O mapa conceitual é uma ferramenta gráfica de representação e organização do conhecimento. Seu objetivo é explicitar relações hierárquicas e significativas entre conceitos na forma de proposições. Este trabalho buscou investigar se o ensino de uma disciplina num curso de nível superior, no qual os alunos fossem solicitados a elaborar mapas conceituais, pode se mostrar capaz de levar estudantes universitários a níveis mais elevados de desempenho cognitivo. Os níveis cognitivos são compreendidos à luz da Taxionomia de Bloom, que visa classificar a ação mental esperada do estudante, a saber: lembrar, entender, aplicar, analisar, avaliar e criar. A pesquisa foi realizada durante um ano letivo em uma instituição de ensino superior, particular, do interior paulista com 48 estudantes do curso de Pedagogia. Os dados foram coletados por meio de avaliações escritas aplicadas ao final do primeiro semestre, quando não houve uso do mapa conceitual. E ao fim do segundo, após treinamento e uso do mapa conceitual. O resultado da análise estatística indica que, apenas na categoria lembrar, a diferença encontrada não foi estatisticamente significante entre as duas avaliações, indicando que a utilização do mapa conceitual como recurso de ensino não levou a um desempenho melhor por parte de quem o utilizou. Em todos os demais níveis as diferenças se mostraram altamente significantes, afirmando uma melhoria de desempenho por parte dos sujeitos quando utilizaram o recurso de elaborar individual e coletivamente o mapa conceitual, possibilitando inferir que o uso do mapa conceitual pode favorecer um melhor desempenho cognitivo em problemas que exijam níveis cognitivos mais complexos / The conceptual map is a graphical tool that shows the representation of ones knowledge and the organization of this knowledge. Its purpose is to make explicit hierarchical and meaningful connections among concepts in the form of propositions. This work sought to investigate if the teaching of a subject in a higher education major, in which students were asked to elaborate conceptual maps, is able to lead university students to higher levels of cognitive performance. The cognitive levels are understood in the light of Bloom\'s taxonomy, which aims to classify the expected mental action of the student, namely: to remember, to understand, to apply, to analyze, to evaluate and to create. The research was carried out during a school year in a private higher education institution, in the interior of São Paulo, with the participation of 48 students from the Pedagogy major. The data were collected through written assessments applied at the end of the first semester when there was no use of the conceptual map and also at the end of the second semester after practicing and using the conceptual map. The results of the statistical analysis indicate that the difference found in the remembering category alone was not statistically significant between the two assessments, indicating that the use of the conceptual map as a teaching resource did not lead to a better performance by those who used it. In all other levels, the differences were highly significant, affirming improvement in the performance of the subjects after having used the conceptual mapping feature, individually and collectively, enabling infer that the use of the conceptual map may favor a better cognitive performance in problems that require more complex cognitive levels

Diploma thesis deals with social networking sites and their use in education. Thesis is divided into two general parts. The first part deals with theory of learning; Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives and new educational theory based on learning in networks -- Connectivism. After that thesis focuses on the definition of social networking sites, introduction of some of the best known social networking sites and examples of their use in foreign and domestic educational practice. The second part of the thesis is concerned with a practical use of chosen social networking site Wall.fm in classes of Web 2.0 and Social Networking Services course at the University of Economics, Prague. One of the parts is devoted to the survey among students of the course regarding the feedback on the use of social networking site in classes. The author then offers recommendations and suggestions for the use of the social networking site in Web 2.0 and Social Networking Services course in the upcoming semesters.

Community developers are often solicited to teach essential core concepts and strategies in the field but lack the consensus among their peers on which theories constitute the fundamentals. This study examines leading community development theories, concepts and approaches to establish the essential elements for a weeklong short course. In addition to content research, leading teaching theories were also explored to establish the core methods for teaching such a course. Active learning techniques were utilized to increase student participation in the learning process while building solidarity and capacity in the class. Finally, the short course was taught to a group in Banda Aceh, Indonesia and was evaluated for knowledge and attitude change through pretests, posttests, and journal entries.

