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Effective Questioning&Talk
Effective Questioning&Talk
All the following examples and many others are useful and necessary within different classroom
situations. They help teachers move students from simple responses, to engage in more developed
complex thinking. This helps them apply what they understand, to bridge learning from other times and
different situations, to think more actively in lessons and learn from the answers given by other students.
Ged Gast Creativity Consultant
Process
Thinking Time:
Consciously waiting for a pupil
or class to think through an
answer (before you break the
silence) e.g 15-30secs
Time Out:
Time for thinking and talking
No Hands Questioning:
Using the no hands up rule
Basketball questioning:
Move questions and
discussions between pupils
Phone a friend:
Removes stress to enable
those who cannot answer to
participate
Preview:
Previewing questions in
advance
Pair rehearsal:
of an answer or a question
Eavesdropping:
Deploying specific targeted
questions
5Ws:
Modeling simple exploratory
questions to gather information
Eavesdropping:
Deploying specific targeted
questions
Hot-seating:
Strategy/approach
Process
High Challenge:
Phrasing questions carefully to
concentrate on Blooms
Taxonomy higher challenge
areas
Staging or sequencing:
questions with increasing
levels of challenge
Big questions:
The setting of a substantial
and thought provoking
question
Focus questioning:
This will help students to
answer bigger questions
Fat questions:
Seeking a minimum answer
Skinny questions
A traditional approach to Q&A
asking everyday questions with
a fixed or specific answer
Signal questions:
Many of these questioning strategies and approaches are taken from the National Secondary Strategy
for School Improvement, The Questioning guidance from the Pedagogy and Practice Pack materials
and the Assessment for Learning Handbook, or from the work of members of the AfL team including
Paul Black and Christine Harrison at Kings College, London.
Ged Gast Creativity Consultant
5xWs
Developing an independent
questioning mind
The Five Ws, also known as the Five Ws and H, is a concept used in journalism, research and in any
basic investigation or interrogation of evidence. Most consider this approach as fundamental when
examining any new learning situation. It is a formula for developing speculative thinking and establishing
all we can deduce from the evidence we have (text, stories, images, sound, film, conversation etc). The
maxim of the Five Ws (and one H) is that any analysis of basic facts and information is only complete,
when we can answer a checklist of six questions, each of which comprises an interrogative word:
Who?
What?
Where?
When?
Why?
& How?
The principle underlying the maxim is that each question should elicit a factual answer facts that are
necessary to include for a report or when new learning can be considered complete. Importantly, none of
these questions can be answered with a simple "yes" or "no". This approach models simple, good
thinking and it is important for children to develop a disposition of self questioning starting with this set.
The technique uses basic question generating prompts provided by the English language. The method is
useful at any level from a formal checklist to complete informality.
For example:
For informal rough-book use as a quick-aide checklist, as a private checklist to keep in mind when in
an on going discussion, as quick points scribbled down in a lesson, to generate further questions for
yourself or to raise in the lesson with your group/whole class.
To generate data-gathering questions in any subject, during the early stages of problem solving
when you are gathering data, the checklist can be useful either as an informal or systematic way of
generating lists of question that you can try to find answers for.
To generate idea-provoking questions, whilst brain-storming, brain-writing or some other such similar
technique, the checklist could be used as a source of thought provoking questions to help build on
existing ideas.
To generate criteria, the checklist could help in generating criteria for evaluating options.
To check plans, the checklist is a useful tool for planning implementation strategies.
Questions
Who ?
What ?
Why ?
When ?
Where ?
How ?
In What Way Might ?
Ged Gast Creativity Consultant
Dialogic Teaching
Classroom Talk
Collective: teachers and children address learning tasks together, whether as a group or as a
whole class;
Reciprocal: teachers and children listen to each other, share ideas and consider alternative
viewpoints;
Supportive: children articulate their ideas freely, without fear of embarrassment over wrong
answers; and they help each other to re ach common understandings;
Cumulative; teachers and children build on their own and each others ideas and chain them into
coherent lines of thinking and enquiry;
Purposeful: teachers plan and steer classroom talk with specific educational goals in view.
Most teachers use a basic repertoire of three kinds of classroom talk:
o rote
o recitation
o instruction/exposition
These provide the bedrock of a repertoire of teaching by direct instruction, but some teachers also use:
o discussion
o scaffolded dialogue
These all have their place in a thinking classroom, but Dialogic talk is part of a larger repertoire, needed
to ensure children are empowered both in their learning now and later as adult members of society.
