Social-Conventional Knowledge
Conversations are part of teachers’ daily interactions with children. These exchanges provide numerous opportunities to help them develop socioconventional knowledge by modeling the language and vocabulary of mathematics and the sciences. As you describe and label what they do, you also ask them questions that prompt thinking. As an educator, you will want to formulate your questions so that they maximize the thinking required to answer them.
One effective strategy is to use the categories provided in Bloom’s taxonomy to guide your questions. This is a model introduced in 1956 by cognitive psychologist Benjamin Bloom that illustrates the increasing complexity of intellectual behavior. Revised during the 1990s, the current model (Figure 10.5) provides guidance for teachers about how to promote cognitive development (Anderson & Cruikshank, 2001).
For instance, suppose you posed this question to older preschoolers: “How many ways can we make a boat that will float in the water table?” As you observe them in action and talk with them about their boat-building activities, you can apply the taxonomy to questioning them about their work. If you ask “Did the paper boat float or sink?” children only have to recall what happened to respond, the lowest level on Bloom’s taxonomy (Figure 10.4). But if you ask, “Can you use your words to tell us what happened to the paper boat?” the responses would reflect the next higher level, “understanding.”
Figure 10.4: Bloom’s Taxonomy
Extending this example, other questions of increasing complexity could be:
- Applying: “Since we know that crumpling the paper in a ball makes the paper float, is there another material we might also try crumpling?”
- Analyzing: “How can we organize testing our boats so we can find out what makes them sink or float?”
- Evaluating: “LaShawn, I heard you say that any boat made of aluminum foil will float; why do you think that is the case?”
- Creating: “Let’s look at all the boats you made and give each of you a chance to tell the story of how you made it.”