We have all heard that we need to focus more and more on "higher Level" thinking skills and problem solving. We have also been inundated with 21st Century Learning, which implies using the 4 C's: Creativity, Collaboration, Communication, and Critical Thinking. All of these concepts can be found in the upper half of Bloom's Taxonomy (remember Bloom's from education 101)? If you believe in Bloom's concept of hierarchal learning (I totally believe it) then you have to consider that the real foundation of learning is simply knowledge. I don't think any of us would argue that higher level thinking skills are critical to success in life, but we can't start there. I sometimes wonder with all the emphasis on the top half of Bloom's if we have missed creating a strong enough foundation. I think you will find the accompanying article interesting. I dare say that everyone who reads it will have strong emotional response. Please take 5 or 10 minutes to read this article and respond. I can't wait to hear what you have to say. Click on Bloom's pyramid above to access the article.
18 comments:
Recall (knowledge) is the base (foundation) of Bloom's Taxonomy. A house is only as good as it's foundation, so higher level/critical thinking skills are only going to be as good as the foundation. In fact, can we even build if there is no foundation?
I agree with you Darla...we need to lay a strong foundation before we try to build the house.
I can speak from experience, I know if you force children to memorize something they learn it for that moment and that moment only. In ninth grade my science teacher told us if we got an A in the class we wouldn't have to take the final (comprehensive final). Well I decided that I would get an A so I wouldn't have to take the final. I memorized everything - the day I walked out of ninth grade I forgot everything. Two years later my old science teacher came to the high school, he asked me the formula for photosynthesis...hahaha.
I know it's important for students to learn their multiplication facts but I don't want them to learn them to forget them.
Sorry...the previous comment is mine...Roxanne
I agree that much of what we memorize isn't truly learned. Maybe the knowledge base is changing, maybe not as much as we think. Comments at the end of the article went both ways.
I do believe that having quick recall of some things, e.g. math facts, word families, poetry, scripture, makes critical thinking easier because more of our energy can be used on higher level skills.
Kindergarten seems to be a year of memorization. I need to offer many ways of learning for this to take place. We sing, clap, dance, play games, and so much more and yes, we do higher level thinking. I can not imagine a day without the "new" 4c's in my room. I told Penny last week that my job would be so much different if preK were taken away. I love the color songs that she teaches. I get to see that memorization come alive when they connect those songs to reading. Also, I am thankful for my childhood memorizations of Bible verses. Kathy Eby
I can a watch a movie today that I watched numerous times as a teen, haven't seen it in years and still tell you every word to it. Same thing with songs & TV shows. I can remember in 4th grade have to write our times tables daily and on Fridays having a timed test on them. That's how we learned them. My 4 yr old niece can sing every word to the 50 States song that most of our 5th graders had a hard time learning. It's because she listens to it every morning on the way to school. On a side note, she can also sing Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues thanks to my brother. ~DeeDra
I have to say that memorization has its place even if it's for nothing more than efficiency... though providing buy in and motivation is always helpful!
I think it is funny how memorizing has gotten such a bad rap in education, but if you want your child to be a great athlete you make them practice constantly. Muscle memory works for your brain too, and without building that basis of knowledge there really isn't a way to get to the higher level. Michelle Hughes
I like what you said Michelle.
I do think memorization has a place in learning. It is our foundation to build other higher level skills on.
Donna Barker
Since I work solely with students who have a very difficult time even learning the foundation, I can tell you that memorization has a big place in their learning. Once I can get (if I can get it) most of the foundation down in them, it is a great joy to see the speed of their learning finally pick up and they actually start putting some things together on their own. Sometimes I really hate the drudge of working on memorization with them, but it has paid off for my students and me so that they can do some of the higher level and more creative learning and I can do some of that kind of teaching. It makes me feel more connected to general ed.to read that Darla, Roxanne, Kathy, DeeDra, Michelle, and Donna also think memorization has some place in education.
Jody
This makes me immediately go back to my childhood an perhaps one of my ( in hindsight) fondest memories of my dad. He would drill me on multiplication facts every night.. Snapping his fingers frustrated that I didn't know them. Being raised Catholic I also had many prayers to memorize. I guess my point is that I hated it then, but appreciate it now. There are some things you just have to memorize in order to build on your knowledge.
I owe most of what I know to memorization. My dad used to teach me how to spell words like chrysanthemum and encyclopedia when I was in first and second grade. That was 100 percent memorization! A connection I made to this article was the importance of memorization when it comes to learning how to spell words. Teaching spelling patterns can only get you so far. I often find myself saying, “That’s one you’re just going to have to memorize.” So many words in our language don’t have rules to follow and that’s where memorization is key. I feel like sometimes I do focus too much on the top half of the Bloom’s, and don’t make enough time for the things that should be memorized and engrained. However, I do feel that memorization definitely does take place often in all of our classrooms. In order for kids to be able to read, they have to memorize their letters, sounds, sight words, etc. Memorizing poems and songs is a large chunk of our literacy time and plays a major role in building fluency. I sometimes wish that our math curriculum were more like what it was when I was a kid. I think that our kids could benefit from more time to practice skills and actually work out problems. I think we need more repetition (pencil and paper) and fewer games. I know it sounds old school, but the more times the kids work the same problem, (drill and kill) the easier it is for them to store it in their memory. I don’t think that our math is allowing for enough practice of those basic, foundational skills like the article is talking about.
