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Narrator: Centre for Teaching and Learning, Professional Development, presents: Asking
Good Questions.
This video will demonstrate questioning strategies using Bloom's Taxonomy as the foundation.
The purpose of this video is to train teachers as they foster the development of problem
solving, and critical thinking skills in their students. Asking student's questions is easy,
the real difficulty is in asking questions that foster learning, and increase the student's
ability to think and problem solve.
By using Bloom's Taxonomy of learning as a scaffold, the teacher is able to build successively
more difficult questions, moving the student to complex thinking. The six levels of Bloom's
Taxonomy are: Remembering -- that's the recall of knowledge or information, Understanding
-- comprehension of information and able to state it in their own words, Applying -- Using
information to apply to a new situation, either in the lab setting, or in real life, Analyzing
-- determining the different between facts and inferences, Evaluating -- making judgments
about the material or ideas, and Creating -- creating new meanings, processes, or structures.
Each category is specific to one type of learning. These categories build on one another, moving
from simple, to more complex. When teacher's questions students, it's important to move
students beyond rote memory of facts, and support their thinking process to ensure they
understand the material, can apply the knowledge to real situations, are able to analyze and
evaluate the situation and make adjustments, as necessary.
It's also critical that students have a depth of understanding so that they can move beyond
their current situation into creation of new processes or adaptation for future scenarios.
The first level of Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning is Remembering. Remembering questions are
focused on student's ability to recall memorized data or information. This is rote learning.
These questions start with words like: define, how, what, when, where, name, match, recall,
select, etc.
Remembering questions are necessary to determine if the student the basic information on board.
Student: Okay Lars, I'm ready to demonstrate my circuit.
Teacher: Excellent, give me a demo on how it works.
Student: Okay, I'll show you on the board. So, when the fluid level lowers, the lower
float switch closes, and the motor, the pump motor turns on, and the relay pull is energized.
When the fluid level rises again, the lower float switch opens, and the signal that originally
turned on the pump motor is no longer there.
Teacher: What would you use to keep that signal present?
Student: I would use a holding circuit.
Teacher: Can you draw it for me?
Student: Yeah!
Teacher: Where would you put it?
Student: Normally, open contact of the relay, in parallel with the lower float switch.
Teacher: Excellent, and what's driving that?
Student: It would be that relay over there, when that relay is energized, the contact
will close, and it will create the holding circuit.
Teacher: Excellent, what else can we do with relays to create logic?
Student: We can create relays to reverse the signal, count the number of events, or also
control sequence of events.
Teacher: Excellent, it sounds like you got a really good concept on relay logic.
Student: Oh, Thank you!
Teacher: You're welcome!
Narrator: Understanding- understanding or comprehension question are focused on the
students ability to use their knowledge to explain something. These questions demonstrate
understanding. Comprehension questions start with words like compare, contrast, explain,
give me an example, paraphrase, summarize, etc. Comprehension questions are necessary
to determine if the student understands the information they have learned. This is critical,
when applying to learning in a real situation.
Teacher: I'd like you to explain the difference to me between, say a basic switch, and one
with a normal state.
Student: Okay, well, a basic switch, so like this toggle switch over here, can be left
in either an open or close position. A switch with a normal state, however, has a spring
it in, so, when I'm not pressing the switch, the spring turns it to it's normal state,
and that can be either open or close, and that's why we call it either normally open,
or normally closed switch.
Teacher: Good, good, it sounds like you got a good understanding on the difference between
the naming of the switch, and the state in which its in.
Narrator: The next two levels of questions on Bloom's Taxonomy are Application and Analysis
questions. Application questions are important for a student to demonstrate the use of information
in a new situation. Application questions start with words like: apply, consider, and
how would you? Application questions are important to demonstrate students can use information
to implement change, adjust, or improve outcomes for a technical situation.
Teacher: I see you've got a good understanding of how a control circuit works, how would
you modify this circuit, to say a cooking process where a mixer will come on once a
pot is full?