As part of their cognitive development, children need to acquire the capacity to:
narrate,
explain
instruct,
ask different kinds of questions,
receive, act and build upon answers
analyse and solve problems
speculate and imagine
explore and evaluate ideas
discuss
argue, reason and justify
negotiate
As part of a comprehensive classroom approach to talk for learning and empowerment, teachers will
need to engage with both of these repertoires, through:
Teacher-pupil interaction, Pupil-pupil interaction, Teacher-pupil one-to-one monitoring,
Questioning, Responses to questioning, Feedback on responses, Pupil talk.
Text and principles taken from: Towards Dialogic Teaching Rethinking classroom talk
Robin Alexander ISBN 0-9546943-0-9 Published by Dialogos UK Ltd
Ged Gast Creativity Consultant
To Model good questioning, use the approaches on pages 2-4 and 7-10
To Model good thinking, use the approaches set out on pages 11-18
To Develop, Respect, Listening and Interaction, apply the principles of a Thinking Classroom on
page 10
To Pitch the challenge suitably, explore the resources that explain how Blooms Taxonomy can be
used to support planning for questioning and learning activities on pages 19-26
Teachers must pre-plan questions to ensure pupils know what to talk about and they are well supported
and guided with information from videos, web and multi-media content, subject specific knowledge, key
language, learning scaffolds, supporting stimulating and engaging collaborative activities.
Collaborate
with others
Developing
Independence
Respect for
others
High
confidence
environment
When teachers start to ask a series of questions, they should have a plan for how the questioning will
develop, who they will target, what expectation they have for the quality of answers given by students,
and how much thinking time they might need to give to enable students to reflect suitably deeply. This
strategy is a questioning preparation mnemonic for teachers to improve their preparation.
Pose Teacher poses the question as a big question for all to consider and form a response to.
Pause Teacher gives thinking time and possibly discussions/thinking together.
Pounce Teacher selects who will provide and answer (no hands and not hands up).
Bounce Teacher bounces the answers from student to student developing the ideas/encouraging
all to add their views or extend the e.g. depth and breadth of answers.
CLAPS
Each aspect is examined to build effective and complete analysis of a text, spoken presentation or
media. Several questions can be planned and phrased around each of the 5 aspects to model how
analysis thinking should be structured e.g. How would you describe What do you know about
1. Context
2. Language
3. Audience
4. Purpose
5. Style
DEAL
D Describe
E Explain
Explain what you know or understand, what you experienced or think happened
A Analyse
Analyse the information or evidence to draw conclusions or determine what you believe is
happened and why
L Link
Link with previous knowledge or make connections with other phenomenon or outcomes
where these connections bring further conclusions or lead to hypothesis
SATIP
A strategy for beginning to engage with Reading any text. This develops in the reader, further
questions in order that they then form a sense of meaning from the text, to develop understanding and
before the teacher might use Blooms Taxonomy to set more challenging questions.
Sense or meaning what is it about?
Audience or tone who is it intended for?
Technique what are the techniques that have been used - what is their effect?
Intentions What was the writers purpose?
Personal opinion what is your reaction? what do you start to conclude?
Thinking Time
How much thinking time is the correct amount?
What is the right amount of wait time?
Teachers have tended to only wait for 0.7 seconds to 3 seconds.
This is not long enough to enable pupils to think of a good answer.
Research carried out during the National Strategy determined that
some pupils do not start to think of an answer until 10 seconds or
more has elapsed. 30 seconds is commonly thought to be a
suitable waiting time for a class to consider a challenging question
and to prepare and think through a full answer.
More time is needed if pupils are to discuss a question and
collaborate on forming an extended, detailed or examination type
answer.
Use Pose, Pause, Pounce and Bounce. Decide how long you will need to Pause, how you will select
who answers and how you will bounce the opportunity to answer around the room to gather answers.
CPFM
Content
Analyse and describe the Content. Much more than the subject matter of a work of art or
historical/cultural artefact. 1. What the artefact represents or symbolises; 2. What story or
event is portrayed (narrative content), and 3. What idea the creator is attempting to pursue.
