6 Domains of Cognition: The TeachThought Learning Taxonomy Magic Post

by Terry Heick

How do you know if a student really understands something?

They learn to play the game early: they tell the teacher and/or test what they “want to know,” and even the best assessment leaves something on the table. (The truth is, most of the time, students simply don’t know what they don’t know.)

The idea of ​​understanding is of course at the heart of all learning, and solving it in puzzle form is one of the three pillars of formal learning environments and education.

1. What should they understand (standards)?

2. What (and how) do they currently understand (assessment)?

3. How can they better understand what they do not currently understand (planning learning experiences and teaching)?

But how do we know if they know it? And what is it?

Understand like ‘He’

On the surface, the word “that” is problematic. This seems vague. Embarrassing. Uncertain. But somehow everyone knows what it is.

“This” is essentially what needs to be learned, and this can be scary for both teachers and students. “It’s” everything, described with intimidating terms like objective, target, skill, test, exam, grade, fail and pass.

And in terms of content, “it” can be almost anything: a fact, a discovery, a habit, a skill, or a general concept, from mathematical theory to a scientific process, from the importance of a historical figure to an author’s purpose in a text.

So if a student gets it, beyond pure academic performance, what could they do? There are many existing taxonomies and characteristics, from Bloom’s to Understanding by Design. 6 facets of understanding.

The following actions are presented in a linear taxonomy, from the most basic to the most complex. The best thing about this system is its simplicity: most of these actions can be done simply in class in a few minutes and do not require complex planning or an extended review period.

Using a quick diagram, concept map, T-chart, conversation, picture or short response in a journal, quick collaboration face-to-face, on an exit slip or via digital/social media, understanding can be assessed in minutes, helping to replace testing and dismay with a climate of assessment. It can even be posted on a class website or hung around the classroom to help guide independent learning, with students checking their understanding themselves.

How this understanding of taxonomy works

I will write more about this soon and put this in a more graphic form soon; these two elements are essential to its use. (Update: I’m also creating a course for teachers to help them use.) For now, I will say that it can be used to guide planning, assessment, curriculum design, and self-directed learning. Or develop critical thinking questions for any content area.

The “Heick” learning taxonomy is intended to be simple, organized into (mostly) isolated tasks varying in complexity from less to more. That said, students do not need to demonstrate the “highest” levels of understanding – that misses the point. Any ability to complete these tasks is a demonstration of understanding. The more tasks the student can accomplish, the better, but all “checked boxes” prove that the student “succeeded.”

36 Thinking Strategies to Help Students Tackle Complexity

The Heick Learning Taxonomy

Area 1: Parts

1. Explain it or simply describe it
2. Label its major and minor parts
3. Evaluate your most and least important characteristics
4. Deconstruct or “deconstruct” it effectively
5. Give examples and non-examples
6. Separate it into categories or as an item in larger categories

Example subject

The Revolutionary War

Sample Prompts

Explain the Revolutionary War in simple terms (for example, an inevitable rebellion that created a new nation).

Identify the major and minor “parts” of the Revolutionary War (e.g., economics and propaganda, soldiers and tariffs).

Evaluate the Revolutionary War and identify its least and most important features (e.g., causes and effects in relation to city names and minor skirmishes)

See also 20 types of questions to teach critical thinking

Domain 2: The whole

1. Explain it in micro-details and macro-context
2. Create a diagram that embeds it in a self-selected context
3. Explain how this is and is not useful, both practically and intellectually.
4. Play with it casually
5. Take advantage of it both in part and in full
6. Revise it expertly and explain the impact of any revisions.

Domain 3: Interdependence

1. Explain how this relates to similar and dissimilar ideas
2. Direct others in its use
3. Explain it differently – and precisely – to a novice as well as an expert
4. Explain exactly how and where others might misunderstand
5. Compare it to other similar and dissimilar ideas
6. Identify similar but distinct ideas, concepts or situations

Domain 4: function

1. Apply it in unfamiliar situations
2. Create accurate analogies to convey its function or meaning
3. Analyze the sweet spot of its usefulness
4. Reuse it creatively
5. Know When to use it
6. Plausibly theorize its origins

Domain 5: Abstraction

1. Demonstrate your nuance in an insightful or astute way
2. Criticize it in terms of what it might be “missing”, or what it is “dishonest” or incomplete.
3. Debating your “truths” as a supporter or devil’s advocate
4. Explain its elegance or rudeness
5. Analyze one’s objectivity and subjectivity, and how the two are linked
6. Design a sequel, an extension, a follow-up or an evolution of it

Domain 6: The Self

1. Independent future learning on the subject
2. Ask specific and insightful questions about it
3. Remember or recount your own learning sequence or timeline (metacognition) to know it
4. Is comfortable using it in various contexts and circumstances
5. Identify what they still don’t understand
6. Analyze changes in self-knowledge resulting from understanding

Advanced understanding

The 6 facets of Understanding by Design of Understanding, Bloom’s Taxonomy and Marzano’s New Taxonomy were also referenced in the creation of this taxonomy; a learning taxonomy to understand