The presence in state standards of the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Cognitive Domain (referred to Bloom 1 in this study) and A Taxonomy of Learning, Teaching, and Assessing (referred to as Bloom 2 in this study) was examined in this qualitative investigation. Standards for the English language arts eighth grade curriculum were chosen for examination in order to maximize the opportunity for all Bloom levels to appear; all states have language arts standards and eighth grade is the highest grade level at which NCLB testing is mandated. The standards documents of the 36 stated that have language arts standards unique to eighth grade comprised the analyzed data source and were accessed from state education websites. Descriptive narrations of cognitive levels, benchmarks, indicators, strands, sub-strands, writers of the standards, and any and all references to Bloom 1 and Bloom 2 were investigated. Inter-coder reliability was calculated to address the major research question regarding the clarity of reference to cognitive level of the standards. The qualitative content analysis research methodology chosen to answer the study's research questions culminated in the emergence of four major themes. 1) The extent to which the state standards were classifiable according to Bloom 1 or Bloom 2 depended largely upon consonance in assumptions made by the coders regarding a presumed conditions component for the standards; state standards lack condition components specifying what learners are presented with or have access to at the time the competency stated in the standard is demonstrated. 2) Eighth grade English language arts state standards incorporate cognitive learning levels of Bloom 1 and/or Bloom 2 through the range of Bloom levels. The verb "use" was noted as the most frequent taxonomic verb appearing in the standards. 3) Only five states directly referenced Bloom 1 or Bloom 2 in the documents' introduction/overview, table of contents, document guides, acknowledgements, appendices, and/or bibliography. 4) Of the 2,566 standard statements examined, 96 percent appear to be above the lowest Bloom 1 (Knowledge) and Bloom 2 (Remember) level, employing the researcher's assumed condition component. Overall, results showed that while some states incorporate Bloom 1 and/or Bloom 2, a majority of the standards appear to be written in the lower levels of the Bloom taxonomies. The researcher suggested strategies such as collaboration, consulting, training, and surveying students, parents, teachers, administrators, state committees, and agencies on knowledge of and inclusion of the Bloom taxonomic frameworks in order to improve the clarity of the intended cognitive levels set by the state standards.

abstract: Academia is not what it used to be. In today’s fast-paced world, requirements are constantly changing, and adapting to these changes in an academic curriculum can be challenging. Given a specific aspect of a domain, there can be various levels of proficiency that can be achieved by the students. Considering the wide array of needs, diverse groups need customized course curriculum. The need for having an archetype to design a course focusing on the outcomes paved the way for Outcome-based Education (OBE). OBE focuses on the outcomes as opposed to the traditional way of following a process [23]. According to D. Clark, the major reason for the creation of Bloom’s taxonomy was not only to stimulate and inspire a higher quality of thinking in academia – incorporating not just the basic fact-learning and application, but also to evaluate and analyze on the facts and its applications [7]. Instructional Module Development System (IMODS) is the culmination of both these models – Bloom’s Taxonomy and OBE. It is an open-source web-based software that has been developed on the principles of OBE and Bloom’s Taxonomy. It guides an instructor, step-by-step, through an outcomes-based process as they define the learning objectives, the content to be covered and develop an instruction and assessment plan. The tool also provides the user with a repository of techniques based on the choices made by them regarding the level of learning while defining the objectives. This helps in maintaining alignment among all the components of the course design. The tool also generates documentation to support the course design and provide feedback when the course is lacking in certain aspects. It is not just enough to come up with a model that theoretically facilitates effective result-oriented course design. There should be facts, experiments and proof that any model succeeds in achieving what it aims to achieve. And thus, there are two research objectives of this thesis: (i) design a feature for course design feedback and evaluate its effectiveness; (ii) evaluate the usefulness of a tool like IMODS on various aspects – (a) the effectiveness of the tool in educating instructors on OBE; (b) the effectiveness of the tool in providing appropriate and efficient pedagogy and assessment techniques; (c) the effectiveness of the tool in building the learning objectives; (d) effectiveness of the tool in document generation; (e) Usability of the tool; (f) the effectiveness of OBE on course design and expected student outcomes. The thesis presents a detailed algorithm for course design feedback, its pseudocode, a description and proof of the correctness of the feature, methods used for evaluation of the tool, experiments for evaluation and analysis of the obtained results. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Software Engineering 2018

