Theory Supporting Multiple Choice Questions

In your pursuit of excellence; you will find it advantageous to understand the scientific and academic theory that supports the application of specific and different levels of testing cognitive learning.

Introduction to Bloom's Taxonomy

Following the 1948 convention of the American Psychological Association, B.S. Bloom took a lead in formulating a classification of "the goals of the educational process".  Three "domains" of educational activities were identified.  The "cognitive" domain, involves knowledge and development of the intellectual skills and attitudes.  (Affective & psychomotor domains are the other two).

Definition: Blooms Taxonomy = hierarchy of cognitive learning objectives (levels 1 - 6).

The work of Bloom and his associates attempted to divide cognitive objectives into subdivisions ranging from the simplest to the most complex behaviours.  The SIX cognitive learning objectives are knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. (Bloom's theory is but one in the field of education and chosen because it is widely applied and easily understood).

Defining the cognitive learning objectives and then organising the levels in a hierarchy allows us to build learning materials and test questions to substantiate the performance standards of the learners.  If the test is designed and written to a knowledge level (1), we can assume that the learner has met the learning objective of reviewing and remembering information from the resource materials.  The performance standard here is fairly low.  If the test is designed and written to a synthesis level (5) the learner can prove that a significantly higher learning level has been obtained by having the learner combine ideas from different situations to form a new or improved idea and solve problems.  High performance standards are being applied to learning.

Knowledge: (level 1)

Definition: remembering of previously learned material.  This may involve the recall of a wide range of material, from specific facts to complete theories, but all that is required is the bringing to mind of the appropriate information.  Knowledge represents the lowest level of learning outcomes in the cognitive domain.

Learning Objectives: know common terms, know specific facts, know methods and procedures, know basic concepts, know principles.

Comprehension: (level 2)

Definition: ability to grasp the meaning of material.  This may be shown by translating material from one form to another (words to numbers); by interpreting material (explaining or summarizing) and by estimating future trends (predicting consequences or effects).  These learning outcomes go one step beyond the simple remembering of material, and represent the lowest level of understanding.

Learning Objectives: understanding facts and principles, interpreting theoretical material, interpreting charts and graphs, translating specifications into mathematical formulae, estimating the future consequences implied in data, justifying methods and procedures.

Application: (level 3)

Definition: ability to use learned material in new and concrete situations.  This may include the application of such things as rules, housekeeping/troubleshooting requirements, methods of handling different products or assets, concepts, principles and theory.  Application requires a higher cognitive competence than strictly comprehension.

Learning Objectives: apply concepts and principles to new situations, apply physical laws and theories to practical situations, solve mathematical problems, construct graphs and charts, demonstrate the correct usage of a procedure.

Analysis: (level 4)

Definition: ability to understand the relationship between asset components and product processes.  Detail examination of information to understand a theoretical or physical process.  Determining the root cause of a problem.

Learning Objectives:  be able to recognise nondescript assumptions, logical fallacies in reasoning or problem solving.  Distinguish between facts and presumption, evaluate relevancy of data.

Synthesis: (level 5)

Definition: demonstrating the ability to put parts of ideas together to form a new whole.  Planning operations and engineering out frequent issues.  Determining and correcting problems.

Learning Objectives:  integrate learning from different areas into a plan for solving a problem; formulating a new scheme.

Evaluation: (level 6)

Definition: assessment; ability to judge the value of material for a given purpose, based on a definite criteria.

Learning Objectives: judge the logical consistency of information, symptoms to determine root cause.  Objective judgement of adequacy, quality in which conclusions are supported by data.  Judging value of work by the use of internalized criteria and use of external standards of excellence.

Summary:

Bloom's interpretation and analysis regarding the hierarchy of learning outcomes should be considered when developing tests in Traccess.  Remember to keep the end (learning objective) in mind when designing your tests.  A variety of questions, meeting the learning outcomes of a variety of cognition levels is favoured.  Keep in mind the "learning folder's" performance and cognition standards for the lowest common denominator while still providing some "challenge" for the learner.

Glossary

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If any of the resource materials can be improved or if they are incorrect or out-of-date, write the changes on the documents.  Attach them to this sheet and give it to your Team Leader.  The materials will be updated promptly so the next person using them will have up-to-date information. Thanks!