Differentiation by task design

Bloom’s Taxonomy and Task Design

Objectives
Participants will be able to:
 see how differentiation can be achieved by careful task design
 amend tasks that they presently set students, so as to achieve better differentiation
 explain and appreciate the importance of setting a mix of achievable (mastery) and
stretching (developmental) tasks.

Introduction

Bloom’s Taxonomy is a spectrum of task difficulty. It goes from easy tasks such as
recalling knowledge to harder tasks such as evaluating an argument. It deals with
cognitive learning*, but a similar approach can be used in other sorts of learning.

 ‘Tasks’ include everything you ask students to do: verbal question and answer, tasks
set in the lesson; and full blown assignments or projects. It also includes tasks for work
inside and outside the class.

 In order to differentiate there should be a mix of:

 Mastery Tasks that can be mastered by all learners in a short period of time
regardless of their prior learning. This allows weaker learners to succeed.
Without this success they will probably give up.

 Developmental tasks that stretch the more able, develop the skills required for
academic success, and for the world of work. These tasks develop the skills
required for progression to the next educational level. They also create deep
learning, that is, real understanding.

 It is important to realise that the full spectrum of Bloom’s Taxonomy should appear at
every academic level. Entry level students need simple developmental tasks such as
‘which of these is best’ or ‘plan how you are going to…’ Similarly, level 4 students
need mastery tasks such as to recall the key points in a lesson.

*Other domains of learning are psychomotor learning (practical skills such as serving at
tennis) and affective learning (learning attitudes beliefs values etc).

Mastery and Developmental Tasks

A mix of developmental and mastery tasks ensures that weak students achieve some
success while the able are stretched.

Mastery tasks
E.g. Recognise and name the main constituents of a simple cell.
Copy and label a diagram of a hydroelectric power station
Find the cost of sending a fax in this country and abroad.
Express one figure as a percentage of another using (A/B) X 100

‘Mastery’ tasks have the following characteristics:

 they are easy, typically involving only knowledge and comprehension
 they are not dependent on prior learning
 They can be attained in a short time, perhaps minutes.
 100% of the students should be able to get them 100% right!

Because they are time rather than ability dependent mastery tasks allow weaker students
can enjoy the success, reinforcement, self belief and motivation which makes learning
possible.

Developmental tasks
E.g. Write a clear, scientifically argued laboratory report ......
Evaluate the importance of full to high employment in western societies........
How did the early life of Harold Macmillan influence his political thinking?
Survey leisure time opportunities in Your nearestCity, and report on your findings

Developmental tasks have the following characteristics.:

 they are more difficult
 they are highly dependent of prior learning
 Students can’t get 100%. Development is slow and requires considerable effort.
 they involve higher order skills such as evaluation, synthesis, etc.

The importance of developmental objectives lies in their ability to maximise individual

development and to stretch the more able. Continuous development rather than complete
mastery is expected.

Using Mastery and Developmental Tasks in Practice.

Difficult Developmental tasks can be broken down into introductory mastery tasks,
followed by a simpler developmental task. The mastery tasks should prepare the student
for the developmental task. In this way Bloom’s Taxonomy is used as a ladder allowing all
students to climb to success.

Take for example

“Survey leisure time opportunities in your nearest city, and report on your findings”

This is a developmental task, but could be broken down into a ladder of tasks such as:
a. List ten or more leisure time activities which are available in your nearest city
b. Find sources of information on other leisure time activities such as local papers
and Tourist Information Offices
c. Make a fuller list of leisure opportunities in your city.
d. Group these opportunities into general categories such as sport, music, theatre
etc. You will need to make up some new general categories.
e. Group the opportunities by the age of those most likely to be interested in them
f. Group your activities by geographical area, and by cost.
g. Think of some other useful ways of grouping the activities.
h. Use the above to help you plan a report on leisure activities in Worcester. Your
plan could either be a mind-map, or an ordered set of headings.
i. Write a report on your survey of leisure time opportunities in your nearest city.
Bloom’s Taxonomy and Task Design A mix of mastery and developmental
Hard tasks is required
Mastery so that weaker students can
Evaluation
Evaluation succeed
(judge, critically appraise)
Developmental to stretch the more able,
(judge, critically
strengths appraise)
and weaknesses
advantages
a) andweaknesses
strengths and disadvantages and to ensure deep understanding for all
give arguments for and against
(SWOT) students
fitness
b) for purpose
advantages and disadvantages Set a mix of these tasks for Q&A; lesson
value
c) for moneyfor
give arguments & value for
and against
tasks; worksheets; assignments; etc
effort
d)
fitness for purpose
compare
value for and
e) contrast
money & value for
consider
effort evidence, bias etc

