Asking Better Questions with Blooms Taxonomy

Benjamin Bloom is known for developing the taxonomy of higher-level thinking questions. The taxonomy provides categories of thinking skills that help educators formulate questions. The taxonomy begins with the lowest level of thinking skill and moves to the highest level of thinking skill. The six thinking skills from the lowest level to the highest level are KnowledgeComprehensionApplicationAnalysisSynthesisEvaluation To really understand what this means, lets take Goldilocks and the 3 Bears and apply Blooms taxonomy. Knowledge Who was the biggest bear? What food was too hot? Comprehension Why didnt the bears eat the porridge?Why did the bears leave their house? Application List the sequence of events in the story.Draw 3 pictures showing the beginning, middle and ending of the story. Analysis Why do you think Goldilocks went for a sleep?How would you feel if you were Baby Bear?What kind of person do you think Goldilocks is and why? Synthesis How could you re-write this story with a city setting?Write a set of rules to prevent what happened in the story. Evaluation Write a review for the story and specify the type of audience that would enjoy this book.Why has this story been told over and over again throughout the years?Act out a mock court case as though the bears are taking Goldilocks to court. Blooms taxonomy helps you to ask questions that make learners think. Always remember that higher-level thinking occurs with higher-level questioning. Here are the types of activities to support each of the categories in Blooms Taxonomy: Knowledge LabelListNameStateOutlineDefineLocateRepeatIdentifyRecite Comprehension DiscussExplainProvide proof ofProvide an outlineDiagramMake a posterMake a collageMake a cartoon stripAnswer who, what, when, where, why questions Application ReportConstructSolveIllustrateConstructDesign Analysis SortAnalyzeInvestigateClassifySurveyDebateGraphCompare Synthesis InventExamineDesignFormulateHypothesizeRe-tell differentlyReportDevelop a gameSongExperimentGenerateCompose Evaluation SolveJustifySelf-evaluateConcludeDo an editorialWeight the pros/consMock trialGroup discussionJustifyJudgeCriticizeAppraiseJudgeRecommendation backed with informed opinionsWhy do you think... The more you move toward higher-level questioning techniques, the easier it gets. Remind yourself to ask open-ended questions, ask questions that stimulate why do you think type answers. The goal is to get them thinking. What color  hat was he wearing? is a low-level thinking question, Why do you think he wore that color? is better. Always look to questioning and activities that make learners think. Blooms taxonomy provides an excellent framework to help with this.