Process
Analyse and describe the Process. The way in which media and materials have been
used to create a particular piece of work. This could refer to a single process or a sequence
of processes that have been combined to create the final outcome or work of art.
Form
Analyse and describe the use of the formal elements, i.e. the building blocks for the
artform, e.g in art and design:- line, tone, colour, pattern, texture, shape, form and space.
Mood/
emotion
Analyse and describe the Mood. This refers to the way in which the artist has handled
form and subject matter to create an emotionally affective piece of work. How the piece of
work makes the person experiencing the artform feel, and the viewer being able to find
evidence in the piece of work to support this feeling.
Content, Process, Form and Mood can be used in any order, or one or more at a time as a prompt to
visual thinking and identification while looking at an image or creative outcome. This mnemonic tool
promotes enquiry, analysis, reasoning, synthesis, reflection, emotional intelligence, evaluation, metacognition and creative thinking. Teachers can lead and manage this process as a Q&A, classroom
discussion or writing activity to phrase and/or answer questions set in response to critics, by the
teacher or students.
A guide to Critical Studies and how to look at, think and talk about objects, images and works of art, craft and design.
Rod Taylor (Educating for Art -Critical Response and Development, SCDC Publications 1986)
How is it made?
What is its impact?
There are
1. Follow the
rules for
classroom Talk
2. Listen to others
Add or build on
their ideas
The characteristics
needed for a
Thinking Classroom
6. Respect the
views and
ideas of
others
3. Never put
others down or
intimidate them
4. Thinking time
Actively consider
all ideas, ask new
questions
When we consider the differences between Classroom A and Classroom B, we can see that Classroom
B promotes better learning. In Classroom B, the teacher does not talk for too long, but asks open
questions and encourages speculation and independence of thought.
In a thinking classroom, teachers plan their questioning in ways that will promote differentiation,
challenge, independence of thought, alongside opportunities to think together, share views and ideas
and discuss or explore the differences in their thinking. Questioning will need to be planned to promote
and model such thinking and to guide the learning task.
Ged Gast Creativity Consultant
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Developing Speculation
Students learn how to speculate in response to their teachers modelling open-ended questions. These
help students to think aloud, imagine and explore new ideas. Brainstorming and Out of the box
thinking activities develop a shared understanding and ownership of a topic or subject, with permission
given for risky thinking and thinking out loud. Students learn to speculate when teachers ask questions
such as I wonder what happens if? or, In what way might?
For obvious reasons, it is important for speculation to have a strong element of
imaginative thinking. Einstein famously suggested Imagination is more
a sense of Wonder,
self reflection and questioning - Asking What If? or What happens next?
seeking connections with what is new, what is already known and understood,
reviewing what is known, to then develop speculative views,
considering Consequences and Sequels, as well as imagining Prequels.
Seeing the
Bigger Picture
Speculative Talk also resists being too specific. There is not always a need to define
the measure of all outcomes. Language can suggest or hint at options or connections.
Ged Gast Creativity Consultant
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Hypothesis forming builds on speculation and can be aided by conversations and wider classroom talk.
The opportunity to use thinking and talking partners will assist students in learning how to question data
and information when forming a Hypothesis that makes sense of the evidence, occurrence or determines
the most probable outcome in the light of the facts. Teachers can use Time outs, thinking time, paired
and group talk to promote the sharing of partially formed ideas and for students to compare their
hypothesis as they form them.
Mystery activities are often used in the classroom as a way of teaching students how to form a
hypothesis by presenting evidence in the form of small pieces of text based information that can be
physically grouped and re-grouped to make links in the information and help model the hypothesis.
(see http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/180236 or examples of Teaching Mysteries at
http://www.mysterynet.com/learn/)
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(Cognitive Research Trust) Thinking Tools for Independent Learning - Developed by Edward de Bono
The CoRT thinking tools provide a set of simple Acrostics that help children remember specific thinking
processes. Teachers introduce these one at a time to focus on a specific thinking task. Like the six
hats, they prescribe a mode of thinking. Edward de Bono describes these tools as Directed Thinking.