f)
compare and contrast
g)
consider evidence: Developmental Tasks
Synthesis
completeness, bias etc E..g.
(create, design, invent) Evaluate the importance of full to high
 solve a problem employment.
 write an essay, report, criticism ... Report on the leisure time opportunities in
 design a leaflet, poster, presentation etc. Worcester City.
 give constructive suggestions for Characteristics.:
improvement in a given situation  they are difficult
 design a policy or strategy or device  they are highly dependent on prior
 do a survey (eg with a questionnaire etc.) learning
 development is slow and requires
considerable effort
Analysis  they create transferable learning of
(consider the parts separately) important thinking skills
 analyse a situation, experiment, case  they are more interesting, even to weak
study etc and describe what is students
happening.  they are vocationally and academically
 classify  categorise relevant
 compare  deduce
Categorise  they create deep learning
 give reasons,  deduce
 give causes and effects

Application
(Doing after being shown how)
 apply  calculate
 use  punctuate Mastery Tasks
E.g. Recognise and name the main constituents
of a cell.
Comprehension Copy and label a diagram of a power station
 explain  classify Characteristics:
 interpret  reorganise  They are easy. 100% of students can get
them 100% right!
 they are not dependent on prior learning
 They can be attained in a short time,
Knowledge perhaps minutes
 state  define
 recall  describe

Easy
Surface and Deep Learning

Objective
To show that low quality surface learning often results from the exclusive use of tasks at
the very bottom of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Task 1 The dangers of surface learning

 Participants are told they are to be given a test.
 The facilitator presents the ‘Jabberwocky’ OHT and reveals only the verse and the first
three questions.
 Participants are told the verse is a nonsense poem and they are given about four
minutes to complete the first three questions, working in pairs.
 The facilitator tells the participants that they can mark their own answers
 The facilitator asks participants for answers to questions one at a time and confirms the
answers:
1. What were the slithy toves doing in the wabe? – gyring and gimbling

2. How would you describe the state of the borogroves? – mimsey or all mimsey

3. What can you say about the mome raths? – they outgrabe.

 The facilitator asks how the class has done, and congratulates the class, and his own
teaching, on such good results.
 The facilitator reveals question 4, and gets the answer ‘no’. The students need an
understanding of grammar only, not of the subject matter.
 Questions 5 and 6 are revealed and read out one by one, and the class asked to
answer them.
 The participants are asked why they can’t answer these questions.
 The facilitator asks the participants to place the questions 1,2,3,5,and 6, on Bloom’s
Taxonomy. This reveals that 1, 2, and 3 are all ‘knowledge’ and questions 5, and 6 are
evaluation.
 Conclusion: Staying at the bottom of Bloom’s Taxonomy can lead to surface learning,
that is learning without understanding.
 As an example of surface learning the facilitator can show the ‘gardener’ question OHT
and discuss gapped handout worksheets etc.

Conclusion – This needs to be stressed to ensure full understanding:

 Knowledge tasks are fine as a start, but if we stay at the knowledge level, surface
learning may result. Knowledge tasks may be necessary, but they are never sufficient.
We must avoid ‘rote learning’ of facts and procedures.
 Deep learning in contrast to surface learning requires higher order tasks than
knowledge. The higher the task the more likely deep learning will result.

The Application of Bloom’s Taxonomy to Differentiated

Activities in GCSE Economics
The following shows a series of lessons ‘before’ and ‘after’ being differentiated. The
outcome, an essay, is the same in each case. However, in the second case Bloom’s
Taxonomy has been used as a ‘ladder’ to assist and prepare students with the essay.
High order tasks have been used in the lesson, to develop and check learning so that
deep learning takes place, and so that misconceptions can be corrected before the essay
is written.

Undifferentiated lessons and task:

Students were given five lectures on the topic of unemployment, where students took
notes from the board, and answered factual questions to check their understanding. The
students then conduct further research in the library, and were asked to write the essay
below:

“Outline the trend in UK unemployment from 1991-2001. Explain the various causes of
unemployment and describe the approaches governments may use to deal with each type”

Differentiated lessons and tasks

Below is an outline of a differentiated approach for the same series of lessons on
unemployment – types and cures. It would take approximately 5 hours depending on work
to date and background knowledge. The aim is to promote both deeper and more
accessible learning in the topic. The lesson culminates in the students producing the same
essay described in the undifferentiated lessons.

