BLOOM'S TAXONOMY OF EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES

This is a hierarchy of skills that was put together over 50 years ago and provides the basis of education and training in the world, even in those systems that reject Outcome Based Education.

In earlier times, there were no basic foundation for knowledge. Students learned poetry, writing skills, vocabulary and arithmetic. These had value but not alone.

But there was no overall practical basis for education. But all learning had to have a purpose, a practical basis for helping people to live and find a livelihood.

The big surge started in 1956 when the US Government was given a massive fright. The Soviet Union launched the Sputnik satellite.

But the Soviet system was under communism that the US believed could only produce farm tractors. But here was the Soviet Union being the first nation into space.

Within the decade after 1956, the education of the US became more technical and practical so as to produce generations of mathematicians and scientists. Old educational practice was thrown out.

Unfortunately, US education threw out the baby with the bath water. Basic literacy was rejected. The short cut was for students to learn to read by reading. They learned to write by writing.

Besides many teachers were too busy fighting in Vietnam or making love not war.

And so, the educational decline began of the US and other countries including Australia. This included Papua New Guinea that relied for educational expertise on Australia.

Outcome Based Education in Papua New Guinea lacked any focus on basics of literacy, the product of a generation of basics-less children who became consultants in Education to Papua New Guinea.

But that should not have happened as there was another process going on with the work of Benjamin Bloom who developed a taxonomy of educational objectives to formalize practical education. Please click:

MASTERY LEARNING: BENJAMIN BLOOM

His taxonomy had six levels: KNOWLEDGE, COMPREHENSION, ANALYSIS, APPLICATION, SYNTHESIS AND EVALUATION. (KCAASE)

KNOWLEDGE:  know the basics of facts, ideas, spellings, grammar rules, arithmetic processes, mathematical theorems, names of towns, explorers, theories, techniques of driving a car, cooking of food, completing documents, budgeting of pay, raising children and a million others.

COMPREHENSION: know the basics by explaining the above and below in own words.

ANALYSIS: analyze processes and events to understand the basic components - the reasons for world war 2, causes of disease, the basis of healthy living, reasons for global warming, surge of HIV/AIDS, evolution of society and extinction of animals and plants.

The student should be able to extrapolate on the analysis to suggest the effects of HIV/AIDS on a future world, the effects of global warming, changes in society and the future loss of animals and plants. Bloom calls this EXTRAPOLATION.

APPLICATION: take insights from all that to come up with own ideas, explanations and plans. What do we learn from the effects of activities of the human race that have caused global warming, AIDS pandemic, overpopulation, overfishing of the seas and degradation of soils through over-farming.

SYNTHESIS:  prepare plans and arguments to solve the problems above.

EVALUATION: examine the ideas, theories, plans, designs from above to evaluate whether or not these have worth. We look at these internally to see if these comply with basic rules, legislation, cultural practices and logic.

We also examine these externally to determine whether or not these will work in practice if implemented by the human race.

No we can not execute all demonstrators. This is not a practical solution in rounding them up and putting them in gaol. There are not enough police cars and not enough gaols. The unions will not be happy.  As well this is not a viable plan for the external criteria of ethical, religious, economic and legal reasons.

In schools, there would be a focus on KNOWLEDGE, COMPREHENSION and some ANALYSIS in the lower grades. 

The child develops intellectually from birth but is able to think empirically and logically from early adolescence. So the focus from that point also includes more ANALYSIS, APPLICATION, SYNTHESIS and EVALUATION.

Applying Bloom's Taxonomy
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Critics maintain that Bloom’s Taxonomy is the basis of dictatorship where students are being brainwashed. The reality is that it should have the opposite effect if used by honest and professional teachers.

The stage of EVALUATION is relentlessly ruthless. No propaganda or false plan can get through.

Take the view expressed by foreign advisors in Papua New Guinea that all men are violent and all women are abused. That would not get through Bloom’s taxonomy.

There is nothing simpler than Bloom’s Taxonomy. (1) We know things (2) We explain things in our own words (3)  We break things down (4) We put together what we have learned from things (5) We make our own thing (6) We check to see if the thing works.