Wednesday, March 12, 2008

I Huck Bloom's Taxonomy at my Students!

I have often been heard muttering something about pictures being worth a thousand words. I actually say it...and believe it. I like to draw little cartoon animals on my Activboard that are somewhat relevant to a main idea. I once drew an convection oven (to illustrate convection) that the students couldn't quit talking about. For some reason, our students that constantly play vids and watch TV seem to like visuals. Here is a picture of my oven.










(I don't think it is that good.)

I recently started showing interesting images to my classes and then having the students work their way up Bloom's Taxonomy by asking questions about it. I didn't come up with it, but I sure do like the strategy. You can find the original source at this blog . I also embedded a glimpse of it into the my blog using http://kwout.com/. You can embed into Moodle too.

http://jdgypton.edublogs.org/2007/10/07/a-simple-inquiry-based-lesson/

A simple inquiry-based lesson | Thoughts on teaching & educational technology via kwout

In all seriousness, you can ham up how lame basic questions are with the students and how they don't really result in any interesting conversation. The more Bloom's you throw at them the more they enjoy it. Seriously! By the end the students all want to illustrate, contrast, estimate, compare, extend, infer, analyze, and predict. It is really a fun strategy and all you need is a good image and your little Bloom's flipchart thingy. I included a sample below.












Enjoy...and make sure you check out the original source and http://kwout.com/ too.

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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousMarch 13, 2008 at 4:39 PM

    Thanks for using my blog as a reference. I've found that I refer directly to Bloom's on a regular basis in my classes. I want my kids to realize and consider not only what they're doing/studying, but how they are going about it, cognitively. It's an ongoing process, for sure, but I think there are huge benefits to be had by inviting the students to see what's happening behind the curtain, figuratively.

    I've even created lessons within units that target various levels of Bloom's...1 & 2 together, followed quickly by 3, then work on 4 to springboard to 5 & 6...this is especially powerful in a Gov't class, the whole point of which (I believe) is to help students know & understand "it" so they can formulate their own values-based and fact-supported views on current issues.

    Anyway, thanks for reading my blog. I recently posted another inquiry-based lesson, this one based out of a song rather than a picture.

    jdg

    ReplyDelete
  2. bfMarch 13, 2008 at 7:12 PM

    jdg,

    thanks for your comments. i'll have to check out the song post. just curious, how did you know i linked to you?

    ben

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