Bloom's Digital Taxonomy and the Project Sketch for Grade 7

The Team 7 Humanities teachers have developed a unit titled "The Connected World" which embraces all facets of Bloom's revised taxonomy. I have attempted to apply these categories to our new unit by applying the Lower Order Thinking Skills (LOTS) and the Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) to our new unit.


Remembering: We are incorporating "blog journaling" to help students discuss and explore various topics around the world. Within their blogs, the students will use bullet points, highlighting, bookmarking, social networking, social book marking, and googling. They will learn to "comment and annotate" on other blogs and documents that they will share with students in different classrooms during different blocks. The students will "subscribe" to various blogs to better inform them on their chosen topic.

Understanding: The students will be able to "upload and share" websites and various materials that support their research and opinions. Their blog work will consist of a series of personal reflections/journaling about what they are learning through http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/ and other good websites for MS students to learn about current events and blogs from other countries.

Applying: The students will be able to "link" with students from classrooms around the world. They will be able to discuss and "validate" their viewpoints and opinions about their topics with students from a variety of viewpoints. Our 160 students will create a link/resource filled 7th Grade online 'hyperText' book about the regions of the world. This will be a resource for next year's students in their regional studies. Students will work online and collaboratively with their regional-counterparts in the various classes. They will work on their section of the wiki - each writing enough about their issues to put together a solid chapter on the region backed up with evidence, examples and sources.


Analysing: The students will be able to use "constructive criticism and reflective practice" through the use of blogs. Students will be "collaborating and networking" through their blogs twice a week. Once a week the students will reflect on a blog in two ways. The students will reflect on the process itself and on the topics in their individual regions.


Evaluating: Within the next few weeks of study, the students will be working on "directing and producing" a 2 - 3 minute video about their issue/problem. The videos will serve the function of educating their peers about the problem they have identified. This phase of the project is based on one of the Flat Classroom projects. We would now group the students by issue, rather than by region. There will be approximately 8 students per issue, each group would be responsible for making a 2 - 3 minute video about their problem. Their videos will serve the function of educating others in the school community about their issues. Because they will now be working with students from different regions, they will be working together to understand the similarities and differences of how their issues play out in different regions.


Creating:
The final phase of the project will have students working together once again to create a project or action plan that has the students becoming part of the solution. They will create project ideas/plans to help or address the problem (other than through education) and they will present those ideas at a project symposium to a panel of teachers (maybe experts as well) their fellow students and they will post these solutions or action plans on a publicly accessible website. This is when students will have made connections between the EQs and the EUs. They will have evaluated and synthesized research and information about complex global issues. They will have educated others and finally, they will have come up with a plan that aims to help solve the problem.


I believe this will continue to grow throughout the process.