Teachers can display these tools visually in a learning area or on a whiteboard. Focused questioning,
classroom talk and paired thinking can be used to explore the focus of the tool through the learning
context. For example, a PMI can be used to classify a list of information into Plus and Minus, as a paired
or class discussion, to identify those with Plus/Positive characteristics. Those identified as Interesting,
are worthy of more careful consideration. This tool speeds-up and makes more clear the process of
classification of items in a long list or a complex set of criteria. Teachers can use these tools to provide a
focus to questioning and pair/group or class discussions. By making thinking more directed, students
are better able to remember these tools and use them to drive thinking for writing and speaking.
EBS Examine Both Sides
1.
2.
3.
4.
EBS
APC Alternatives,
Possibilities and Choices
PMI
CAF
AGO
APC
ADI
C&S
OPV
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What evidence and information can we find that will help us understand ?
If we know that , then we also can assume that How can we be sure?
Problem Solving
How can we identify the problem with ? What would we include in a list of questions to?
Where can we go to find more information? Does this change our current understanding?
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Evolving facilitator chooses first hat and when this hat is completed, the next hat is chosen and
so on (but this process needs to avoid manipulation and users need to be very experienced)
Pre-set sequences - is set up at the beginning of the meeting, under an initial blue hat. Minor
variations can be permitted, depending on output.
The WHITE Hat
The White Hat calls for information known or needed.
This covers facts, figures, information and evidence needs and gaps. "I think we need some
white hat thinking at this point..." means Let's drop the arguments and proposals, and look at
what we know and what further information we need."
The YELLOW Hat
The Yellow hat symbolises brightness and optimism, benefits, speculates positively. This is the
logical positive. Why something will work and why it will offer benefits. It can be used in looking
forward to the results of some proposed action, but can also be used to find something of value
in what has already happened.
The BLACK Hat
The Black hat is judgmentthe devils advocate or why something may not work, riskassessment and caution. This is a most valuable hat, but can be over used.
It is not in any sense an inferior or negative hat. The black hat is used to point out why a
suggestion does not fit the facts, the available experience, the system in use, or the policy that
is being followed. The black hat must always be logical.
The RED Hat
The Red Hat signifies feelings, intuition, hunches, and emotion gut feelings.
The red hat allows the thinker to put forward an intuition without any need to justify it. "Putting
on my red hat, I think this is a terrible proposal." Usually feelings and intuition can only be
introduced into a discussion if they are supported by logic. Usually the feeling is genuine but
the logic is spurious. The red hat gives full permission to a thinker to put forward his or her
feelings on the subject at the moment.
The GREEN Hat
The Green hat focuses on creativity, the possibilities, alternatives, and new ideas, growth,
energy, hypothesis building. (Too little time is spent on this at present). This hat explores what
is interesting, provocations and changes.
The BLUE Hat
The Blue Hat is used to manage the thinking process (metacognition).This is the overview or
process control hat. It looks not at the subject itself but at the 'thinking' about the subject.
"Putting on my blue hat, I feel we should do some more green hat thinking at this point." In
technical terms, the blue hat is concerned with meta-cognition.
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5. Alternatively, a yellow hat question might explore optimistic ideas or explore the value of the
green hat ideas already suggested.
6. The blue hat can be called for by the students or the teacher can offer the blue hat to the
students to invite them to suggest whether any of the hats should be worn again, to focus any
further questions.
SCAMPER
SCAMPER, devised by American Bob Eberle, is a useful technique to extend students' thinking and
can provide real imaginative opportunities to all students to extend their work. The SCAMPER
technique uses a set of directed questions which students answer in order to come up with new ideas.
The stimulus comes from answering questions that you (as a teacher) and students (as learners)
would not usually ask. It helps pupils to ask questions that require them to think creatively, helping to
develop their critical thinking skills. It's a useful tool for creative writing and a stimulus for role play.
Remember, you don't have to use all the steps in SCAMPER, you can just use one or several.
Use it to spark off creative development and then let students work on their own. If they get stuck,
they can return to the SCAMPER framework.
SCAMPER is reproduced from issue 14 of the Primary focus G&T Update magazine
SCAMPER An acronym that stands for a series of questions that may be asked about a familiar piece or work
or process in order to encourage alternative forms of thinking, promote imagination and creative alternatives.
