KUCE Taxonomy and iPad Apps

I recently blogged about the KUCE Taxonomy and what it is all about here: KUCE Taxonomy

Now is the time that I mention some iPad Apps that can be used when using the KUCE Taxonomy.  All of these apps fit great with 21st Century learning in all of the classrooms.

For a quick review session:

K: Know

U: Use

C: Create


E: Evaluate

These are the quick steps that let me know that a student is proficient for a particular concept or section I am teaching in the math course.  If a student can successfully go through each step the know the content, how to apply it, and be able to create with it as well.

Featured below are some shots of apps, I will briefly mention and move along.  I am a math teacher so most of these apps are based on the math classroom, there will be more apps later for elementary and middle school.

Know

         

These are the few knowing apps where students can gain knowledge through these apps.  The first on the left is Britannica Kids on Volcanoes where students can learn and watch videos about Volcanoes.  The next two are math related which are Khan Academy and DragonBox where students can learn more about math.  Next is Gooru where students can learn bits of sections that lead them to learning an entire amount.

Use

   

This next app is Maps and History where students can use their knowledge of maps and keys to put their knowledge to the use of getting familiar with maps.  The next two are also math related, in both of these students use their knowledge that they gained to practice problems all the way to finding real-world problems that they can solve.  (MyScript Calculator and WolframAlpha)

Create
      

This is one of my favorite sections where students use the knowledge they gained and create.  Students can use these apps to produce and send via the web on apps like EduCreations and ShowMe in video form for anyone to watch.  The next app is Aurasma where students can create augmented reality videos in format with the camera on the iPad and watch their videos in a 3D environment.


Evaluate
      

This last section is evaluate where students can evaluate each others work on the web.  Using apps like Linoit where students can post what they liked and disliked.  Socrative, where students can vote on their favorite creations.  YouTube where uploaded videos can be watched and evaluated by other students.  Lastly, KidBlogs has an app where students can blog and have their teachers, peers, and family members evaluate their work.

This is just a few of the apps that fit in these niches, if you have any apps that you use and where they would be placed on the KUCE Taxonomy please feel free to comment below.

KUCE Taxonomy

I was trying to think of ways of implementing more Bloom's Taxonomy in my classroom and I had an epiphany.  Bloom's Taxonomy is dated for 21st Century learners and does not give students the freedoms of a classroom atmosphere for the real-world.  So I came up with my own taxonomy: KUCE Taxonomy.  It takes bits and pieces from Bloom's along with some adaptations of my own.

K: Know
In Bloom's Taxonomy the first two base stages of the pyramid are remember and understand and if you combine these two bases together you get know. Students remembering and understanding the material is normally done in one or two days depending on the material.  Students in most classrooms listen to lectures and either understand or don't.  In my classroom I want students to know the material and be able to get to the next step in the learning process as quickly as possible.  I believe that knowing something is just the first step in the process of learning.

U: Use
Again in Bloom's Taxonomy the next two steps in the pyramid are Apply and Analyze, in my understanding this is using the material that you know.  After students know and understand the material, I want them to use the material in my classroom, in the picture below of the actual taxonomy it is semi-broken down into two different parts: examples and real world.  I put a wavy line between the two, because you can use different ways of using the material and sometimes it may not be examples or going as far to the real world, but the line is blurred and in my classroom I want to have students come up with examples and once they have mastered using examples I want them to learn how to use this information in the real-world.

C: Create
Once students know the material and can use the material, the next logical step is create and in Bloom's Taxonomy this changes a little bit (Bloom has it at the pinnacle of the pyramid).  Once again I have semi-broken down the creative stage in to two parts: local/community and global.  For 21st Century learners, students need to be able to apply their knowledge in their community and globally, students need to be informed citizens and care about the world they live in.  The arrows are in their, because students need to be moving in the direction of global learning and thinking about others outside of their local bubbles.  In my classroom for example, students might create a presentation for the classroom then students set up either a website to take their use of knowledge to the next level the global web.  In other classrooms it might be researching tyrannies in other parts of the world, not just their own backyard.

E: Evaluate
At this point, in my classroom, students have mastered the material.  They have become small masters of the material and once they have completed something on the global scale they can evaluate others work.  This might be in the sense that they can evaluate a math website for mistakes or in other classrooms students are able to evaluate other governments for flaws and successes other than their own.  Students become well-rounded and are able to make decisions on their own from the previous sections of knowledge.  They know the material, use it, created their own projects, and are now prepared for the real world.

Now that you have most of the information the KUCE Taxonomy is built for life-long learners in a pluralistic society, students are well-rounded and prepared for anything.  This system of learning in schools is not adopted yet, but I hope to think that master teachers and reformists in education are built towards this style of learning.  I believe that children are built for learning new things, just not in the classroom but on their own.

The last thing I want to include is the shape I built in for the taxonomy.  The trapezoid shape is developed not only for time students should be spending on each stage, but learning increases as you go up the ladder.  In Bloom's Taxonomy it is a pyramid with a point top, for me this is where learning stops.  In the KUCE Taxonomy it has a open top, learning never stops.  As teachers, we know this all too well.

If you have any comments or suggestions about changes to the taxonomy, please post them below.  How do you think learning would change with these steps instead of Bloom's?  How do you think you could shape your curriculum to fit these stages?