Bloom's Taxonomy ..... A brief Introduction

                         Thought is the blossom, language the bud; action the fruit behind it

                                                                                                        (R. W. Emerson)

Benjamin Bloom and a group of psychologists (1948) studied class room activities and goals. By this research, they concluded:

            The lowest order of thinking is knowledge (remembering something) and comprehension (knowing use of something).

Further changes  was made by Lorin Anderson ( former student of B. Bloom) and a group psychologists in 1995, revised edition was published in 2001.

Benjamin Bloom created this taxonomy for categorizing level of abstraction of questions that commonly occur in educational settings. The taxonomy provides a useful structure in which to categorize test questions, since professors will characteristically ask questions within particular levels, and if you can determine the levels of questions that will appear on your exams, you will be able to study using appropriate strategies.

            Using questions from all levels Bloom’s Taxonomy  will help the teacher or mentor scaffold learning and differentiate instructions  the easy way.

Knowledge Level ( Remembering  , Recalling)

                 Answering knowledge questions helps us recall previously learned material, facts, terms, and basic concepts.It’s  mean that observation and recall of information,

Comprehension Level:  ( Understanding )

                  Answering comprehension questions helps us show our understanding of facts and ideas by describing, explaining, and stating main ideas. understanding information, grasp meaning, translate knowledge into new context and interpret facts.

Application Level:

                   Use the information or concept in a new situation. Answering application questions helps us to solve problems by using our knowledge in new situations.

 Analysis Level:

               Answering analysis questions helps us to examine and break information into parts, identify motives/causes, note relationships, and organize our ideas

Synthesis Level:

                    Put ideas together to form something new. Answering synthesis questions helps us put information together in a new way (build new knowledge), to illustrate something from a different point of view, or to propose an alternative solution to a problem.

Evaluation Level:

             

 Make judgments about value. Answering evaluation questions helps us to defend and justify our beliefs, to make informed judgments, and to draw

Compiled from: (Judith Dodge, 2005; Edupress, 1997) & other sources

SOLO Taxonomy

The SOLO taxonomy stands for:

Structure of  Observed   Learning    Outcomes (SOLO)

The SOLO taxonomy is the model of learning that “ provides a simple and robust way of describing how learning out comes grow in complexity from surface to deep understanding”.

     It was developed by Biggs and Collis (1982), and is well described in Biggs and Tang (2007)

It describes level of increasing complexity in a student's understanding of a subject, through five stages, and it is claimed to be applicable to any subject area. Not all students get through all five stages, of course, and indeed not all teaching (and even less "training") is designed to take them all the way. SOLO learning taxonomy, helps students to use progressively more complex cognitive processes.

It is essentially a hierarchy which has 5 stages or levels that attempts to assess the students learning based on the quality of their work.

1 - Pre-structural:   It is the first stage. There students are simply acquiring bits of unconnected information, which have no organization and make no sense. The tasks are not given to the students appropriately. You can say it lower order.

2 – Uni- structural: Simple and obvious connections are made, but their significance is not grasped. The student's response only focuses on one relevant aspect of information. Here , simple connection are made between ideas.

3 – Multi-structural: Here more connections are created. You can say, a number of connections may be made, but the meta-connections between them are missed, as is their significance for the whole.

4 - Relational level of information: the student is now able to appreciate the significance of the parts in relation to the whole.

5 - Extended abstract level of information and knowledge:  At this stage of extended abstract , the student is making connections not only within the given subject area, but also beyond it, able to generalize and transfer the principles and ideas underlying the specific instance. The previous integrated information may  be conceptualized to a new field.

Beauty Of Life ............. Fauna and Flora

Beauty of Life……… Fauna and Flora

Pakistan is rich in flora and fauna of diverse varieties due to its great landscape, ranging from sea level to 8,611m (28,251ft). Pakistan is endowed with a rich and varied flora and fauna. We can say that Pakistan's native flora reflects its varied climatic zones, which range from arid and semi-arid to temperate and tropical.

What meant by FAUNA and FLORA is?

Fauna means all the animal life in a particular region and flora means all  living organism lacking the power of locomotion, plants life . You can say it as BIODIVERSTY of  a region or country.