Student: I can add an upper float switch that would turn on mixer once the pot is full.
I would also probably add a new timer that would turn off the mixer after a certain amount
of time.
Teacher: Excellent. I like how you're applying that timer to shut that process down, it shows
me that you're considering all of the steps throughout the sequence, let's build it!
Student: Okay!
Narrator: Analysis questions are important for a student to demonstrate they understand
relationships between several key pieces of information. Analysis questions start with
the words like: what if, and, explain rationale. Analysis questions are important for a student
to demonstrate understanding of information and accurate application to a new situation.
Teacher: This is great, can you demo this for me?
Student: Yeah, hopefully, everything works properly. Okay, so, when the tank is full,
I've set it up so that the timer controls the light, and the light will come on for
one minute. After one minute, the timer will shut the light off.
Teacher: Okay, let's say that there's a problem with the pump, and it didn't shut off, how
would you troubleshoot that?
Student: Well, first I would check to see if there's a problem with the timer.
Teacher: Let's expand on that: can you give me a detailed explanation on why you checked
the timer first?
Student: Yeah, the timer is the thing that's supposed to be controlling the mixer, so there's
probably a problem with that.
Teacher: Good, lets check the continuity of the timer contacts.
Narrator: The fifth level of Bloom's Taxonomy is Evaluating. Evaluation questions are important
for a student to demonstrate the ability to look back at a situation, accurately see the
situation, assess the situation, and justify the results. Evaluation is a high level of
thinking, however, humans are often forced to evaluation the events in life out of necessity,
most often, when something goes wrong. Connecting the skill to real life application is worth
the time and effort. Evaluation questions start with words like appraise, decide, evaluate,
and justify. Evaluation questions are important for a student to accurately look back on a
situation, review the situation, and if necessary, re-synthesize or rework factors to get back
on track.
Teacher: Okay, lets evaluate this circuit, and we'll put an emergency override on the
motor, how would you install an emergency override on the motor, to shut the motor if
an operator wanted to do that in a instant.
Student: Okay, well, I would put a switch in to use with the motor.
Teacher: Okay, what kind of switch would you use? Would you use a toggle switch, or one
with a normal state?
Student: I'd choose a toggle switch cause, for safety, I don't want the motor coming
back on.
Teacher: Nice, the safety factor, that's so important.
Narrator: The final level of Bloom's Taxonomy is Creating. Synthesis questions are important
for a student to demonstrate the ability to combine information and develop new structure
and predict outcomes. Synthesis is a high-level skill and students should demonstrate all
other Bloom's Taxonomy thinking prior to the challenge of synthesis questions. Synthesis
questions start with words like: create, generalize, plan and predict. Synthesis questions are
important for a student to demonstrate they can manipulate information and create a new
strategy for different or unique situations appropriately.
Teacher: Let's take a look at the circuit to see if we can modify it to add some more
safety features. Can you predict any problems that may occur, that we may need to add safety
features for?
Student: Yeah, well, the motor can overheat if it gets stuck or overloaded for any reason.
So I'd want to design some safety features into my circuit to account for that problem.
Teacher: Okay, what kind of system would you add?
Student: Well, I can use a couple of things, I can either use a fuse, or I can use a current
transducer, which would give me an overload signal, which I can use to drive a relay and
that would shut the system down.
Teacher: Nice, good revision dude!
Student: Thank you!
Teacher: Can you draw that for me?
Student: Yeah, for sure!
Narrator: In conclusion, utilization of Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning will help the student
improve thinking and application strategies. The student will develop clinical reasoning,
or technical savvy, as they become accustomed to prediction and manipulation of information
in new situations. The six levels of Bloom's Taxonomy are: Remembering- that's the recall
of knowledge or information, Understanding -- comprehension of information and able to
state it in their own words, Applying -- Using information to apply to a new situation, either
in the lab setting, or in real life, Analyzing -- determining the difference between facts
and inferences, Evaluating -- making judgments about the materials or ideas, and Creating
-- creating new meanings, processes, or structures.