O mapa conceitual é uma ferramenta gráfica de representação e organização do conhecimento. Seu objetivo é explicitar relações hierárquicas e significativas entre conceitos na forma de proposições. Este trabalho buscou investigar se o ensino de uma disciplina num curso de nível superior, no qual os alunos fossem solicitados a elaborar mapas conceituais, pode se mostrar capaz de levar estudantes universitários a níveis mais elevados de desempenho cognitivo. Os níveis cognitivos são compreendidos à luz da Taxionomia de Bloom, que visa classificar a ação mental esperada do estudante, a saber: lembrar, entender, aplicar, analisar, avaliar e criar. A pesquisa foi realizada durante um ano letivo em uma instituição de ensino superior, particular, do interior paulista com 48 estudantes do curso de Pedagogia. Os dados foram coletados por meio de avaliações escritas aplicadas ao final do primeiro semestre, quando não houve uso do mapa conceitual. E ao fim do segundo, após treinamento e uso do mapa conceitual. O resultado da análise estatística indica que, apenas na categoria lembrar, a diferença encontrada não foi estatisticamente significante entre as duas avaliações, indicando que a utilização do mapa conceitual como recurso de ensino não levou a um desempenho melhor por parte de quem o utilizou. Em todos os demais níveis as diferenças se mostraram altamente significantes, afirmando uma melhoria de desempenho por parte dos sujeitos quando utilizaram o recurso de elaborar individual e coletivamente o mapa conceitual, possibilitando inferir que o uso do mapa conceitual pode favorecer um melhor desempenho cognitivo em problemas que exijam níveis cognitivos mais complexos / The conceptual map is a graphical tool that shows the representation of ones knowledge and the organization of this knowledge. Its purpose is to make explicit hierarchical and meaningful connections among concepts in the form of propositions. This work sought to investigate if the teaching of a subject in a higher education major, in which students were asked to elaborate conceptual maps, is able to lead university students to higher levels of cognitive performance. The cognitive levels are understood in the light of Bloom\'s taxonomy, which aims to classify the expected mental action of the student, namely: to remember, to understand, to apply, to analyze, to evaluate and to create. The research was carried out during a school year in a private higher education institution, in the interior of São Paulo, with the participation of 48 students from the Pedagogy major. The data were collected through written assessments applied at the end of the first semester when there was no use of the conceptual map and also at the end of the second semester after practicing and using the conceptual map. The results of the statistical analysis indicate that the difference found in the remembering category alone was not statistically significant between the two assessments, indicating that the use of the conceptual map as a teaching resource did not lead to a better performance by those who used it. In all other levels, the differences were highly significant, affirming improvement in the performance of the subjects after having used the conceptual mapping feature, individually and collectively, enabling infer that the use of the conceptual map may favor a better cognitive performance in problems that require more complex cognitive levels

The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of the readiness assurance process of team-based learning (TBL) in virtually isolated settings. Many Internet sites offer courses for adults to use on their own without access to mentors or other learners. However, educational theory suggests that people learn better with others than by themselves. The focus of this investigation was whether the inclusion of the readiness assurance process would increase participants’ levels of learning based on Bloom’s revised taxonomy within the limits of virtual isolation. In this study an experimental pretest-posttest design was employed. Using a 2- day mini-course about listening in marriage, 117 participants were randomly assigned to three groups. In the TBL group, married couples worked together following the principles of the readiness assurance process. In the independent group, one spouse from a marriage worked alone, also following the principles of the readiness assurance process. In the baseline group, one spouse from a marriage took the pretest and posttest only. The first posttest, called posttest-L, measured lower levels of learning (remembering and understanding). The second posttest, called posttest-D, measured deeper learning (applying and evaluating). Using ANCOVA with the pretests as the covariates, results showed a statistically significant difference in learning gains between the TBL group and the independent group for lower levels of learning (ES = .39). However, statistical significance was not achieved for deeper learning. Moreover, TBL scores and independent scores were no different from the baseline scores for measures of deeper learning. Along with explanations for these results, limitations of the study are described and suggestions for future research are offered.

