For many students, understanding the purpose behind an assignment or a piece of assessment is a mystery. If given the assignment, ‘Antarctica – could polar bears live there?’ many students see the words ‘polar bear’ and ‘Antarctica’ and think “I’ll Google it!” to gain as much information as possible. As a result, they may simply respond to the topic, which isn’t the recipe for successful inquiry learning.
A more positive scenario would see students decode or understand the purpose of their assignment by realising there are two parts to the question. The most important part is not the topic but the task. This is determined by the verb or implied verb.
Often students underachieve, not because they are incapable, but mainly because they do not understand the question, the purpose of the task within an assignment or inquiry. Teachers can improve student outcomes by explaining and focusing on the verb or the implied verb within any assignment. For example, in the assignment above, ‘Antarctica – could Polar bears live there?’ the topic is clear but not the task. There is no explicit verb that guides students to understand the task. The Bloom’s Thinking Skills Framework gives students the tools they need to achieve higher order thinking. By using the Framework, teachers are saying, “Which picture or Bloom’s icon am I asking my students to act like?” This is determined by the verb or implied verb and is explained in the Blooms Level column.
If we take the foundation levels of Bloom’s taxonomy of the cognitive domain, it is clear that the task does not reside here. The question cannot be addressed by giving information (Remember- acting like an Internet data base with verbs of listing, telling), showing understanding such as cause and effect and reasons for something occurring (Understand – acting like an expert or AHA bubble with verbs of classifying, explaining, summarising) nor solely at the Apply level (acting like a formula showing ‘How To’ and
solution making with verbs of calculating, demonstrating). Granted that a large part of the assignment will depend on the information collected on Polar Bears and the Arctic where they live and also of the Antarctic but to really make students succeed, a skilled teacher realises that students have to understand the task verb. So where does this assignment ask the student to focus their final efforts? Is it at the Analyse leve
l (acting like a magnifying glass looking at all the component parts of the topic or proposition with verbs such as discussing, exploring, investigating)? Not quite, though this is a major part of the process. In this case, the assignment task requires that students work at the fifth Bloom’s Level: Evaluate. At the Evaluate level, teachers are asking students to act like the Scales of Justice (as depicted in the graphic icon for Evaluate) where the students assess the analysed information in order to make a decision using verbs such as argue, assess, decide, justify, determine, etc. Note that the assignment does not ask
them to work at the Design level (acting like an inventor, modifying or improving or creating something). The assignment as it is presented above may be clear to some or many students but it is not clear to all students and our duty is to create clarity and explicitness in our classrooms. As a result, we need to ask ourselves if our language is clear for all students, and if it is not, then we have to reveal the implied verb or verbs and explain this is the task or major purpose of the assignment/assessment. Therefore, to ensure all students understand the assignment, a better question would be:
‘Antarctica – argue that polar bears could live there’; or ‘Antarctica – justify how Polar bears could live there’ or ‘Antarctica – decide if Polar bears could live there’.
Immediately, students are clear they are being given the task to judge, assess or determine whether or not the polar bear could adapt to Antarctic conditions. Once students realise they have to act like the Scales of Justice and make a decision as well as support that decision with material they have gathered and analysed relating to the topic (the transferability of polar bears to the
Antarctic), there is a greater chance that all students will experience greater success.
To ensure even greater clarity of research and expression and persuasion, students can also be encouraged to employ appropriate
thinking tools or graphic organisers to assist them. Taken from the Bloom’s Thinking Skills Framework, teachers can clearly see which tools they can use for different cognitive levels. Let’s look at the levels of Analyse and Evaluate since this is where most of the activity will take place. Teachers can use thinking tools from the Tools column to assist students in organising their thinking and processing of the task or issue or problem.
The major tools to be used will be the Double Bubble Map to compare the two continents, a SWOT Analysis to look at the polar bear’s situation and then the Extent Barometer to decide to what extent the polar bear has a chance of adapting and living in Antarctica.
