Blooming questions

ProtocolsaremostpowerfulandeffectivewhenusedwithinanongoingprofessionallearningcommunitysuchasaCriticalFriendsGroup®andfacilitatedbyaskilledcoach.Tolearnmoreaboutprofessionallearningcommunitiesandseminarsforneworexperiencedcoaches,pleasevisittheNationalSchoolReformFacultywebsiteatwww.nsrfharmony.org.

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AdaptedfromBloomet.al.,1956,byDeborahBambino,2005.

Sinceweallprofessacommitmenttocriticalthinkingexaminingthequestionsweaskseemslikeanaturalwinner.Thisisaneasywaytogeteveryonetobringanexampleoftheirwork,orcurrentworkfromtheirschool,tothetable.Ifyourepeatedthisprocessperiodicallyanddocumentedyourfindings,youcouldtrackchangesovertime.

PartI• Inviteallmembersofyourgrouptobringawrittencopyofacurrentquestion(s)theyhaveposedto

theirstudents.Administratorsorexternalcoachesmightcollectquestionsastheyvisitclassrooms.

• Chart,orpassthequestionsaroundandexaminethemwiththefollowingpromptsinmind:— Whatdoyousee?(Describew/oevaluation.)— Whatquestionsdoesyourreviewofthissamplingraiseforyou?— Whataretheimplicationsforyourfocusonhigherorderquestioning?

PartII• Selectaquestionand“tune”itwithapartner.Offeratleasttwowaysthequestioncouldbephrasedto

takestudentstoahigherlevelofthinking.

• Debrieftheprocessandcontentofthisexperience.— Willthishelpyouwithyourquestioningstrategies?— Howwillyousharethisexperiencewithyourcolleagues,students…?— Whatelsecanwedotodevelop“rich”questions?

Extension:Havestudentskeeptrackofthequestionstheyhavebeenaskedandthengothroughtheprocesswiththem.Havestudentsexaminethekindsofquestionstheyareaskinginclassandthenhavethempracticetuningtheirownquestions.

BloomingQuestions



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FromBloom,etal.,1956

Asteacherswetendtoaskquestionsinthe“knowledge”category80%to90%ofthetime.Thesequestionsarenotbad,butusingthemallthetimeis.Trytoutilizehigherorderlevelofquestions.Thesequestionsrequiremuchmore“brainpower”andamoreextensiveandelaborateanswer.BelowarethesixquestioncategoriesasdefinedbyBloom.

Knowledge • remembering; • memorizing; • recognizing; • recallingidentificationand • recallofinformation — Who,what,when,where,how...? — Describe

Comprehension • interpreting; • translatingfromonemediumtoanother; • describinginone’sownwords; • organizationandselectionoffactsandideas — Retell...

Application • problemsolving; • applyinginformationtoproducesomeresult; • useoffacts,rulesandprinciples — Howis...anexampleof...? — Howis...relatedto...? — Whyis...significant?

Analysis • subdividingsomethingtoshowhowitisputtogether; • findingtheunderlyingstructureofacommunication; • identifyingmotives; • separationofawholeintocomponentparts — Whatarethepartsorfeaturesof...? — Classify...accordingto... — Outline/diagram... — Howdoes...compare/contrastwith...? — Whatevidencecanyoulistfor...?

BloomingQuestionsAppendixIBloom’sTaxonomy:SampleQuestions


Synthesis

• creatingaunique,originalproductthatmaybeinverbalformormaybeaphysicalobject;• combinationofideastoformanewwhole

— Whatwouldyoupredict/inferfrom...?— Whatideascanyouaddto...?— Howwouldyoucreate/designanew...?— Whatmighthappenifyoucombined...?— Whatsolutionswouldyousuggestfor...?

Evaluation• makingvaluedecisionsaboutissues;• resolvingcontroversiesordifferencesofopinion;• developmentofopinions,judgementsordecisions

— Doyouagree...?— Whatdoyouthinkabout...?— Whatisthemostimportant...?— Placethefollowinginorderofpriority...— Howwouldyoudecideabout...?— Whatcriteriawouldyouusetoassess...?



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BloomingQuestionsAppendixII

Procedure

Foranyassignedreadingselection,developquestionsthatreflecttheprogressionofthinkingandrespondingfromtheliteralleveltotheevaluative.Notalllevelsneedtobedevelopedforeveryselection.Considerarangethatwillleadthestudenttothegreaterpurposeofreading.

EachlevelofBloom’soriginaltaxonomyhasbeenrestatedforclarityandsimplification.Examplesofappropriatequestionsordirectivesaregiventoillustrateeachlevel.ThestoryofGoldilocksandtheThreeBearswasusedforgeneralunderstanding.

Knowledge therecallofspecificinformation

WhowasGoldilocks?

Wheredidshelive?Withwhom?

Whatdidhermothertellhernottodo?

Comprehension anunderstandingofwhatwasread

Thisstorywasabout__________.(Topic)

Thestorytellsus________.(MainIdea)

Whydidn’thermotherwanthertogototheforest?

WhatdidGoldilockslooklike?

Whatkindofgirlwasshe?

Application theconvertingofabstractcontenttoconcretesituations

Howwerethebearslikerealpeople?

WhydidGoldilocksgointothelittlehouse?

Writeasignthatshouldbeplacedneartheedgeoftheforest.

Drawapictureofwhatthebear’shouselookedlike.

DrawamapshowingGoldilock’shouse,thepathintheforest,thebear’shouse,etc.

ShowthroughactionhowGoldilockssatinthechairs,atetheporridge,etc.


Analysis thecomparisonandcontrastofthecontenttopersonalexperiences

HowdideachbearreacttowhatGoldilocksdid?

Howwouldyoureact?

CompareGoldilockstoanyfriend.

Doyouknowanyanimals(pets)thatacthuman?

WhendidGoldilocksleaveherrealworldforfantasy?Howdoyouknow?

Synthesis theorganizationofthoughts,ideas,andinformationfromthecontent

Listtheeventsofthestoryinsequence.

Pointouttheimportanceoftimesequencewordsbyasking:WhathappenedafterGoldilocksatetheBabyBear’sporridge?WhathappenedbeforeGoldilockswentintotheforest?Whatisthefirstthingshedidwhenshewentintothehouse?

Drawacartoonorstoriesaboutbears.Dotheyallactlikehumans?

Doyouknowanyotherstoriesaboutlittlegirlsorboyswhoescapedfromdanger?

Makeapuppetoutofoneofthecharacters.Usingthepuppet,actouthis/herpartinthestory.

Makeadioramaofthebear’shouseandtheforest.

Evaluation thejudgmentandevaluationofcharacters,actions,outcome,etc.,forpersonalreflectionandunderstanding

Whywerethebear’sangrywithGoldilocks?

WhywasGoldilockshappytogethome?

Whatdoyouthinkshelearnedbygoingintothathouse?

Doyouthinkshewilllistentohermothers’swarningsinthefuture?Why?

Doparentshavemoreexperienceandbackgroundthantheirchildren?

Wouldyouhavegoneinthebear’shouse?Whyorwhynot?

DoyouthinkthisreallyhappenedtoGoldilocks?Why?

Whywouldagrown-upwritethisstoryforchildrentoread?

WhyhasthestoryofGoldilocksbeentoldtochildrenformany,manyyears?