This dissertation argues for the importance of prioritizing the student experience in music theory discourse, both in teaching practice and content. To achieve this, a student centered curriculum and methodology are proposed, using learning objectives that align with student experiences. The concept of music literacy is defined as the sum of undergraduate music theory experience. Bloom's Taxonomy is proposed as a means of delivery to ensure a student centered experience. The methodology and curriculum are based on the principles of student centered learning with an emphasis on personalized instruction and collaborative learning. The use of Bloom's Taxonomy as a framework for instruction and assessment ensures that learning objectives are aligned with student experiences. This approach aims to promote student success, enhance the relevancy of undergraduate music theory for contemporary students, and facilitate interdisciplinary learning from cognate disciplines. The dissertation concludes by highlighting the importance of prioritizing the student experience in music theory discourse and suggests further research to explore the potential of student centered learning in music theory education. / Music Theory

The purpose of this quasi-experimental, mixed-methods study was to address the gap in understanding regarding second language (L2) comprehension of stories by using a taxonomical approach based on Anderson and Krathwohl’s (2001) revised taxonomy that includes multiple levels of cognitive processing to provide insight into L2 learners’ depth of comprehension. In addition, this study investigated the impact of reading, reading-while-listening, and listening input modalities as it applies to story comprehension. L2 comprehension studies where all three of these input methods are compared are scarce. Finally, the effect of input type on learner affect—task enjoyment and perceived task difficulty—was explored. No previous mixed methods L2 comprehension studies have accounted for all the above variables. The participants (N = 134, 85 male and 49 female students) of the quantitative aspect of this study were Japanese university students who were streamed into the university’s reading and writing or listening and speaking classes. At the time of the study, they were first- and second-year, non-English majors taking English courses as a general university requirement at a private university in western Japan. Participants from six intact classes were tasked with reading two chapters, reading-while-listening to two chapters, and listening to two chapters of a six-chapter graded reader. Using a Latin squares design, each class received a different input method at the beginning, middle, and end of each story. Three 250-headword, CEFR level 1 short stories of similar lengths from the Oxford Dominos series were used for each participant group. The participants received short, bilingual vocabulary lists for vocabulary that fell outside of the first 1,000 BNC/COCA high-frequency words of English prior to receiving each story. After finishing two chapters using one of the above three input modalities, the texts were returned to me and the participants answered bilingual remember questions of the factual recall subtype, understand questions of the inferencing subtype, and evaluate questions of the judging or critique subtypes based on Anderson and Krathwohl’s (2001) revised taxonomy. They then rated task difficulty and task enjoyment. Both the remember and understand questions were four-option multiple-choice questions, while the evaluate questions required written responses in Japanese. To ensure task time equivalency, the participants received two repeated listenings at approximately 138–157 words per minute (WPM) for the reading-while-listening and listening tasks. The participants were given approximately 18 minutes to complete each of the three chapters and 10 minutes to answer questions. Using data from Rasch person measures, a series of mixed model analyses were used to assess the participants’ performances on remember, understand, and evaluate comprehension questions as mediated by input modality. Input modality—reading, reading-while-listening, and listening—was the independent variable, while the remember, understand, and evaluate comprehension questions made up the dependent variables. The New Vocabulary Levels Test (NVLT) scores were used as the covariate. The results indicated that the participants scored higher overall on the remember questions (M = 54.06) than on the understand questions (M = 52.62) or the evaluate questions (M = 49.31). Regarding task-type findings, the reading and reading-while-listening tasks resulted in significantly better comprehension than listening tasks but were not significantly different from one another for remember and understand comprehension questions. For evaluate comprehension questions, all three inputs resulted in significantly different comprehension with reading resulting in the highest comprehension, followed by reading-while-listening, and then listening. The NVLT was a significant predictor of comprehension at all levels, but it had small R2 values. Listening tasks resulted in significantly lower scores than both the reading and reading-while-listening input conditions for all three comprehension levels. In addition, the participants rated that they perceived the reading-while-listening and listening tasks to be more difficult than reading tasks. Reading and reading-while-listening tasks were rated as more enjoyable than listening tasks. After the quantitative data were gathered, qualitative interviews were conducted to better investigate the research hypotheses and the quantitative findings. Six participants were from the same university as the quantitative sample (N = 6, 1 male and 5 female) and four participants were from another nearby university (N = 4, 3 male and 1 female). These participants completed the second text, The Bottle Imp (Stevenson, 2008), by reading Chapters 1–2, reading-while-listening to Chapters 3–4, and listening to Chapters 5–6 in the same manner as the quantitative groups except they did not follow a Latin squares design. After the completion of each two-chapter section, the participants provided verbal recalls to ensure that they correctly performed the task and to gain insight into what was understood from the text. Next, they answered comprehension questions and gave task enjoyment and task difficulty ratings. Finally, the participants answered interview questions designed to clarify their thoughts about the tasks. Verbal recalls and interviews were audio-recorded, and the interviews were transcribed and coded based on Saldaña (2016). The mixed-methods results identified a gap between Japanese L2 learners’ ability to comprehend listening to texts in English compared to the reading and reading-while-listening conditions. This gap persisted regardless of the levels of critical thinking required. The participants also performed more poorly on tasks as the critical thinking levels increased. Receptive vocabulary knowledge as measured by the NVLT was found to predict comprehension; however, because the graded readers were typically lexically appropriate for the participants, it had small R2 values. More lexically complex texts might have resulted in the NVLT correlating more strongly with comprehension. Finally, listening tasks were perceived to be more difficult and less enjoyable than reading. These findings suggest that input method has a significant influence on L2 learners’ ability to complete comprehension tasks at three levels of Anderson and Krathwohl’s (2001) revised taxonomy. The bulk of comprehension test items are from the bottom two levels of the taxonomy, so educators and researchers should consider the role that input method plays. Additionally, L2 learners might benefit from instruction that builds listening comprehension and listening fluency skills. As critical thinking demands increased, comprehension scores decreased regardless of the input method. This finding aligns with Anderson and Krathwohl’s Revised taxonomy, which posits that a critical thinking hierarchy exists and that a degree of proficiency with lower levels of the hierarchy is necessary for the successful completion of higher-level tasks. Educators should consider how critical thinking contributes to task difficulty and language learners should be provided with language tasks that work to improve critical thinking skills. / Applied Linguistics

