Proposal Title
A deep dive beyond the syllabus: Classification of cognitive processes & knowledge domains in post-secondary science courses
Session Type
Workshop
Room
Somerville House, room 3315
Start Date
13-7-2023 3:30 PM
End Date
13-7-2023 4:20 PM
Keywords
Bloom’s Taxonomy, Cognition, Knowledge, Science Teaching, Assessment Questions, Higher Education
Primary Threads
Teaching and Learning Science
Abstract
Post-secondary education aims to provide students with enriching opportunities to learn through exposure to different theories, challenges and perspectives, but how do we know if we are truly accomplishing this? An effective tool to answer this question is Bloom’s taxonomy; an educational framework that is used to gain insights into the cognitive and knowledge skills that a course requires from a student.
This workshop is inspired by a recent project, where we conducted an in-depth exploration of the assessments that students complete in two courses offered by UBC Faculty of Science; a second year level and fourth year level course. Through this classification, we found many differences in the cognitive and knowledge processes utilized in higher year level versus lower year level courses.
Participants will use the revised version of Bloom’s taxonomy, to classify course assessments based on the type of knowledge and cognitive process required by the student. The revised version of Bloom’s taxonomy will be used, given its importance in numerous disciplines including life sciences, physical sciences and the humanities. On top of this, the revised version incorporates a knowledge dimension, allowing the framework to take on two dimensions. Unlike the original taxonomy, the revised taxonomy is not a hierarchy; instead, complexity is observed within each dimension (Krathwohl, 2002). The data from classifying assessments can be used to inform curriculum development, in efforts to further enhance the undergraduate student learning experience. Our hope is that participants will apply the content in this workshop to inform their own courses.
Elements of Engagement
The workshop will have many interactive components where participants will have the opportunity to draw on their experiences in the courses and programs that they are involved in. Given this goal, participants are highly encouraged to bring along their own course outlines, assessment questions, and/or activities from their courses to use during the classification process. The session will begin with a brief introduction to Bloom’s taxonomy with reference to our study, including its purpose and results, followed by a sample of the most interesting result from our study. Participants will then spend some time independently and collaboratively classifying a handful of questions from their course (or will be provided with sample questions) as per Bloom’s Taxonomy. After completing this activity, participants will share any interesting patterns they found while completing the classification as well as their overall experience with the classification of the questions. Participants will also be encouraged to put forth some of the questions included in their courses to classify as a group. Finally, participants will reflect on if this classification system can be helpful in their course, and if so, in what way.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
A deep dive beyond the syllabus: Classification of cognitive processes & knowledge domains in post-secondary science courses
Somerville House, room 3315
Post-secondary education aims to provide students with enriching opportunities to learn through exposure to different theories, challenges and perspectives, but how do we know if we are truly accomplishing this? An effective tool to answer this question is Bloom’s taxonomy; an educational framework that is used to gain insights into the cognitive and knowledge skills that a course requires from a student.
This workshop is inspired by a recent project, where we conducted an in-depth exploration of the assessments that students complete in two courses offered by UBC Faculty of Science; a second year level and fourth year level course. Through this classification, we found many differences in the cognitive and knowledge processes utilized in higher year level versus lower year level courses.
Participants will use the revised version of Bloom’s taxonomy, to classify course assessments based on the type of knowledge and cognitive process required by the student. The revised version of Bloom’s taxonomy will be used, given its importance in numerous disciplines including life sciences, physical sciences and the humanities. On top of this, the revised version incorporates a knowledge dimension, allowing the framework to take on two dimensions. Unlike the original taxonomy, the revised taxonomy is not a hierarchy; instead, complexity is observed within each dimension (Krathwohl, 2002). The data from classifying assessments can be used to inform curriculum development, in efforts to further enhance the undergraduate student learning experience. Our hope is that participants will apply the content in this workshop to inform their own courses.