The importance of biodiversity cannot be overlooked. It renders socio-economic, environmental benefits in different manifestations and forms. Apart from occurrence, status, significance and so many tangible and intangible benefits that biodiversity renders, it has been a symbol of recognition of many countries in the

Jasmine

world.

Flora:

Pakistan has conifer forests in most of the northern and north-western highlands. These occur from 1,000 to 4,000 m altitudes. Swat,Upper Dir, Lower Dir, Malakand, Mansehra and Abbottabad districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly North-West Frontier Province) are the main areas covered with coniferous forests.

In most of Punjab and Sindh, the Indus plains have many fluvial  (Fluvial is a term used in geography and Earth science to refer to the processes associated with rivers and streams and the deposits and landforms created by them)  landforms that support various natural biomes including tropical and subtropical dry and moist broadleaf forestry as well.

In north of Balochistan, conifer forests of juniper (Juniperous macropoda are found, such as in Quetta and Ziarat. Near Sulaiman Mountains, chilghoza pine (Pinus gerardiana) forests are also present. In the xeric regions of Balochistan),date palms and ephedra are common flora varieties.

Fauna:

Vast Indus plains have had vegetation taken away to grow crops. Very little wildlife lives there and only animals like the jackal,mongoose, jungle cat, civet cat, scaly anteater, desert cat and the wild hare live in these areas.

Parts of Thal desert and Cholistan desert are now being irrigated. The Chinkara is the only animal living there now. The blackbuck, who lived there once in big numbers, is now extinct. However, efforts are being made to reintroduce them back into the country.

Markhor

Irrigated forest plantations are now being made. These give very good conditions for chinkara, hog deer and blue bull to live in.

The striped hyena and the wolf are found almost everywhere in the country. However, little is known about the black bear and brown bear populations.

Birds of prey like the peregrine, cherrug or saker falcons, tawny eagle, imperial and greater spotted eagles, osprey, awesome shikra, and the black-winged kite live throughout Pakistan but their population statuses are unknown.

Pakistan’s coastline of 1,050 km consists of a large variety of habitat types, having a wide range of animals,  there more than 1000 are fish species, Pakistan’s marine fauna and flora have not yet been studied in detail and properly, Along shores are four species of turtles, which are of high economic importance.

National Animal of Pakistan:

Markhor (Capra falconeri) is a majestic mountain wild goat with magnificently curled horns which attains an average length of 45 inches in the male, and is often called a trophy animal. The horns of the female are short and attain a length of about 10 inches.

Markhors are adapted to mountainous terrain and can be found residing at regions that are between 600-3,600 meters in elevation, mainly in Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It is called markhor because of the fact that its spiral/corkscrewing horns look like a coiling snake. It is believed that markhor is the ancestor of the domestic goat.

National Bird :

Chukar partridge (Alectoris chukar), normally called chakor, is national bird. It is a common and a very adaptable species that is found in all kinds of arid, rocky and hilly areas of the country. Because of its adaptability, it remains even at high altitude in winter when snow covers the ground.

Traditionally, the bird is considered as a sacred one in local folklores and myths. It is believed that this bird gets very excited on the night of the full moon and in a bid to reach the moon, it flies up till it falls exhausted.

National Tree

Deodar or diar (Cedrus deodara) is recognised as the national tree of Pakistan and is also very popular and well-known among people because of its majestic and graceful shape, and usefulness. The deodar is a large evergreen tree, assuming a distinctive pyramidal shape which is easily identified among other trees of the pine group. It has a majestic extended crown that gives a conical shape to the tree. The word ‘deodar’ is derived from Sanskrit that translates to “timber of the gods”. Its wood is comparatively expensive and is one of the most sought-after trees for making furniture because of its elegance, beauty and fine texture.

National Flower :

The white coloured flower is mostly knows as chanbeli (jasminum officinale). Commonly famous as a house plant, it is popularly grown in gardens due to the sweet smell of its flowers. The flowers emit their sweet powerful scent at dusk which attracts people.

Pakistan is endowed with a rich and varied flora and

fauna.