<p>This project has been developed using a parallel strategy. The first part of this project uses the concept of a model, taken from Ml. Finley's book Ancient History Evidence and Models, as the basis of a philosophical inquiry into the development of higher level thinking skills found in two paradigmatic models: Plato's Republic and Benjamin Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. The Classification of Educational Goals, Handbook I: Cognitive Domain. In analyzing, synthesizing, amalgamating and adapting some of the elements of these two models, the writer constructs a generic metamodel for the development of higher level thinking skills in students.</p> <p>The second part of this project focusses on the development of 12 teacher-created lessons dealing with the topic of "Thinking About Thinking" for a Grade 8 Advisor class. The writer demonstrates how these lessons were implemented and provides samples of student work. She uses the "Student Development of Higher Level Thinking Skills Survey" as the basis of her interpretations and conclusions about the students' perception of the development of higher level thinking skills and the successes and weaknesses of the unit.</p> <p>The rationale for this project sterns from the writers personal and professional experiences in education and from the writer's belief that there is a need to assist our students to develop higher level thinking skills in order to meet the challenges of the future. There is a need to make education more responsive to the needs of society and to ensure that our students will be able to face the challenges of the Twenty-First Century by being effective problem-solvers and effective thinkers. The project is written primarily for those educators and scholars interested in analyzing models of thinking and in developing models in the classroom to promote the development of higher level thinking skills among students.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)