Thinking Skills Framework
We now will look at a possible sequence of thinking tools to assist the students in addressing this assignment.
Using Multiple Thinking Tools
(The following is taken from our latest resource, innovative students’ companion. Assessment: where to start and how to
succeed!’ and is written for students)
Background
Sometimes an assignment task may not be as simple as using one Thinking Tool to complete the task. For example, the assessment task may be to “Discuss the relationships between parents and children in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet”. You could use the PCQ Extension (Thinking Tool to match the ‘Discuss’ verb) for this but prior to this, you also may want to ‘Compare’ the relationships with a Double Bubble Map. In most of your major assignments you will need to use a number of Thinking Tools.
Case Study
Science: Discuss the chances of a polar bear surviving in Antarctica? Justify your response.
Step 1: ‘Compare’ the Arctic and Antarctica. Polar bears live in the Arctic (the North Pole) not Antarctica (the South Pole). So, to begin this assignment, you will need a deep understanding of the two regions by comparing the two.
Step 2: ‘List ’ the Characteristics of the Polar Bear. Now we need to look at all the characteristics or the attributes of the polar bear – How fast can it run and swim? What does it eat? How does it defend itself? We need also to look at the attributes of some of the other animals in Antarctica, as many will be a food source or a potential predator to the polar bear.
Step 3: ‘Analyse’ the Polar Bear. It’s now time to carefully examine the polar bear! What are the polar bear’s strengths and
weaknesses? What possible opportunities and threats are there in Antarctica for the polar bear?
Step 4: The Decision and Justification. Finally, it is time to reflect on all of the research contained in your different Thinking Tools and decide on the chances of a polar bear living in Antarctica.
• Double Bubble Map – What are the major characteristics of the two regions and are they so similar that it would not make any difference whether the polar bear lives in the Arctic or Antarctica?
• Attribute Listening Organiser – What are some influential characteristics of the polar bear in comparison those of its major
‘ competitors’ – is the polar bear fast enough to hunt food in Antarctica? Can it defend itself from potential predators?
• SWOT Analysis – Delving more deeply into the polar bear itself, does the polar bear have what it takes to survive in Antarctica?
• Extent Barometer – Transfer the material from the 3 Thinking Tools to the Extent Barometer. This justifies your decision.
This information can now form the basis for your assignment and you can now make a decision and justify or support that decision.
Taking into account the genre in which you have been asked to present your work, you now are well armed with the tools to
complete the assignment.
Final Tip
The Thinking Tools are designed to organise both your thoughts and research. It is worthwhile taking the time at the start of
your assignment to carefully choose which thinking tools are the best ones to tackle the task. If you are unsure of which ones
to use, seek assistance from your teacher. In particular, you need to ask your teacher, “Which are the major verbs?” Spending a few
moments getting this part of the process right will keep you on track and save you time in the long run. This, in turn, will give you more time to concentrate on ‘digging deeper’ and aiming for those extra marks.
Let’s try another assignment question to investigate how the Bloom’s Framework can successfully guide learning. The question, ‘Discuss the idea that all students should learn to cook’ is to be found at the Analyse level since the verb ‘discuss’ is asking one to act like a magnifying glass, looking at as many component parts to this topic as possible. Meanwhile, the question ‘Should all students be taught to cook?’ is at the Evaluate level since the implied verb here is ‘to decide’ if this is a good idea and for students to act like the ‘Scales of Justice’, making a decision based on the information analysed in the previous question. For more clarity and explicit teaching, the question could be framed as “Decide if all students should be taught to cook”.
In conclusion, having a clear focus on the verb in any question or assignment or assessment is the key to successful learning. Using the Bloom’s Thinking Skills Framework, it is useful for teachers to ask this question: “Which picture or Bloom’s icon am I asking my
students to act like?” Make sure that the verb or task is clear, that the students then focus on the topic with the task as the end in mind and offer or suggest a few thinking tools or graphic organisers from the Tools column to make your students even more successful in tackling their assignments.