Bloom Where You're Planted!

 

An Internet WebQuest on Bloom's Taxonomy

 

 

created by Judy Kiser,  Charles W. Flanagan High School
Adapted by Micki Daniel, Knox County Schools Instructional Technology Department
  Introduction - Task - Process and Resources - Phase 1 - Phase 2 - Phase 3 - Phase 4 - Conclusion
 
The time allotted for this activity is a little less than one hour.
You will need to work quickly and stay on task. Good luck with your quest.

 

 

 

Introduction

As an educator, which includes anyone who works with children, have you wondered how you can teach a child to go beyond the obvious in their thinking/reasoning ability? After reading Goldilocks to a class, the students were asked what part of the story couldn't have really happened. How can we teach children to think at the higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy? Our quest will help us discover how Bloom and children's intellectual development intersect. The links in this Quest will get you started.

 

The Task

How can higher level thinking skills be encouraged in children? What can and or should teachers, parents and administrators do to promote higher level thinking?

 

Your group will write a letter expressing your opinions on BloomÕs Taxonomy to a group of parents, teachers or administrators. You may choose to write a letter to:

1. an adopter explaining how and why you would need financial support for a project to promote higher order thinking skills.

2. a PTO or PTSA group explaining how you would like their support for a new parent involvement program to promote higher order thinking skills.

3. an administrator or department asking for specific support for a project to promote higher order thinking skills.

4. "create your own topic."

 

Your primary goal is to have group consensus on your letter focus and content.

 

 

 

The Process and Resources

Learn techniques to help students think at higher levels.

 

Phase 1 - Background: Something for Everyone

Examine the BloomÕs Taxonomy Chart from the class web page.

 

http://instech.knox.k12tn.net/training/tentech/Week1docs/BloomsQuesTech.htm

 

Write down some of the key words for higher level thinking skills to help you remember the type of questions and activities that develop higher-order thinking skills. ~5 minutes

 

 

 

Phase 2 - Looking Deeper from Different Perspectives

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

 

1.   Divide into teams of four. Each person on the team should choose from the following roles. If your team has more than 4 members you can have additional teachers.

 

Teacher

School Psychologist

Parent

Administrator

 

2.   Read through the files linked to your role. You may print out the files and underline the passages that you feel are the most important. You may look at the files on the computer, copy sections you feel are important by dragging the mouse across the passage and copying / pasting it into a word processor or other writing software.

[You will not have time to collect text clips today.]  ~15 minutes

 

Teacher

Use the Internet information linked below to answer these questions specifically related to Teacher:

 

 1. How does a teacher raise the content level of questions of young children thus causing children to think deeper?

 

School Psychologist

Use the Internet information linked below to answer these questions specifically related to School Psychologist:

 

 1. How can a psychologist help a child express him/herself on a higher level?

 

Parent

Use the Internet information linked below to answer these questions specifically related to Parent:

 

 1. Is it possible for parents who aren't familiar with Bloom's taxonomy to help their young child think through ideas> How?

 

Administrator

Use the Internet information linked below to answer these questions specifically related to Administrator:

 

 1. By using Bloom's taxonomy, how can a school administrator encourage classroom teachers to help students dig deeper into a subject area - rather than just having students regurgitate information.

 

 

Parent

Administrator

Teacher-Made Resources

Understanding the Times

Pushing Students to Think

FAQ's on BloomÕs

Improve Your ChildÕs Thinking Skills

The Role of Administrators in Higher Thinking Skills

Benjamin Bloom

Rubric for Evaluation

 

Teacher

School Psychologist

Comprehension: Blooms

MCQ's and BloomÕs

Multiple Intelligences and Blooms

Educational Psychology Journal

Types of Questions

Taxonomies

BloomÕs Revised

Flashcards

 

Note: Remember you can write down or copy/paste the URL of the file you take the passage from so you can quickly go back to it if you need to prove your point.

 

3.   Meet with other teachers, parents, administrators or school psychologists in your district to examine your role. Discuss how you think you could make a difference in their opinions. (~10 minutes) 

  Be prepared to focus what you've learned into one main opinion that answers the Big Quest(ion) or Task based on what you have learned from     the links for your role.

 

 

Phase 3 - Debating, Discussing, and Reaching Consensus    

You have all learned about a different part of Bloom's taxonomy. Now group members come back to the larger WebQuest team with expertise gained by searching from one perspective. You must all now answer the Task / Quest(ion) as a group. Each of you will bring a certain viewpoint to the answer: some of you will agree and others disagree. Use information, pictures, movies, facts, opinions, etc. from the web pages you explored to convince your teammates that your viewpoint is important and should be part of your team's answer to the Task / Quest(ion). Your WebQuest team should write out an answer that everyone on the team can live with. ~10 minutes

 

Phase 4 - Real World Feedback    

You and your teammates have learned a lot by dividing up into different roles. Now's the time to put your learning into a letter you'll send out for real world feedback. Together you will write a letter that contains opinions, information, and perspectives that you've gained. Here's the process:

 

 1. Begin your letter with a statement of who you are and why you are writing your message to this particular person or organization.

 

 2. Give background information that shows you understand the topic.

 

 STATE THE TASK / QUEST(ION) AND YOUR GROUP'S ANSWER.

 

 3. Each person in your group should write a paragraph that gives two good reasons supporting the group's opinion. Make sure to be specific in both the information (like where you got it from on the Web) and the reasoning (why the information proves your group's point).

[In today's exercise we will choose one writer for the group. The writer will compose the letter based on the groups opinions and with the help and support of the group. The letter will be saved and sent as an attachment in webmail to your contact.]

 

 4. Have each person on the team proofread the message. Use correct letter format and make sure you have correctly addressed the email message. Use the link below to make contact. Send your message and make sure your teacher gets a copy.

[Your mail is not setup as a default mail program on this computer. You will need to use someone's ten-nash account using the following link:      http://webmail.k12tn.net]

 ~15 minutes

Your Contact is:

Pellissippi Group   Micki Daniel danielm@k12tn.net                         

SSPDTC Group     Marlene Boney boneym@k12tn.net        

 

 

Conclusion

Your understanding of this topic is as broad or complex as Bloom's taxonomy: when you only know part of the picture, you only understand part of the picture. Now you all know a lot more. Nice work. You should be proud of yourselves! How can you use what you've learned to see beyond the black and white of a topic and into the grayer areas? What other parts of Bloom's taxonomy could still be explored? Remember, learning never stops.

 

 

 

Introduction - Task - Process and Resources - Phase 1 - Phase 2 - Phase 3 - Phase 4 - Conclusion