Bloom Taxonomy Essay

Critical Thinking

1. Explain what Bloom Taxonomy is.
Bloom’s taxonomy is a classification of thinking skills, published by Benjamin Bloom and his colleagues in 1956. It is composed of six levels organized hierarchically from lower to higher order thinking. The first three levels include knowledge, comprehension and application while in the highest levels we find analysis, synthesis and evaluation. It is worth mentioning that the hierarchical order implies “mastery” of the preceding levels in order to move forward.
In 2001, the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy was published. Some modifications were made, such as the change from nouns to verbs and the order of the highest levels.
This taxonomy has been widely used across educational institutions

This can be done by asking students what one might consider as ordinary questions, but in fact they carry a high thinking potential. Questions such as What’s going on here? or What do you see that makes you say so? calls for different perspectives regarding a topic, encouraging students to put forward their ideas.

6. What are some criticisms to Bloom's taxonomy?
Bloom’s taxonomy is depicted as a linear and straightforward representation of thinking. The idea of moving from the simplest to the most complex thinking process is not supported by scientific evidence as an individual can skip some hierarchy levels and even when being at its highest, go back to the previous one, etc. Also, this taxonomy fails to describe what terms like “analysis” and “evaluation” really mean in the classroom situation.

7. Should we teach our students a Critical Thinking course? Are critical thinking and good thinking synonyms?

I consider that a Critical Thinking course will be of great value to our students as it will help them developing their higher order thinking skills. However, a course seems not to be enough, as critical thinking is a skill that has to be practiced and fostered on a daily basis in different classroom