Blooms Taxonomy and Students

¶ … Blog An alternative assessment strategy that I would use is the idea spinner. The idea spinner would allow me to engage students in both a group and individual basis. I would modify the idea spinner slightly during a group setting by making it more group oriented. In this way each member of the group would be encouraged to participate rather than relying on a sole member. With the idea spinner, I would create 4 distinct quadrants. The contents of the quadrant will vary depending on the subject matter being discussed.

In general, the quadrants will ask students to "Predict, summarize, evaluate, or explain" a particular subject matter. As the moderator of this activity, I will be careful to guide the activity in a manner that allows all students to learn even if they were not selected to participate in spinner activity. For example, if a student participating in the spinner activity, lands on the "Explain" quadrant, I would ask the student to explain a general term that will allow all other students to appropriately hear the response.

This assessment can be disguised as a game, which allows students to become more engaged with it. The idea spinner is also based on practical academic knowledge such as blooms taxonomy. The framework consists of six major categories: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation. Most of these categories are encountered through the use of the idea spinner. The spinner concept itself is also very flexible.

If a student or a group of students is lacking in one of the six categories mentioned above, the spinner can be altered to compensate for it. In addition, the use of the blooms taxonomy in the spinner concept itself allows the teacher to remain focused on the core skills needed to gain knowledge. In this manner the spinner allows the teacher to better plan and delivers appropriate instruction. It also allows the teacher to modify the activity on an as needed basis.

This ensures that instruction and assessment are aligned with the objective. During a group setting, I would modify this activity to allow for much more discussion between groups. I would be mindful of blooms taxonomy, being particularly careful to emphasize both the "Evaluate" and "Create" steps. For example, the quadrants will now have "Argue for,.