Bloom's taxonomy : its application towards the teaching objectives of geography at form 1 level

Abstract

This dissertation aims to enquire whether Benjamin S. Bloom's Taxonomy of Cognitive Objectives (1956) can be targeted successfully in Geography lessons with Form One Secondary school students. The qualitative data is compiled through teachers' interviews, author's production of graded tasks to be accomplished by students and finally through the analysis of exercises created by teachers and worked out by students. Results indicate that most teachers do not plan on the basis of Bloom's taxonomy and that only low order objectives are the focus. However, on testing the graded exercises produced by the author, strong evidence comes out that it is possible to apply high order objectives with Form 1 students. The author suggests that teachers open up their teaching pedagogies to introduce higher order objectives in their teaching and so believing in their students' capabilities and challenging them to perform better. In view of this, the author is making additional suggestions which can make the application of Bloom's taxonomy in its entirety possible. Basically, graded exemplars at five levels for each objective can be created for training teachers and students alike. However, the author claims that success can only be achieved if re-culturing is set as the main target. Geography, through the application of Bloom's Taxonomy, will be taking on a different approach, making it more relevant and useful.