intellectual skills. This includes the recall or recognition of specific facts, procedural patterns, and concepts that serve in the development of intellectual abilities and skills. There are six major categories, which are listed in order below, starting from the simplest behavior to the most complex. The categories can be thought of as degrees of difficulties. That is, the first one must be mastered before the next one can take place. Category Example and Key Words Knowledge: Recall data or information. Examples: Recite a policy. Quote prices from memory to a customer. Knows the safety rules. Key Words: defines, describes, identifies, knows, labels, lists, matches, names, outlines, recalls, recognizes, reproduces, selects, states. Comprehension: Understand the meaning, translation, interpolation, and interpretation of instructions and problems. State a problem in one's own words. Examples: Rewrites the principles of test writing. Explain in one?s own words the steps for performing a complex task. Translates an equation into a computer spreadsheet. Key Words: comprehends, converts, defends, distinguishes, estimates, explains, extends, generalizes, gives, infers, interprets, paraphrases, predicts, rewrites, summarizes, translates. Application: Use a concept in a new situation or unprompted use of an abstraction. Applies what was learned in the classroom into novel situations in the work place. Examples: Use a manual to calculate an employee?s vacation time. Apply laws of statistics to evaluate the reliability of a written test. Key Words: applies, changes, computes, constructs, demonstrates, discovers, manipulates, modifies, operates, predicts, prepares, produces, relates, shows, solves, uses. Analysis: Separates material or concepts into component parts so that its organizational structure may be understood. Distinguishes between facts and inferences.  Examples: Troubleshoot a piece of equipment by using logical deduction. Recognize logical fallacies in reasoning. Gathers information from a department and selects the required tasks for training. Key Words: analyzes, breaks down, compares, contrasts, diagrams, deconstructs, differentiates, discriminates, distinguishes, identifies, illustrates, infers, outlines, relates, selects, separates. Synthesis: Builds a structure or pattern from diverse elements. Put parts together to form a whole, with emphasis on creating a new meaning or structure. Examples: Write a company operations or process manual. Design a machine to perform a specific task. Integrates training from several sources to solve a problem. Revises and process to improve the outcome. Key Words: categorizes, combines, compiles, composes, creates, devises, designs, explains, generates, modifies, organizes, plans, rearranges, reconstructs, relates, reorganizes, revises, rewrites, summarizes, tells, writes. Evaluation: Make judgments about the value of ideas or materials. Examples: Select the most effective solution. Hire the most qualified candidate. Explain and justify a new budget. Key Words: appraises, compares, concludes, contrasts, criticizes, critiques, defends, describes, discriminates, evaluates, explains, interprets, justifies, relates, summarizes, supports. Barrett?s Taxonomy The Barrett?s taxonomy is a useful framework for the development of questions designed to stimulate children?s thinking skills in reading. This will provide you with a consistent framework in your development of comprehension activities. The five categories of the taxonomy (see Barrett Taxonomy) are organized on the basis of the level of thinking presumably required for students to produce the 5 particular comprehension task outcomes - the fifth category represents what is considered to be the highest level of thinking. To begin with, the Barrett?s Taxonomy can be used as a basis for developing purposes and questions for guiding children?s reading. In the second instance it can be used as a tool in analyzing the questions presented in reading materials in order to determine the types of comprehension outcomes that are being emphasized. Category Examples Literal Comprehension: entailing recognition and recall of ideas and information explicitly stated in the reading selection Examples: Recall of facts Sequencing of events Locate or identify specific ideas (main ideas, character?s feelings, relationships Reorganization: dealing with the organizing of ideas and information explicitly stated Examples: Analyze, synthesize, or organize ideas and information Classify, summarize, or outline Inferential Comprehension: demonstrated by the student when ideas and information are explicitly stated and are used as the basis for making intelligent guesses/hypotheses Examples: Uses his personal experience to make conjectures Infer main ideas or character traits, predict outcomes, interpret figurative language Evaluation: requiring responses by the students indicating that an evaluative judgment has been made Examples: Evaluations made with accuracy and worth according to personal knowledge or experience (internal) or other?s knowledge (external) Judging reality or fiction, fact or opinion, appropriateness Appreciation: involving all the above cognitive dimensions of reading, and requiring the students to be aesthetically and emotionally, (affectively) sensitive to the ideas and information in the reading selection Examples: Emotional response to content, identification with characters, imagery, reactions to author?s language