Bloom

                                   

Google sites, n.d.

Benjamin Bloom was born in Pennsylvania in 1913 and became one of the most influential educational theorists. His work focused on organizing educational aims according to cognitive complexity. Bloom’s Taxonomy provided a practical tool that described what was understood as the features of the higher mental process (Northern Arizona University, n. d.). Each level of skill of the cognitive domain builds on the previous.  Knowledge is the first level, then comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation (Northern Arizona University, n. d.). Three domains of educational activities were identified as cognitive, affective, and psychomotor (Clark, 2013). In the mid-nineties, a former student of Bloom, Lorin Anderson, revised the learning taxonomy, changing the names in the six categories from noun to verb forms, and slightly rearranging them (Clark, 2013).

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Google sites, n. d.

The mastery learning concept was introduced in the 1920’s in American schools. It was revived in the late 1950’s and 1960’s by Bloom and his colleagues (Sahare, n. d.). Mastery learning was developed so teachers would have a way to provide higher quality instruction for their students (Guskey, 2000). Bloom theorized that nearly all students would be able to master any subject. When his theories were applied in the classroom, tremendous improvement in student learning was the outcome (Guskey, 2000).

                                                                                        

In a nursing education environment, it is imperative that a very high percentage of students are able to function at a mastery level.

                                                      YouTube Michelleholmes111, 2011

In writing learning outcomes, evaluation plans, and test questions for nurses, the higher levels of learning are preferable. There are many verbs that can be utilized to describe the individual levels. 

Here are a couple of links to helpful websites of Bloom's Taxonomy with verbs for each level: 

http://byrdseed.com/differentiator/       

http://clickerquestions.pbworks.com/w/page/31115153/Writing-questions-based-on-Bloom's-taxonomy

Skills  to develop in utilizing Bloom's Taxonomy: 

•          Focus on the process of mastering content
•          Direct a variety of group-based instructional techniques
•          Provide frequent and specific feedback by using diagnostic, formative tests
•          Regularly correct mistakes
•          Ensure numerous feedback loops (Sahare, n. d.)
•         Pair the feedback with numerous corrective activities that offer direction on remedying the learning problem (Guskey, 2000)

References

Clark, D. (2013, May 1). Big dog & little dog performance juxtaposition. [Blog]. Retrieved from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html

Google Sites. (n. d.). Benjamin Bloom Theory. Retrieved from

https://sites.google.com/site/benjaminbloom11/our-story-2

Guskey, T. (2001). Benjamin S. Bloom’s contributions to curriculum, instruction, and school

Learning.  file://localhost/Retrieved from http/::files.eric.ed.gov:fulltext:ED457185.pdf 

Northern Arizona University. (n. d.). Helping thinkers bloom! Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/a/nau.edu/educationallearningtheories/home/benjamin-bloom

Sahare, N. S. (n. d.). Mastery Learning [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from

http://www.slideshare.net/techcreation/mastery-learning-4798261