Synthesis Paper on Bloom's and Marzano's Taxonomies

                                                                                                                                       

 Synthesis Paper on Bloom’s and Marzano’s Taxonomies

  

The word Taxonomy is derived from the Greek words taxis, which means order or arrangement, and nomos, which means law or science. So, taxonomy is the science of order or classification. In education, taxonomy is a classification system used to define and distinguish different levels of human cognition.

Two of the most famous taxonomies that tackle educational objectives are that of Bloom’s and that of Marzano’s. Educational objectives describe the goals toward which the education process is directed (Taxonomies of Educational Objectives).In 1956, Benjamin Bloom headed a group of educational psychologists who developed a classification of levels of intellectual behaviour important in learning (Anderson & Sosniak, 1994).Bloom’s taxonomy identifies three domains of learning. The first one is the cognitive domain which deals with the intellectual development of the learner. The second one is the affective domain which focuses on the emotional aspects. And the third one is the psychomotor domain which deals with the physical skills of the individual. The cognitive domain is further divided into six levels, each requires a higher level of thinking. These levels are knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. The first three represent lower level of thinking skills, while the last three represent the higher level of thinking.

 

In 1990, Lorin Anderson, a former student of Bloom, updated and revised Bloom’s taxonomy reflecting relevance to 21^st century work for both students and teachers (Darwazeh & Branch, 2016). Anderson modified the original terminology by changing nouns into verbs. She changed knowledge into remember, comprehension into understand, application into apply, analysis into analyse, synthesis into create, and evaluation into evaluate. Moreover, she made changes to the structure where she shifted the creation level to the top of the pyramid and placed evaluation under it. In addition to that, Anderson applied modification on emphasis aiming at more efficiency regarding instruction, tools, target audience, and assessment.

Bloom’s taxonomy is still widely used by educators for better alignment of assessments with educational objectives in order to help students develop their cognitive skills and abilities, regardless of the differences between educators as how to interpret it.

After years of developing Bloom’s Taxonomy, in 1998, Roberto Marzano proposed a new taxonomy of learning under the name of New Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, as a response to the shortcomings of Bloom’s taxonomy and the current environment of standard-based instructions. Marzano’s Taxonomy integrated three systems: the self-system, which involves student motivation; the metacognitive system, involving goal setting and planning; and the cognitive system, required to complete the task on hand (Irvine, July 2020). In addition to the three systems, there is one domain which Marzano called the knowledge domain that is interrelated with the cognitive system, where the first one provides the content and the latter processes all the necessary information. In his Taxonomy, Marzano identifies three categories of knowledge: information, mental procedures, and physical procedures.

All these categories help in processing information and applying them effectively. Within the cognitive system, Marzano identifies four levels (lowest to highest): retrieval, comprehension, analysis, and knowledge utilization. Marzano states that they are ordered based on the level of processing required.

Taking a closer look at both Taxonomies (Bloom’s and Marzano’s), we notice that the two educators did the best they could (each according to the era he had witnessed) to put a systematic framework to facilitate the teacher’s attempts to move students up the taxonomies as they progress knowledge and equip them with the necessary cognitive skills. Although some researchers think that Bloom’s Taxonomy is outdated, but no one denies that it has built the foundations for the following taxonomies including that of Marzano’s. Bloom’s knowledge emphasised on three types in which Marzano took into further dimension: cognitive and that what Marzano called information, psychomotor which is physical procedures in Marzano’s term, and affective that is related to mental procedures according to Marzano. So, the additions or improvements, Marzano did, qualified his taxonomy to have greater advantages over Bloom, where we see greater precision when creating objectives and carrying assessments. Moreover, Marzano’s framework has its humane aspects where the learning process is not separable from emotions and mental states that have huge impact on motivation and eventually in engaging in the learning process. So, to Marzano, the learner, and not the teacher as in Bloom’s, is a priority and the teacher is a facilitator who leads the student into the learning process smoothly.

In conclusion, whether Bloom or Marzano, the goal remains that educators should equip themselves and equip their students with the necessary skills that help them achieve the intended learning outcomes as a base for everlasting knowledge enabling them to become learners for life.

 

References

Anderson, L. W., & Sosniak, L. A. (1994). Bloom's taxonomy. Univ.Chicago Press.

Darwazeh, A. N., & Branch, R. M. (2016). A Revision to the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy.

Irvine, J. (July 2020). Marzano's New Taxonomy as a Framework For Investigating Student Affect. Journal of Instructional Pedagogies, 24.

Taxonomies of Educational Objectives. (n.d.). Retrieved from education.stateuniversity.com