Bloom’s-Taxonomy https cft.vanderbilt.edu guides-sub-pages blooms-taxonomy

Higher Order Thinking Skills (H.O.T.S.)

1. Higher order thinking skills and Bloom’s Taxonomy have great merit to me as an administrator. I have just finished my sixth year in a school with 32 faculty members, and I was responsible to see that both the elementary & secondary-level principals developed their faculty to implement these thinking skills on every grade level and in every subject. Not only are the results of ACT testing affected by this type of teaching/learning, but H.O.T.S. also affects post-secondary success, life learning, and a person’s decision matrix.
2. Today, textbook selection needs to be based on the types of thinking skills emphasized as well as on content (academic & spiritual). A school’s curriculum is not just the textbooks! Instructors need to supplement textbooks with their education and experience. Therefore, schools need to hire and train teachers to be fluent in the art of using higher order thinking skills, and thorough research should be conducted before the purchase of Christian school textbooks.
3. I do not believe the problem lies in too much emphasis being placed on learning taxonomies such as Bloom’s. The problem is that little or no attention is placed on these higher order thinking skills in traditional Christian schools. Especially in the age of Millennials, we need to answer questions regarding thinking and the why – not just the what. Memorization is great on every foundational level, but we always need to be pushing to mastery (I/R/M).

*Catechisms are great for a foundation of truth; without the teaching of truth, there is no basis for the decision to make a personal choice (relationship with Christ). But the next logical step must be the incorporation of critical/H.O.T.S.