1. M ovi ng T owar d Compl ete A l i gnment I n Soci al Studi es
Under standi ng H ow T o A ppl y R evi sed B l oom’s T axonomy

2. Today’s Presentation Will Assist Participants With:
Understanding how to use
the Revised Bloom’s
Taxonomy (RBT) to align
classroom instruction and
assessment to the new
social studies essential
standards.
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3. Pre-Assessment
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4. Pre-Assessment
Question # 1
How should you use
the table below in
instruction and
assessment?
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5. Pre-Assessment
Question # 1
How should you use Answer
the table below in The RBT Taxonomy Table
instruction and should be used to help
determine the learning
assessment? experiences and
assessment tasks for
which you ask students to
participate.
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6. Pre-Assessment
Question #2
True or False? The assessment
below is aligned to the clarifying
objective. Answer
CO: Summarize the change in cultures,
everyday life, and status of indigenous False
American Indian groups in North Carolina
before and after European exploration.
Assessment:
The lives of American Indians
were changed when Europeans
came to the New World . Tell
how farming, hunting and
everyday life within their tribes
changed for the American
Indians.
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7. Pre-Assessment
Question #2
True or False? The assessment
below is aligned to the clarifying
objective. Answer
CO: Summarize the change in cultures,
everyday life, and status of indigenous False
An Appropriate Assessment:
American Indian groups in North Carolina
before and after European exploration. Have the student read a passage
that describes changes in American
Assessment: Indians’ culture and lives.
The lives of American Indians
were changed when Europeans Read the passage above and write a
came to the New World . Tell few sentences describing how life
changed for American Indians as a
how farming, hunting and
result of European exploration of the
everyday life within their tribes New World.
changed for the American
Indians.
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8. NC’s New Lens:
Revised Bloom’s
Taxonomy (RBT)

9. 06/19/12 • page 9

10. Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy (RBT)
 Provides a common language for all
curriculum areas by indicating what a
learning or assessment task was
intended to measure
 by cognitive type
 by type of knowledge
 Provides a framework that may “help
teachers plan and deliver appropriate
instruction, design valid assessment
tasks and strategies, and ensure that
instruction and assessment are aligned
with the objectives.” (p.xxii)

11. The Alignment Question
How does one ensure that objectives,
instruction and assessment are
consistent with one another?
?
?
?

12. The Structure of Curriculum
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Learning Experiences/Performance Tasks
Materials and Equipment
Image of students with globe. Image no. 3Q1675 Photo by Will & Deni McIntyre

13. The Structure of Curriculum
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Students
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The learning experiences and performance
tasks are how we get the curriculum inside
the students!
Learning Experiences/Performance Tasks
Materials and Equipment
Image of students with globe. Image no. 3Q1675 Photo by Will & Deni McIntyre

14. The Importance of Alignment
“Alignment is an even stronger predictor of student
achievement on standardized tests than are
socioeconomic status, gender, race, and teacher effect.”
~ Elmore & Rothman, 1999: Mitchell, 1998; Wishnick,1989

15. Content Alignment
“Does the teacher teach and
assess the factual, conceptual, and
procedural knowledge outlined in
the curriculum?”
What is Written…
What is Taught…
What is Assessed
is Tested…

16. Cognitive Type Alignment
“Do the students get to work and
think at the level the curriculum
prescribes?”

17. Context Alignment
“Are the parameters of the assessment
reasonably similar to the parameters of
the instruction?”

18. Learning occurs best when there is a purposeful
process that creates complete alignment.

20. The Cognitive Dimension Is The Alignment
Th
For Standards & Assessment
eR
BT
Ve
r bs

21. Remember
Retrieving relevant knowledge from long term
memory… (verbatim, unchanged by student)
Cognitive Processes:
 1.1 Recognizing (identifying)
 1.2 Recalling (retrieving)
Remembering is essential for
meaningful learning and problem-
solving.
It is used in more complex tasks.

22. Question
What is the effect if the teacher does not clarify
the differences between RECOGNIZE and RECALL
when preparing an assessment?
Answer
The assessment will be
misaligned with the objective and
possibly instruction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1RjI7G8rFw&feature=related

23. The line of demarcation among the
6 cognitive categories is REMEMBER
Remember rote learning
All others meaningful learning (transfer)
 Rote learning requires students to remember what
they learned.
 Transfer requires students to remember but also
make sense of what they have learned.

