Bloom's Taxonomy in Math

 One thing we hear about on a regular basis is Bloom's Taxonomy, it's levels and we are told we need to use it to help our students develop higher level skills but we don't always get ideas on how to use it in math.  I am always looking for suggestions to use it in my classes but I don't always no how.

The first or lowest level is simply recalling information such as knowing your multiplication tables, addition and subtraction facts, or knowing the steps to slow an equation without understanding why.  This level is a basic level where they repeat, list, memorize, or define.  Students often confuse memorizing steps with understanding what they are doing.

The next level is understanding or comprehension where they tie basic knowledge to understanding.  Understanding refers to being able to explain the concepts via instructions such as recognize, translate, discuss, or describe.  In other words, students can describe what they are looking for and why. An example might be paraphrasing how to find the area of a triangle or a circle. Once they have developed understanding, they open the door to creating, applying, analyzing, and evaluating.

Applying refers to applying the concept in a new way such as the distributive property to show multiplying two digit numbers or binomial multiplication.  This steps is identified as demonstrate, illustrate, solve, and interpret.  One good way to have students to apply information is to compose an explanation of a topic for others, or create a diagram or photograph of certain fractions.

Creating means students take the understanding and creating something new with it.  If you see an instruction of assemble, construct, design, develop, or formulate.  One way of creating in math is when students create their own word problem or problem for a specific topic.  Another might be asking students how they can figure out the number of dimes in a car without counting them, or create a new monetary system.

Evaluate is the stage where students can justify their position.  This level is indicated by select, support, defend, value, or evaluate.  In other words, if students conclude a product is a better purchase, they can explain why.  An example might be having students consider what criteria they'd use to determine if their answer is correct or come up with a proof and justify each step.

Finally is analyze where students distinguish between the parts using compare, contrast, differentiate or examine.  An example of this might be classifying different functions or comparing and contrasting natural logs with regular logs.  Another example would be to have students figure out what strategies they could use to solve a word problem, or use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast two different topics.

So if you want to apply Bloom's Taxonomy to your math class, you know have some basic information to do so.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear. Have a great day.