Teachers’ Utilization of Bloom’s Cognitive Taxonomy in Teaching in Public Secondary Schools in Nandi County, Kenya

Bernard Kipkurui Yegon1, Shikuku M. Mulambula2, Esther N. Kiaritha3
1Student, Moi University, School of Education, Department of Educational Psychology, P.O. Box 3900, Eldoret, Kenya
2, 3Lecturer Moi University, School of Education, Department of Educational psychology, P.O. Box 3900, Eldoret, Kenya
Received: 22 February 2023; Revised: 16 March 2023; Accepted: 23 March 2023; Published: 25 April 2023

Abstract: The academic performance of public secondary schools in comparison to private schools is a subject of great concern among stakeholders. The ideal outcome of using Bloom’s Taxonomy is to encourage performance improvement. So, the goal of the study was to ascertain how students’ academic achievement in public secondary schools in Nandi County, Kenya, was related to how teachers utilized Bloom’s Cognitive Taxonomy in their instruction and assessment. The objective of the study was to determine teachers’ utilization of Bloom’s Cognitive Taxonomy in teaching in public secondary schools. A pragmatic paradigm was used in the investigation. Bloom’s Cognitive Taxonomy served as the study’s foundation. With an explanatory sequential design, this study used a mixed method research methodology. The research population consisted of 2055 teachers from 137 public secondary schools. The sample size was 360 teachers from 30 county schools. 30 county schools were selected using simple random sampling, from which 12 Form 3 teachers teaching 6 selected subjects were identified. Lesson observation, questionnaires, and document analysis were used to collect data from teaching. Data was analyzed using frequencies, and means. According to the findings, 58% of the teachers utilized Bloom’s Cognitive Taxonomy while they were teaching. During class observation, the following percentages were used to teach using Bloom’s Cognitive Taxonomy: remembering 30%, understanding 29%, applying 16%, analyzing 10%, evaluating 8.0%, and creating 6.0%. The study came to the conclusion that teachers did utilize Bloom’s Cognitive Taxonomy in their lessons, though the percentages between the researcher’s observation and the participants’ responses varied greatly, suggesting that most teachers do not fully utilize it. This study recommended that all teachers make full utilization of Bloom’s Taxonomy in their instruction in order to encourage students’ critical thinking skills and an analytical approach to learning, which will improve their retention of the material.

Key words: Bloom’s Taxonomy, Teaching, and public schools.

I. Introduction

The Bloom’s Revised Cognitive Taxonomy is a multi-tiered system for classifying ideas in accordance with the six phases of cognitive taxonomy of difficulty: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. Over the years, the phases have frequently been portrayed as a series of steps, leading many instructors to encourage their students to “ascend to higher level of thinking” (Forehand, 2017). The taxonomy aids educators in describing and separating different phases of human cognition, including ideas, information, and comprehension. According to Forehand (2017) in Bloom’s Taxonomy (2014), teachers frequently used Bloom’s Revised Cognitive Taxonomy to inform or direct the setting of appraisals (examination and further assessment of learner education), syllabus (units, lessons, projects, and other educational actions), and teaching strategies like questioning.

However according Nkhoma et al. (2017), the Bloom’s Cognitive Taxonomy offers a framework that teachers can utilize to ensure that they are delivering intellectual skillfulness like applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating in their educational actions and evaluation (Jideani and Jideani, 2012 as cited by Nkhoma et al, 2017). The cognitive developments that bring about the critical idea are linked totally to a subject theme, class content, and reflection (Hamilton & Klebba, 2011 as cited in Nkhoma et al, 2017). Inquest into most excellent performances designed for mounting educational goals, actions, and evaluations using Bloom’s Cognitive Taxonomy, still requires more assessment to inform teacher’s utilization of Bloom’s Cognitive Taxonomy in county public secondary schools in Nandi County, Kenya.

In accordance with Armstrong (2016), Bloom’s Cognitive Taxonomy aids tutors in the following ways: foremost, it assists teachers to establish educational objectives that are essential during an instructive exchange as a result instructors and learners equally comprehend the rationale of that exchange. Secondly, teachers can gain from using scaffolds to sort out goals since putting in order goals assists teachers to make clear goals for themselves and for scholars. Finally, but not least containing an organized set of aims assists instructors to prepare, and carrying out suitable teaching, designing legitimate evaluation tasks, and policies, and making sure that teaching and evaluation are associated with the goals.

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