Allie
Isn't balance important? The answer is yes. Too much of any one thing is rarely as effective as it could be with a little balance. Sometimes having more isn't better, it's just more.
Take football, for example...running elaborate routes (synthesis) the entire football practice without practicing the basic skills (knowledge) of catching and tackling would probably not win games and certainly would not make you a prospect for the Cowboys (okay, maybe the Packers).
With the pendulum constantly swinging in education, I think it's valuable for educators to filter through all of the extremist views to one side or the other. In order to ensure success for students, I think it is crucial to maintain proper balance.
This article brings me back to my first years of teaching in the late 70's and 80's. I taught first grade with eight other teachers in Louisiana before moving to Texas. We occupied an entire hall! We planned together every week, and it was those teachers that molded my teaching practices. We tested our students weekly on spelling words, math facts, science and social studies terms, all of which were memorized. We also used a program called Workshop Way that was developed by Sister Grace Pilon from a Catholic school in New Orleans. My students had reading homework every night with Workshop Way that involved memorization. Our other practices involved providing a basic foundation to challenging our students to create, think, and share. It was amazing. My students entered first grade as non-readers (typical in the 80's)and left being able to read anything. I believe that balance is the answer to everything we do in life!
Well, I am a big fan of memorization. And, I get the sense that we all agree it has a place in the subjects we teach, but that there needs to be a balance. For me the questions are: when should we use it and to what extent? I suppose the younger the student, or the more trouble a student has learning, the more we use memorization. Or, if a new subject or concept is introduced, we allow for memorization before we start to move up the taxonomy. Of course we are going to memorize things. Memorization is part of our nature. It's one of the ways humans pass on knowledge and navigate through the world. Eventually, we build upon that memorization. I assume most sets of flash cards are about memorization. I think flash cards are valuable. Who doesn't use flash cards in some way? We also love games that require memorization -- such as Concentration, Jeopardy, Trivial Pursuit. Those games help make life fun.
I do agree with the author that there's a lack of critical thinking (and problem-solving) among today's young people. Maybe schools do rely too much on multiple-choice questions and that has given memorization a bad name. But the longer we live, the older the world gets, and the easier and faster it is for information to spread around the globe...the more there is to know. We can't know everything in depth and we can't test everything in depth. Educators, parents, and students need to make choices among what bits will live at the base of Bloom's Taxonomy and what bits will work their way up to the top.
I so agree with so many points made in this conversation. As I have been reading responses I began finding myself thinking about the topic daily, as I teach, watch my kids do their homework and just go through the day. What I have realized is that technology is playing a huge role in our lives. Why do we need to memorize anything when anything we need to know is available at the touch of a button. I even said the other day, "I think technology is making me dumb." . Not to be funny, but I don't have to think about calculations or conversions or even how many days are in a month. What does technology do to Bloom's Taxonomy?
Great comments! This article brought back many memories of my teaching career. In fact the very first principal who interviewed me asked me, 'What do you think about Bloom's Taxonomy?" And now 25 years later I could answer that question with higher level thinking skills such as "synthesis" and "evaluation" instead of just my basic "knowledge" from college. ;)
There was a time we had to create lesson plans using verbs from each level of BT, but I agree with most of your comments that there has to be balance, and I know if my mom had not threatened to lock me in my room until I learned my multiplication tables in 3rd grade that every math class from then on would have been much more difficult. So in conclusion I am a believer that we have to create a strong foundation in which to build!
Paula
If a student enjoys what we are talking about they will learn it and “memorize” it. I feel this happens in Science more often than the other subjects. We will discuss a concept and usually have some kind of experiment or concrete model of the concept and the students who are interested get it. The problem for me is, what do you do with the kids who do not get into the things we are teaching them? I can think of a few students who do not like math so it will be that much harder for them to learn multiplication. I loved math growing up and still know my multiplication facts very well; I learned them because I enjoyed it. When people think or rote memorization, they think of a teacher having all the 6, 7, and 8 times tables up on the board while the students continuously chant the facts. You can have a student learn the same thing, but in a much more “fun” way. Obviously you cannot just have fun all day in your classroom, but you can practice multiplication facts through games, races or other “fun” activities. I really like the saying “Practice makes a master.” You cannot expect a student to pick up a new concept the day you teach it, that is why we have multiple lessons for a concept. Basically I agree with the article in that we do need some memorization; but why can’t it be called practice?
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