The New Levels of Learning

September 02, 2008
We want our students to move up the ladder of skills and thinking to reach their highest potential and be ready for challenges and opportunities. For years, the trusted Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning has guided us well. In this new global, information-and technology-driven world, the need for newly-defined sets of skills becomes apparent. One result is this revised Bloom's Revised Taxonomy of Learning. Previously, levels of thought were listed as nouns rather than verbs. They were, from lowest level to highest: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Notice that in the revised taxonomy, the highest level of development is creating: coming up with something new, generating new ideas, a new design - 21st century skills, for certain. In this WASLed world, creativity still trumps everything.

Remembering
Check out our knowledge

Understanding
Check out our comprehension of Big Ideas and our Daily Journal interpretations

Applying
Check out how we've used and applied our skills

Daily Logs require summarization and basic writing skills.

Analyzing
Check out our explorations and thoughts around challenging questions

Discussion Board questions lead to some well-thought answers with support.
We analyze organized data.

Evaluating
Check out our thoughtful responses and justifications of thought
We evaluate the validity, strength, accuracy, reliability of data.
We learn how to write a thoughtful and interesting book review.

Creating
Check out our new ideas, products, views, products, inventions, and designs.

What I did NOT do this summer