F.A. Davis Using Blooms Taxonomy in Med Term

The Solution 1.

Exploring strategies for ensuring that medical terminology is firmly implanted in students’ long-term memory requires faculty to consider two aspects of the teaching–learning process. The first involves choosing appropriate teaching methodology; the second, developing effective testing approaches. In both cases, applying the Cognitive Domain of Bloom’s Taxonomy is critical. The Cognitive Domain of Bloom’s Taxonomy, with which most teachers are familiar, describes the processes students use to work with knowledge (Armstrong, 2010). Table A below provides an illustration of the breadth of cognition individuals use as they work with knowledge in a variety of circumstances and times.

Table A: Definitions of Bloom’s Cognitive Skills

DEFINITION ABILITY TO:

COGNITIVE SKILL

Know

Remember content previously introduced.

Master the meaning of the content. Students understand what is being communicated and are able to present the material in their own way.

Understand

Apply

Apply learned material in new and concrete situations.

Analyze

Break the learned content into parts and use them in new situations.

Evaluate

Make judgments about the learned content based on accepted criteria.

Put elements of learned material together to form a new coherent or functional whole; reorganize elements into a new pattern or structure.

Create

Table A above illustrates that these processes build upon one another. For example, a learner must understand the knowledge before they can apply it in a new context. As students work with the knowledge, they will be able to expand its use in the real world. This process does not necessarily take very long if they are given the opportunity to work with the knowledge in a variety of contexts over the length of the students’ program of study. In the health professions, when graduates are expected to act in a competent manner upon graduation, they certainly must be able apply, analyze, evaluate, and perhaps even create some appropriate new uses for medical terms. What teaching–learning and evaluation strategies should faculty provide so students are able apply, analyze, or evaluate medical terminology when they reach their professional course work? First of all, the learning objectives for the medical terminology course must reflect the level of cognition the faculty requires them to perform. Table B gives examples of these types of objectives.