Level of Student Learning Brief description of activity Possible

student resources
activity on
Bloom’s
Taxonomy
Unemployment as a Students look through a range Unemployment
measurable statistic. of provided sources (pictoral, rate sources –
Source handling and tabular, graphical, text) which real and
data selection. contain the unemployment manufactured.
Trend identification. rates for 1991-2001. They Table
complete a table showing the framework.
rates over the period and write
a statement as to the trend.
Various “types” of Matching cards exercise Matching cards
unemployment (unemployment “type” with
established based on sample causal situations or
differing “examples”. Activity completed
circumstances and in pairs. “Collaborative talk”
events. approach employed with
Linguistic skills students explaining to each
developed around other their understanding of
providing the matches selected.
explanations and Particular focus on words used
creating definitions in the examples to secure
initial definitions of each type.
Application of Individual students in each pair Blank matching
features of examples devises own example on blank cards.
to create own card of each type for other to
samples. match. Further collaborative
Problem solving to talk to explain example and
address each matching decisions.
unemployment type. Pairs then consider one
example of each type and
produce list of ways of
 preventing the type of
unemployment from happening
or getting the people in the
example back to work.
List produced for each type.
Theoretical Students use textbook to find Display
explanation of cures summaries of solutions to each resources.
for unemployment. type to compare with own. Standard
Design skills for Pairs prepare poster textbook.
poster display. demonstrating/describing types
Representing ideas. of unemployment with possible
solutions/cures.
Essay construction. Class discussion of wall Wall displays.
Evaluation of displays focusing on Writing frame
knowledge gathered advantages and disadvantages (see attached).
on unemployment. of methods available to reduce
each type of unemployment.
Table completed by students
to ensure notes.
Students complete essay in
Option A using writing frame
for guidance (see attached)

TASK Comparing differentiated and undifferentiated teaching

strategies

Stage 1
In pairs consider the undifferentiated ‘lecture - research - essay’ approach, and compare it
with the differentiated approach.

 Which parts of Bloom’s Taxonomy are used in the differentiated activities? Please note
them in the first column left blank for this purpose.
 What parts of Bloom’s Taxonomy would be used in the undifferentiated approach?
 Which aspects of the two approaches lend themselves to deeper learning, wider
learning styles and accessibility?
 What is the purpose of the writing frame and how does it help a weak GCSE student?

Stage 2

Identify a topic in your area of teaching. Produce a similar breakdown applying the stages
of Bloom’s taxonomy to the graduated activities.
‘Answers’ to the first task on the Economics lesson:

Blooms Student Learning Brief description of Possible

taxonomy activity resources
context
Knowledge Unemployment as a Students look through a Unemploym
based – measurable range of provided ent rate
mastery tasks statistic. sources (pictoral, sources –
available to Source handling tabular, graphical, text) real and
all with and data selection. which contain the manufacture
source range Trend [Link] rates for d.
to reflect 1991-2001. They Table
variety of complete a table framework.
learning showing the rates over
styles. the period and write a
statement as to the
trend.
Comprehensi Various “types” of Matching cards exercise Matching
on based via unemployment (unemployment “type” cards
classification established based with sample causal
with on differing situations or “examples”.
application circumstances and Activity completed in
introduced events. pairs. “Collaborative
Linguistic skills talk” approach
developed around employed with students
providing explaining to each other
explanations and their understanding of
creating definitions the matches selected.
Particular focus on
words used in the
examples to secure
initial definitions of each
type.
Application Application of Individual students in Blank
and analysis features of each pair devises own matching
based examples to create example on blank card cards.
own samples. of each type for other to
Problem solving to match. Further
address each collaborative talk to
unemployment explain example and
type. matching decisions.
Pairs then consider one
example of each type
and produce list of ways
of preventing the type of
unemployment from
happening or getting the
people in the example
back to work.
List produced for each
type.
Synthesis Theoretical Students use textbook Display
based explanation of cures to find summaries of resources.
(creative for unemployment. solutions to each type to Standard
action) Design skills for compare with own. textbook.
poster display. Pairs prepare poster
Representing ideas. demonstrating/describin
g types of
unemployment with
possible solutions/cures.
Evaluation Essay construction. Class discussion of wall Wall
Evaluation of displays focusing on displays.
knowledge advantages and Writing
gathered on disadvantages of frame (see
unemployment. methods available to attached).
reduce each type of
unemployment. Table
completed by students
to ensure notes.
Students complete
essay in Option A using
writing frame for
guidance (see attached)

Task 2. Making use of Bloom’s Taxonomy in your teaching teams

Stage 1. Does your team differentiate with task design?

a) Get together in your teaching team with at least some of the tasks you set students, for
example your:
 Worksheets
 Handouts
 Assignments
 Essay titles
 Tasks to be completed in lessons, for example questions for students to answer in
small groups
 Example questions you might ask in verbal question and answer while you teach a
given topic
 Etc

It might help if you have lesson plans, schemes of work, assignments etc to refer to

As a team discuss the extent to which your team:

 mixes mastery and developmental tasks. Consider each type of task resource or
method you use separately, e.g. question and answer; worksheets; assignments etc

 breaks difficult tasks down into a ladder of tasks. This can be helpful, at least
for the weaker students. (For example help-sheets can be provided for students
that need them for some tasks)

Stage 2 Improving the tasks your team sets

Decide as a team what works needs doing on your resources, tasks, etc. You could write
an action plan.
Parcel out the work to members of the team