Benjamin Bloom

1. Who was Benjamin Bloom?
2. Explicate reasons his research may or may not have made a significant contribution to literacy instruction and practice as you now understand it.
3. In your own words, illustrate how Bloom's Taxonomy might aid your own ability as a teacher to develop effective questioning techniques in your prepared lessons. (Give one or two examples of such questions in your response.)

Benjamin Bloom was an educational psychologist. He proposed that any given task utilized one of three psychological domains: cognitive, affective and psychomotor. Cognitive being one's ability to "process information in a meaningful way;" affective being "attitudes or feelings that result from a learning experience;" and psychomotor which is physically manipulating a tool. Bloom concentrated on mastery learning, his talent development model and Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (in the cognitive domain).
I feel that his research contributed to literacy instruction and practice. His hierarchical graph of the taxonomy of educational objectives is something that can be and should be used when teaching. It helps "pave the way" for teachers to know how to get information across to their students, but then increasing the intensity as they get further. We start at basic knowledge; what do we know about the topic? Then move onto comprehension; how can we compare it to other information attained? Next would be application; can we solve this problem using this technique? Moving on would be analysis; how can we classify our newly attained information? Then we would touch on synthesis; after combining this information with other information that we received, can we predict what will happen? Finally, evaluation; Do you agree with this information and how can you defend your opinion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Bloom)? This process makes learning meaningful, not just getting information. We get the information, but then, by asking questions like those above, we have the ability to get a full meaning out of any bit of information. We have the technique and possibility to tap into the students and have them understand and think critically about things on their own.
I kind of answered the third question in the above paragraph. But, Bloom's Taxonomy would be very helpful when developing effective questioning. For example, if I were creating history questions about the Revolutionary War I would start off by asking my students, what were the events leading up to the outbreak of the war? After they got this information I would move onto comprehension; how and why did these events cause so much tension between England and the colonies? I would continue with Bloom's Taxonomy until the very end, creating questions to enable my students to understand and get a meaningful experience out of the lesson. I would end with the evaluation question: Do you agree with the patriots or the loyalists?
I feel that Bloom's Taxonomy as a guide will really help me when I begin creating lesson plans and questioning techniques.