The natural environment.It is sadly possible, in our technology-centered world, for our students (and us, for that matter) to have little contact with the natural environment. Many of us can step from the kitchen into the garage, get in the car, drive to work, and possibly park in another garage, all the while plugged into an iPod (or its like) or a cell phone. Sometimes it takes a rude awakening, such as hurricane, tsunami, or blizzard blizzard, winter storm characterized by high winds, low temperatures, and driving snow; according to the official definition given in 1958 by the U.S. Weather Bureau, the winds must exceed 35 mi (56 km) per hr and the temperature 20°F; (−7°C;) or lower. to make us sit up and take note of our natural surroundings. As art teachers, though, through art we have the power to help open our students' eyes to the beauty and mystery of the natural environment that surrounds them. Students can reflect on both past and present artists' responses to nature (from cave paintings Cave or Rock Paintings are paintings on cave or rock walls and ceilings, usually dating to prehistoric times. The earliest known rock paintings are dated to the Upper Paleolithic, 40,000 years ago, while the earliest European cave paintings date to 32,000 years ago. to Andy Goldsworthy Andy Goldsworthy (born July 26, 1956) is a British sculptor, photographer and environmentalist living in Scotland who produces site-specific sculpture and land art situated in natural and urban settings. ), examine contemporary environmental issues, and create their own interpretations of the natural world. And taking more notice of nature ourselves will, perhaps, make us better stewards and better teachers (or at least, a bit calmer!). Our articles, this month, are certainly offered in that spirit. The Classroom Environment No doubt you are quite familiar with Bloom's Taxonomy taxonomy: see classification. taxonomy In biology, the classification of organisms into a hierarchy of groupings, from the general to the particular, that reflect evolutionary and usually morphological relationships: kingdom, phylum, class, order, , the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives The Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, often called Bloom's Taxonomy, is a classification of the different objectives and skills that educators set for students (learning objectives). that was created by Benjamin Bloom | Benjamin Bloom (b. 21 February, 1913 - d. September 13, 1999) was an American educational psychologist who made significant contributions to the classification of educational objectives and the theory of mastery learning. in 1956 to classify clas·si·fy tr.v. clas·si·fied, clas·si·fy·ing, clas·si·fies 1. To arrange or organize according to class or category. 2. To designate (a document, for example) as confidential, secret, or top secret. kinds and levels of thinking. Yet the familiar listing of six levels--knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation--was revised in 2001 by L.W. Anderson and D. R. Krathwohl to reflect changing ideas about learning. You may not be aware of these changes and their benefits to you as an art teacher in the classroom environment. The revised taxonomy integrates both the kinds of knowledge to be learned and the process used to learn. The new levels of thinking include (in increasing complexity) remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and, most notably for art teachers, creating. Creating is described by Anderson and Krathwohl as "putting elements together to form a coherent or functional whole; reorganizing elements into a new pattern or structure through generating, planning, or producing." Isn't this exactly what we want our students to do? The terminology for writing learning objectives in the revised taxonomy is changed from noun noun [Lat.,=name], in English, part of speech of vast semantic range. It can be used to name a person, place, thing, idea, or time. It generally functions as subject, object, or indirect object of the verb in the sentence, and may be distinguished by a number of to verb verb, part of speech typically used to indicate an action. English verbs are inflected for person, number, tense and partially for mood; compound verbs formed with auxiliaries (e.g., be, can, have, do, will) provide a distinction of voice. forms to reflect that thinking is an active process. The order of synthesis and evaluation is also switched. These changes reflect the belief that creative thinking is a more complex form of thinking than critical thinking. What does this mean for art teachers? For a start, we need to be sure that our administrators and fellow teachers are aware of the revisions in Bloom's Taxonomy and its focus on creating as the highest order of thinking. We can also use it for planning and developing comprehensive approaches to learning in art, post it in our rooms, and share it with other teachers. Make it a part of your classroom environment. For further information and an animation of the revised Bloom's Taxonomy as a layer cake, visit Bloom's Bakery at www.coe.uga.edu/epltt/ bloom.htm#end. Original Bloom's Taxonomy * Knowledge * Comprehension * Application * Analysis * Synthesis * Evaluation Revised Taxonomy * Remembering * Understanding * Applying * Analyzing * Evaluating * Creating Nancy Walkup walk·up also walk-up n. 1. An apartment house or office building with no elevator. 2. An apartment or office in a building with no elevator. , Editor |
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