24. Understand
Constructing meaning from instructional messages,
including oral, written and graphic communication
Cognitive Processes:
 2.1 Interpreting  Understand cognitive processes are the most
 2.2 Exemplifying represented in state standards
 2.3 Classifying  More cognitive processes are associated with
 2.4 Summarizing this category than any other category
 2.5 Inferring
 2.6 Comparing  The learner grasps the meaning of information
by interpreting and translating what has been
 2.7 Explaining
learned.

25. An Assessment Example
Cognitive Clarifying Objective Example
Processes Assessment
Summarize CE.PFL.2.2 Read the following article:
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/times
Summarize various types
of fraudulent solicitation
and business practices. or
Watch the following clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsSGZez
Summarize in three
sentences or less the
fraudulent business practice
described in either the
article or video clip.

26. An Assessment Example
Cognitive Clarifying Objective Example
Processes Assessment
Explain WH.6.1 Construct a cause and
Explain how new ideas effect graphic organizer
and theories of the explaining how a scientific
or enlightened thinker’s
universe altered political
ideas impacted political,
thought and affected economic, or social
economic and social conditions in 17TH & 18TH
conditions. century America.

27. Analyze
Break material into its constituent parts and determine how
the parts relate to one another and to an overall purpose.
Cognitive Processes:
 4.1 Differentiating [e.g. the relevant from the irrelevant
parts.]
 4.2 Organizing [Identifying the elements of a
communication or situation and recognizing how they fit
together in a coherent structure. The student builds
systematic and coherent connections among pieces of
presented information.]
 4.3 Attributing [the underlying purpose or
perspective – reading between the lines.]

28. Examples of Assessing Analyze
Cognitive Example Example
Processes Of Learning Objective Assessment
Analyze
The student will Circle the main points in
Differentiating distinguish the major an archeological report
and minor points in on an ancient Mayan city.
research reports.
Organizing Write an outline that shows which
The student will structure a facts, in the book Ancient Maya:
The Rise and Fall of a Rainforest
historical description into Civilization, support and which
facts do not support the
evidence for and against a
conclusion that the decline of the
particular explanation. civilization was caused by
influences of the Europeans.
Attributing Determine if a report on the
The student will determine
decline of the Mayan rainforest
the point of view of the was written from a pro-
environmental or pro-economic
author of an essay on a point of view.
controversial topic.

29. Evaluate
Make judgments based on criteria and standards.
Cognitive Processes:
 5.1 Checking [testing for
internal consistencies or fallacies
in an operation or product –
check as you go along]
 5.2 Critiquing [judging a product
or operation based on externally
imposed criteria and standards.]

30. Examples of Assessing Evaluate
Cognitive Example Example
Processes Of Learning Objective Assessment
Evaluate
Checking The student will check Watch a television
for internal advertisement for a
inconsistencies in political candidate and
persuasive messages. point out any logical flaws
in the persuasive
message.
Critiquing The student will judge
Evaluate key points in a
the merits of a product,
effect or occurrence political candidate’s
based on specified or
agreed upon criteria speech in terms of the
and standards.
potential impact each point
may have on citizens.

31. When you combine the verbs (cognitive processes) with the
nouns (knowledge) you end up with a two-
dimensional table.

32. When you combine the verbs (cognitive processes) with the
nouns (knowledge) you end up with a two-
dimensional table.

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34. PRACTICE:
The next several slides will allow you to practice reading
clarifying objectives and determining where they lie on the
RBT Taxonomy Table.
Click to practice.
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35. Analyze colonization in terms of the desire for
access to resources and markets as well as the
consequences on indigenous cultures,
population, and environment .
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37. Construct maps, charts, and graphs to
explain data about geographic phenomena.
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39. Your Turn To Practice
Directions:
2.Working with a group or a partner, determine where the clarifying
objective you are working with lies on the Taxonomy Table.
3.With your group or partner come up with a classroom assessment
for the clarifying objective.
(5 minutes )
Choose to work with either the middle or high school objective.
Middle School
6.H.2.1 Explain how invasions, conquests, and migrations affected various
civilizations, societies and regions (e.g. Mongol invasion, The Crusades, the
Peopling of the Americas and Alexander the Great).
High School
WH.5.2 Explain the causes and effects of exploration and expansion.
06/19/12 • page 39

40. Some Conclusions About RBT
 To solve shared problems in instruction
and assessment, we need a shared
system of classification (an agreed upon
taxonomy).
 That shared taxonomy provides a common
way to ensure that instruction and
assessment are aligned with the objectives
and a common language to talk about
RBT is our shared
them.
taxonomy!
 Without a shared taxonomy, learning,
instruction and assessment have the
potential to be all over the place.

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