Substitute
Combine
Adapt
Modify
(distort or)
Magnify
Put to other
purpose
Eliminate
Reverse
Bloom's Taxonomy
Developing HOTS and higher order questioning across the curriculum
In 1956, Benjamin Bloom developed a classification of levels of intellectual behaviour important in
learning. Bloom identified six levels within the cognitive domain, from the simple recall or recognition
of facts, as the lowest level, through increasingly more complex and abstract mental levels, to the
highest order, which is classified as evaluation. Verb examples representing intellectual activity on
each level are listed below.
CREATIVITY
EVALUATION
High
level
challenge
SYNTHESIS
compare,
ANALYSIS
Medium
level
challenge
APPLICATION
COMPREHENSION
KNOWLEDGE
Lower
level
challenge
This guidance is intended to help teachers to develop HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills) by phrasing suitably
challenging questions, modelling the development of increasingly complex thinking to direct the quality of student
responses. Since the taxonomy was first developed, some changes have been suggested and teachers may
choose to use some of these suggestions in order to improve the relevance in their own subject or to focus on
specific characteristics of student thinking. In the model presented here, Creativity was added in 2001 by Lorin
Anderson (a student of Bloom) modelling Creativity as the highest level, building on the thinking developed through
the other categories.
How does the Taxonomy work?
As teachers we tend to ask questions in the "knowledge and comprehension categories for 80% to 90% of the time.
These questions are not in themselves bad, but using them all the time does not promote good thinking or
challenge learners to think beyond what they know and understand. Teachers should try to use higher order
categories of questioning to model and develop progressively more complex thinking, promoting links with other
learning and across subjects, developing judgement focused thinking. These questions require much more brain
power and increase the expectation for more extensive and elaborate answers. They also promote a form of
thinking that will address more complex ideas consistent with examination questions. Teachers should use
Blooms Taxonomy to help them plan learning experiences, pre-planning suitable questions and lessons in the
language that shifts the focus to higher levels.
The taxonomy was originally portrayed as a pyramid, inferring that the majority of
questions are asked in the lower challenge levels of knowledge and understanding
or comprehension. I have inverted the pyramid above to make explicit the need to
ask more questions of the type from the higher order levels, or place much greater
emphasis on these higher order questions.
NB. It used to be suggested that knowledge and comprehension set levels of
challenge at key stages 3 or 4, that application and analysis are A Level and
undergraduate level thinking, with synthesis and evaluation being graduate level.
We now understand that with careful framing, questions in each category or level
can be phrased for learners as young as age 5 and above.
Ged Gast Creativity Consultant
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Bloom's Taxonomy
CREATIVITY
Evaluation
Synthesis
Analysis
Application
Understanding
Knowledge
The taxonomy explores the Cognitive process. Asking questions develops cognitive (thinking) skills. This models
and improves the development of ideas, imagination and creativity and so will require some pre-planning.
See examples of the six question categories below, which identifies some of the thinking and learning skills
associated with each level of the taxonomy and introduces question cues. There are far more examples on the
following page.
BLOOMS TAXONOMY
Competence
Knowledge
Comprehension
(understanding)
Application
Analysis
Synthesis
Evaluation
Skills Demonstrated
observation and recall of information
knowledge of dates, events, places & major ideas
mastery of subject matter
Question Cues:
list, define, tell, describe, identify,
show, label, collect, examine,
tabulate, quote, name, who, when,
where, etc.
summarize, describe, interpret,
contrast, predict, associate,
distinguish, estimate, differentiate,
discuss, extend
apply, demonstrate, calculate,
complete, illustrate, show, solve,
examine, modify, relate, change,
classify, experiment, discover
analyse, separate, order, explain,
connect, classify, arrange, divide,
compare, select, explain, infer
combine, integrate, modify,
rearrange, substitute, plan, create,
design, invent, what if?, compose,
formulate, prepare, generalize,
rewrite
assess, decide, rank, grade, test,
measure, recommend, convince,
select, judge, explain, discriminate,
support, conclude, compare,
summarize
Adapted from: Bloom, B.S. (Ed.) (1956) Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals: Handbook
I, cognitive domain. New York ; Toronto: Longmans, Green.
Ged Gast Creativity Consultant
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BLOOMS TAXONOMY : More extended examples of skills, cue words and question stems
Competence
Knowledge
Knowledge
Question stems:
Comprehension
(understanding)
Comprehension
Question stems:
Application
Application
Question stems:
Analysis
Analysis
Question stems:
Synthesis
Synthesis
Question stems:
Evaluation
Evaluation
Question stems:
Creativity
Creativity
Question stems:
Skills Demonstrated
Question Cues:
1.
