THE SOURCE FOR SCIENCE AND READING INSPIRATION

We have had the privilege over the past seven years of observing interactive technologies being used in hundreds of classrooms. Through my observations, by reading blog posts, by viewing interactive lessons shared on manufacturers’ sites, and by talking with teachers across the country, a shared question has emerged that needs to be addressed: How do I use this technology to encourage higher order thinking skills?

There is a large amount of digital content that addresses lower level thinking skills, so it is easy to understand why some teachers may assume that is the case with all digital content.  Most of the interactive lessons we have observed and see on lesson sharing sites are basic skill building activities using matching, drag and drop, or multiple choice questions. Those activities do have a place in the classroom–particularly during center time when students are completing an activity that has been designed for independent practice, during guided practice, or when you are conducting a formative assessment to see which students require additional assistance.

We encounter interactive lessons that are built to encouraging higher order thinking skills much less frequently than their skill building counterparts. Part of the reason may be that at first glance, it seems more difficult and time consuming to plan an interactive lesson that encourages higher order thinking skills. But, it doesn’t have to be!

StarrMatica’s library includes content that addresses all levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy.  This is the first in a series of six posts dedicated to sharing digital content examples at each level of Bloom’s Taxonomy for YOUR Interactive Classroom.

Level One: Remember
This level includes the skills of listing, writing, telling, naming, describing, matching and labeling. These are the basic skill building types of activities that many teachers utilize on their interactive whiteboards. There are several benefits to using interactive online content at the remembering level.
  • It saves time. As a teacher, you don’t have to spend time creating an activity in your interactive whiteboard software.
  • An online activity can add colorful graphics, sound effects, and animations that will get the attention of your students and motivate them to participate.
  • Some online activities keep a score record so you can review results.
  • Some online activities provide several levels of difficulty, two player modes or competition versus students in other locations.
Here are four examples of digital content for remembering:

K-2 — Bubble Burst

This activity encourages students to name odd numbers by quickly bursting bubbles labeled with the correct answers in a game environment.

 

 

 

 

K-2 — I Spy Colors (StarrMatica Member Content)

This activity encourages students to identify primary and secondary colors in StarrMatica Land. (You must be logged in to StarrMatica to access this content.)

3-6 — 2-D Shapes Evil Robots

This activity encourages students to identify 2-D shapes by placing them in the containers labeled with the correct names before being caught by the evil robots.

 

 

 

 

3-6 — Batter Up! (StarrMatica Member Content)

This activity encourages students to determine if a sentence is a simile, metaphor, alliteration, onomatopoeia, or personification.  The more quickly they answer, the farther the ball is hit.  (You must be logged in to StarrMatica to access this content.)

To learn about more activities for remembering and to discover resources for understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating, sign up for StarrMatica’s free Webinars: Bloom’s Taxonomy for K-2 and Bloom’s Taxonomy for 3-6: CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

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