Eclectic Technology

This version of Bloom's Taxonomy has been extended with a sharing component for Bloom's Digital Taxonomy and is listed in the higher order thinking skills. The functional level of sharing is publicly sharing, publishing and broadcasting.

Along with this printable version of Bloom's Taxonomy you will also find links to five resources. Four of these look at Bloom's (in a variety of ways) and one is a research paper that looks at sustainable innovation in teacher practice.

Why is divergent thinking important in education, and how can we inspire our students to become divergent thinkers? This post explores this idea, beginning with a definition of divergent thinking and providing a look at current research on divergent thinking.

Did you know that divergent thinking "stems from logical, unbiased thinking" or that divergent thinking "leads to positive mood swings while convergent thinking leads to negative mood swings." After this discussion (and there is much more in the post) you will find 30 tips on how to teach your students to become divergent thinkers. A few of the tips are below.

* Fast, frequent failures (with the suggestion that students quickly lay out all possible solutions). Identifying mistakes helps to lead to the students to the correct solution.

* Google - Today students like to Google the answer...but what if you create questions that require deeper thinking, where Google will not supply an answer quickly.

Many more ideas are available in the post. Click through to read more.

This infographic looks at ten trends occurring in Blended Learning:

* The Student-Centered Learning Experience

* Soaring Numbers of Digital Learners

* Building Higher-Order Thinking Skills

* Realizing Benefits for both Teachers and Students

* A Framework for Data-Driven Decision-Making in Education

* Personalized Learning Accompanied by a Lean, Blended, Interactive Approach

* Productive Gamification

* The Mobile World is Where Learners Live Now

* Students' Personal Access to Mobile Devices

* More Broadband, Please!

You may also access a white paper that "provides a snapshot of some of the dominant trends in the ever-evolving blended learning landscape, and takes a look at how innovative approaches are boosting achievement in elementary mathematics classrooms."

What does it mean to be digitally literate? If you ask teachers, students, parents, administrators, and community members the responses may be very different. This post explores this issue and notes (for the teacher):

"Digital literacy isn't about knowing computers inside and out; it's about using technology to change the way you think. If critical thinking skills haven't yet become a part of your students' digital citizenship, it's time to think your teaching strategy."

After the introduction, the post is split into two sections:

5 Teaching Practices that Destroy Digital Literacy. One of the practices is "using 'cool' technology to deliver a planned lesson." To learn why click through to the post.

The final section is 15 Habits to Cultivate in Your Students. Two are listed below.

* Read past the first page of Google results (and my suggestion would be to use some of the many alternative search engines. You may be surprised that many other search engines work better for students).

* Train students to react skeptically if they read the phrase  'Research says...' or 'A recent study revealed..."

To learn more about the 15 habits check out the post. Do you have ideas that would be helpful to others? If so, please share them.

Have you considered having your students create infographics as a way to demonstrate their understanding of a topic? The creation of an infograhic requires that students research a question and analyze the information so the can create a visual presentation. In this post Kerry Gallager shares the process she uses with her students. The shorthand version is below but check out the post for more information as well as some student responses to the project.

* Begin with an essential question

* Provide access to information and data

* Teach the students what makes a great infographic

* Choose a number of infographic creation tools and let the students use the one that works best for them

* Remember, you are the facilitator

* Make sure the students are provided time to finish, polish and publish (which may be done at home if students have access to computers)

* Have students reflect on their work

This pdf file is fairly large and looks at the original version of Bloom's Taxonomy but it is an in-depth look that moves from the lower ordering thinking skills to the higher order thinking skills and includes a definition for each level as well as:

* Key Words - an extensive list for each level

* Actions and Outcomes for each level

* Questions specific to each level

To access the full pdf: 

http://educatingmatters.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/blooms_taxonomy_teacher_planning_kit1.pdf