This Old House of Wonders: How Bloom's Bones Support the Acquisition of 21st Century Skills

Bloom's Taxonomy, introduced in 1956 by Benjamin Bloom, has seen some changes. 

It's a model that has morphed from a pyramid into an orange into an upside-down pyramid into cogs revolving in a system of meaning-making in which lower-order skills such as remembering are not looked down on in favor of higher order skills such as creating. 

In addition to changes to its physical form, Bloom's has weathered changes to its content as well. In its initial version, the terms within the pyramid were nouns: knowledge was at the base, then came comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and at the top -- evaluation. In 2001, Lorin Anderson and David Krathwohl presented a new version in which verbs replaced nouns, so as to stress the fact that learning is an active rather than passive endeavor. This shift is illustrated below. 

from Leslie Owen Wilson's "The Second Principle" <https://thesecondprinciple.com/essential-teaching-skills/blooms-taxonomy-revised/>

When I plan a lesson, it's this version of Bloom's to which I refer. It helps me balance and organize the sequence of my instruction. I try to build upon the foundation of "remembering," progressing through the levels, until students reach the point where they're able to engage in "creating." Usually, engagement with this tip of the pyramid takes the form of a creative writing project. Lessons, I know, cannot and will not neatly follow from "remember" upward, but I use Bloom's as a guide nonetheless, with the thought in mind that I need to be flexible depending upon students' needs. 

Despite its polymorphous history, Bloom's Taxonomy has not lost its heart. The illustration of differing levels of cognitive activity remains. It's a model that has, as one might say looking at an old house with lots of promise, "good bones." 

These good bones, in light of the demands of 21st century learning which I will get into in a minute, have supported a new set of renovations. 

In 2008, thanks to Andrew Churches, Bloom's Taxonomy underwent yet another revision to become Bloom's Digital Taxonomy. Bloom's Digital Taxonomy keeps the verbs from the 2001 version, but those verbs are now linked with digital verbs. For example, terms such as "blogging," or "programming" accompany the "creating" level. Digital verbs such as "highlighting" and "googling" accompany the "remembering" level. 

The image below is from TeachThought University. It shows how digital verbs have been added to the 2001 verbs. Another dimension to consider, shown here as well, is the "communication spectrum," which lists forms of 21st century communication such as "texting" and "emailing" alongside the cognitive skills with which these activities seem to align. 

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Bloom's Digital Taxonomy can help me design lessons that use digital tools which target cognitive levels and their respective digital verbs. Being able to align what digital tools I use with the cognitive levels that work with my lessons' objectives will enable me to design lessons that adroitly address 21st century skills students need to master such as civic literacy and social and cross-cultural skills -- because the digital verbs serve as stepping stones so that I can reach a place where I'm comfortable integrating the best technology for the job. This comfortability frees me up to double check that I'm teaching these 21st century skills in harmony with The Scarlet Letter or The Taming of the Shrew. 

What are these 21st century skills? I mentioned civic literacy and social and cross-cultural skills, but Partnership for 21st Century Learning has provided us with even more: Students need to master key subjects and 21st century themes such as English, Civics, and Geography. Students also need to take command of Life and Career Skills such as adaptability and leadership. Learning and Innovation Skills, the 4 Cs, are crucial as well: Critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity must be included in the curriculum so that students can grow into powerful thinkers and responsible global citizens. Information, Media, and Technology Skills are vital to a curriculum too, including abilities such as information literacy and media literacy.

In order for these 21st century skills to be taught well, they must be supported by a vibrant and diverse system. The Framework for 21st Century Learning outlines these supports as being comprised of the following pillars: 1) standards and assessments 2) curriculum and instruction 3) professional development and 4) learning environments. These support systems need to be innovative so as to "engage learners through applicable skills and knowledge, appropriate technologies [thank you, Bloom's Digital Taxonomy] and real-world connections to make learning relevant, personalized, and engaging" (2). It seems that the skills 21st century learners need are those that empower them to intelligently and collaboratively use information that technology has and will continue to make widely and quickly available. 

One question that arose during my studying curriculum frameworks relates to why students are taught to memorize vocabulary or the periodic table, for example, when it seems like all they need to do is look up the information on their phones or Chromebooks. I'm curious to see how the ever-changing needs brought on by ever-evolving resources will again transform that model from 1956. 

I would appreciate a revision in which not only is the term "digital" added to the name, but the main verbs are changed to digital verbs as well. What word, in light of the demands of 21st century skills, would "remembering" become? Perhaps a more relevant verb today would be "searching" -- the basic ability to locate a definition or some other fact. Or maybe "remembering" should stay, and what changes is the content one needs to remember: how to use a search engine, how to troubleshoot system issues -- the operations that open the door to knowledge. Yes, that's what needs teaching.