KNOWLEDGE
Id entif icat ion and
re cal l of
infor m atio n
2.
Def in e
F il l i n t he bl an k
Lis t
ide nti fy
Labe l
Loc ate
Matc h
Memor is e
3.
APPLICATION
Use of f acts , rul es
and p rin cipl es
4.
ANALYSIS
Sep a ratin g a who le
in to com ponent
part s
5.
SYNTHESIS
Co m bin ing idea s
to fo rm a ne w
whole
6.
EVALUATION
Dev elop ing
opinions ,
ju dgem en ts o r
decis ions
Fi nd at :
St ate
Tell
Und erl ine
Wh o .. . ?
Wh at . . ... ?
Wh ere .. . ?
Wh en . . . . ?
Wh o . . ?
Wh at . . .. ?
Wh ere . . ?
Wh en . .. ?
Con ver t
De scr ibe
Ex pl ain
Re sta te
Ret el l in you r o wn
word s
Re wri te
Inter pre t
Par aphr as e
Pu t i n o rder
COMPREHENSIO N
Or gani satio n and
sele ction of f acts
and id eas
Nam e
Re cal l
Sp el l
Su mmar is e
Trace
Trans la te
Wh at is th e m ain i dea of .. .. ?
Ap pl y
Com put e
Con cl ude
Con str uct
Gi ve an exa mp le
Ill us trat e
Make
Oper ate
Sh ow
So lv e
St ate a r ul e or pr inc ip le
Us e
Ho w is . . . a n e xa mpl e s o f ?
Ho w is .. .. r epe ate d to . ?
Ho w is . . sig ni fi ca nt?
An al yse
Cl as sif y
Cat egor is e
Com pare
Di agra ms
Di ffer ent iat e
Di ss ect
Di st ing ui sh
Con tra st
Deb ate
Ded uc t
Det erm ine th e f act ors
Ex am ine
Infer
Sp ec ify
Cha nge
Com bin e
Com pos e
Con str uct
Crea te
De sig n
Pre di ct
Pre ten d
Pro du ce
Rear ran ge
Reor gan is e
Re con stru ct
F ind an un us ual w ay
F ormu lat e
Gen erat e
Inv ent
Orig in ate
Pl an
Ap pra ise
Cho os e
Com pare
Con cl ude
Jud ge
Jus ti fy
Pr iori ti se
Ran k
De cid e
Def end
Ev al uat e
Gi ve you r o pin io n
Do yo u a gr ee t h at ? Ex p la i n ?
W hat d o yo u th i nk a bo ut . ?
W hat is m os t im por ta n t?
Pr i ori t is e .. . ac c ord i ng t o . .?
Ho w wo u l d yo u dec i d e a b ou t . .?
W hat c ri te ri a wou l d yo u us e to
as s es s .?
ht tp :/ / www.f l ic k r .c om /p ho t os / v b li br ar y/ 4 57 6 82 5 41 1 /
22
Rat e
Se le ct
Su ppor t
Va lue
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Blooms_rose.svg
This version of the taxonomy is often defined as the Blooms Taxonomy Active Learning Rose.
The inner star defines the 6 categories from the original taxonomy. Each point of the star, points to the central
petals which list examples of the learning actions associated with this category. As you move out to the outer
circle, you will see further examples of learning outcomes.
All of these models seek to develop HOTS, by encouraging teachers to plan activities that raise the level of
challenge in the learning. By improving awareness of the higher order outcomes and possible activities, it is hoped
that teachers plan for my challenging contexts and find it easier to plan differentiated options.
Ged Gast Creativity Consultant
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Source:
http://www.mmiweb.org.uk/downloads/bloomimages/bloom_plts.jpg
24
Source:
http://www.tedcurran.net/2013/05/blooms-thinking-skills-%E2%89%A0-apps/
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Below are terms (verbs) that can be used when creating student learning objectives/outcomes for a lesson or project. Some
words appear in more than one level or domain of the taxonomy, depending on the context for use. All verbs (and some other
non-verbs) are placed with some intention governing the context for use, but teachers should interpret flexibly.
