Educational Theory of the Week: Knowledge

I am still partying with the Ultimate Blog Party of 2010. I luckily (it was all luck--I had no plan) got in line at just the right time and my blog is #12 on the list. As I write this, there are over 1500 family blogs on the list of party guests. This is fun and I am meeting so many people. Here is the button again, as I am still partying. You can join if you like.



And now, back to Bloom's Taxonomy. The first section is knowledge. This is the base for all other learning. Knowledge is acquaintance with facts, truths, or principles, as from study or investigation; general erudition. When activating this part of the learning process according to Bloom's Taxonomy, you can ask questions like:

What is this (object, picture, event)?
Can you name/list (steps, characters)?
Who said...?
When did ___ happen?
We just did ___. What will we do next?

True and false questions are also knowledge based. When you are asking for knowledge to be recalled (normally facts, not opinions) you are using the knowledge base of Bloom's Taxonomy.

Application to real life kids, namely, Ty

The hubby and I did this consistently with Ty last summer for two areas: when he was identifying colors and noticing the differences between vehicles.

1. Colors can be tough for little kids. (Think how pink and red, blue and green can be tough to differentiate). Teaching them colors is basic knowledge. We did lots of repeating and asking about different instances. We didn't just do colors with colored pencils and sidewalk chalk; we did it everywhere. The carpet, furniture, walls, toys, outfits--if it had a color, we identified it.

Once, anything that moved was a "car." We really pushed to differentiate between cars, vans, motorcycles, boats, trucks, etc. Again, we worked to explain the different parts and sections that separate vehicle types from each other. That one has a two wheels, it is a motorcycle.

Audience

How do you use knowledge with your kids? Do you go back to knowledge type questions for review? Do you use such questions less and less as your children get older, or is it the other way around?