Boost the Objectives & Outcomes from the Lower Order on the left, to the Higher Order on the right
COGNITIVE
PSYCHOMOTOR
AFFECTIVE
Emotional & attitudinal learning
KNOWLEDGE
COMPREHENSION
APPLICATION
cite
count
define
describe
draw
identify
list
match
name
point
quote
read
recall
recite
recognise
record
repeat
reproduce
selects
state
write
associate
compute
convert
defend
define
discuss
distinguish
estimate
explain
express
extend
extrapolate
generalise
give examples
infer
label
locate
outline
paraphrase
predict
recognise
relate
rewrite
summarise
tell
underline
add
apply
calculate
change
complete
compute
demonstrate
divide
examine
graph
indicate
interpolate
manipulate
modify
operate
prepare
produce
reproduce
repeat
respond
show
solve
sort
subtract
translate
use
analyse
breakdown
combine
deliberate
design
detect
develop
decipher
diagram
differentiate
discriminate
discover
identify
illustrate
outline
point out
reason
relate
review
select
subdivide
utilise
ANALYSIS
accept
accumulate
ask
describe
follow
give
identify
locate
name
point to
respond
select
use
adhere
choose
discuss
deduce
exploit
infer
justify
complete
demonstrate
distinguish
hear
identify
locate
manipulate
move
pick up
point to
practise
press
pull
push
see
select
set up
show
sort
specify
touch
transport
affirm
approve
assist
command
comply
conform
describe
engage
exhibit
follow
form
imitate
initiate
invite
join
practise
share
study
subscribe
work
activate
adjust
assemble
build
calibrate
close
construct
copy
demonstrate
disassemble
disconnect
duplicate
execute
group
loosen
manipulate
measure
open
operate
perform
remove
replace
rotate
select
set
slide
use
chart
check
examine
locate
measure
monitor
outline
observe
separate
SYNTHESIS
EVALUATION
CREATIVITY
categorise
classify
compose
convert
create
design
devise
explain
exemplify
extrapolate
generate
group
integrate
modify
order
organise
plan
prescribe
reconstruct
reorganise
revise
rewrite
specify
summarise
synthesise
transform
translate
adapt
change
compose
create
defend
display
empathise
formulate
propose
influence
validate
appraise
assess
compare
conclude
contrast
criticize
critique
determine
evaluate
grade
interpret
judge
justify
measure
plan
prioritise
rank
rate
support
test
connect
contemplate
create
envisage
generate
hypothesise
imagine
link
picture
ponder
speculate
think
wonder
assimilate
integrate
mediate
revise
solve
verify
conceive
conjure
derive
dream
envision
evoke
evolve
feel
originate
ideate
imagine
induce
act
arrange
combine
compile
construct
convert
draw
drive
graph
lead
modify
perform
plan
rearrange
fix
generate
illustrate
organise
repair
service
arrange
capture
compose
craft
experiment
explore
hone
invent
investigate
order
make
model
produce
research
Source: Adapted by Ged Gast from a model by Dr. Cia Verschelden (2005), originally developed from the work of Clayton R
Ged Gast
Creativity
26 Taxonomy of Questioning by Benjamin Bloom (1956)
Wright
(Action
Words Consultant
for Learning Objectives 1997), based on the
Medium
range of
challenge
Highest
range of
challenge
seek the views and opinions of pupils asking students to articulate their reasoning and get more
students involved by sharing their partially formed ideas
provide an opportunity for students to share their opinions and views - seeking responses from
their peers
create a sense of shared learning and avoid the feel of a lecture
differentiating by directing specific questions to certain students
challenge the level of thinking and possibly mark a change to a higher order of thinking
Planning and using progressively more complex questioning - will help to:
27
Focused Questioning:
Challenging Questions:
Stretching Questions:
Set the bar high with expectations that seek
answers at the limit of ability, knowledge or
understanding. They might ask a question that
requires an answer expressed as a:
Transformation of information to another
form (convert data graph to a narrative)
Metaphor (implied comparison)
Analogy (to demonstrate how well they
understand or can communicate to others)
28
TALK
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
and opinions
One voice at a time
Say what you think
Say why you think it
Listen and reflect on what others say
Build on what others say
Support and include each other
Confidentially share partial ideas
Ask when you dont understand
Try to reach an agreement
Seek clarity from each other
Speak calmly - be noise aware
Based on Teaching Speaking and Listening - Secondary National Strategy
29