Bloom's Taxonomy: A better approach to training
When you’ve been doing something for over 25 years, you get a good idea of how to do it well. Since 1998, I’ve helped hundreds of food and manufacturing businesses and their employees work smarter, stay compliant and develop their management systems.
Essentially, my work as a Consultant, BRCGS Principle Training Partner (Traditional and Virtual), Third Party Auditor and Royal Society of Public Health (RSPH) approved trainer is about helping companies and people improve. And there’s nothing more rewarding than that.
In recent years, I’ve become more and more disillusioned in the way training is delivered. Very often the main focus is on students passing an exam.
I believe exams are a fairly blunt instrument to evaluate a student’s understanding of the subject. However, the exams can’t assess if students can apply the principle, techniques and skills they have learnt in a working environment.
A better way to approach training is to apply Bloom’s Taxonomy. This way, the student gains the experience of applying techniques and skills learnt in the work environment.
Blooms Taxonomy is not a difficult model to understand. It just provides a different approach when planning and delivering training. We’ll get into some of these approaches soon. But first, a definition.
What is Bloom’s Taxonomy?
Blooms taxonomy is a learning model that can be applied by trainers to determine a student’s depth of knowledge and understanding of a subject matter.
Created by educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom, the model is a classification of human cognition, which refers to the mental processes involved in gaining knowledge and comprehension.
Bloom believed that to be proficient in the new skill, students must first learn basic facts and gradually progress to more advanced levels of understanding before being able to produce original work.
The six categories of Bloom’s Taxonomy:
Blooms Taxonomy has six categories. These are based on the level of understanding we pass through as we learn.
Categories start at “Remember”, which is the most basic category and requires the student to recall information about the subject matter, through to “Create”, which requires students to demonstrate their understanding of the subject matter by producing new or original work.
The following chart breaks down the six categories, including an explanation of each and verbs to promote critical thinking:
Bloom’s By using these six categories in training, the end result is more than one that looks good on paper. It produces students that can effectively put what they’ve learned into practice.
Applying Bloom’s Taxonomy model in a HACCP training programme:
Before you start developing any training programme, it’s important to clearly define the learning outcomes for each category of Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Outcomes need to be shared and agreed with the students before they undertake training
Here are the six categories again, this time with the outcomes to aim for:
Now, let’s look at each category individually and what you can do to guide students through each stage.
Category one: Remember
This first category in Blooms Taxonomy is the foundation to deeper learning. Your task is to determine what understanding and knowledge the student already has about the subject.
This knowledge may have been acquired through pre-coursework, a previous training session or their own knowledge of the subject matter.
Where you identify a knowledge gap, you need to fill it. You may be able to do this as part of the session you are delivering. Alternatively, you might offer additional sessions or provide additional reference material.
Consider whether this category can be delivered as a stand alone unit with a buffer of, say, one week before moving on to the next stage. The time between stages gives students time to fill any knowledge gaps they may have.
How to establish the students’ knowledge of a subject:
Activity one: Post-it notes & Mind maps
Mind maps are a great way to learn what students know and don’t know about a subject. This activity is straightforward, yet engaging.
Hand out Post-It notes to the students and ask a simple question. For example:
-
- What does HACCP stand for?
- Who needs to be in a HACCP Team?
- What are the main types of hazards that need to be covered in a hazard analysis?
Ask them to write their answer on the Post-It notes and hand them back. Put the Post-It notes up on a flip chart and go through them, summarising the responses received. When you’ve done this, place students in groups of two or three. Get them to develop a HACCP mind map on a flip chart. Here’s an example of a mind map you might use:
Have groups fill in the gaps. What do they know about each of the topics? On completion, review mind maps. Ask students about what they know and where they need further understanding.
Activity two: Socrative quiz
This option makes the most of the free Socrative app. Socrative is a learning platform that helps trainers visualise student understanding through interactive quiz games.
Its free plan lets you create up to five quizzes for up to 50 students.
Create a quiz that asks student’s questions on the basic elements of HACCP, similar to those in the Post-It game.
Students can log in to the Socrative app using their phone or PC and take part in the quiz. This is useful as it means they can take part in their own time.
As the tutor, you can see which questions students answer correctly. If you have the Socrative website on your PC, you can project the answers for everybody to see. The app allows responses to be given anonymously.
If a student can’t access the app, create a test sheet that asks the same questions with multiple choice answers.
Activity three: Catch ball
Catch ball turns understanding into an interactive game that involves all students. Here’s how to play it:
- Have students write on a piece of paper three things they know about HACCP.
- Have students stand up and form a ring facing each other. Ask them to put the piece of paper at their feet.
- Throw a ball to one of the students who tells the rest of the group one thing they know about HACCP.
- When finished, they throw the ball to another person in the group who explains one thing they know about HACCP.
- Continue until you have exhausted the students’ points.
As students are telling the rest of the group something they have learnt, expand on their answers by asking the other students additional questions on the point raised.
When students have exhausted all of their points, ask them about important topics not already covered in the activity.
Remember the purpose of stage one is to identify knowledge gaps in students’ basic understanding of HACCP principles. When you know what those knowledge gaps are, you can determine the best way to plug them.
Category two : Understand
As mentioned, before starting category two, it’s beneficial to have a time gap after the end of your “Remember” exercises.
This will help you provide extra training or materials to students whose knowledge is at a different level to others in the programme.
For example, if you are delivering a Category 4 HACCP training programme and a student has limited knowledge of HACCP, it may be beneficial for them to complete a level 2 or equivalent e-Learning course to fill in their knowledge gap. If a student has good basic knowledge of HACCP principles, you may only require them to go through the BRCGS Global Standard Food Safety Requirements.
For additional learning materials, provide links to relevant HACCP videos, websites and reference materials. The company may also have a Learning Management System that you can give students access to for additional resources.
Once students have undergone their own learning, conduct a classroom session to reinforce key points and answer any queries they may have. The length of classroom training will depend on the student’s understanding of HACCP principles.
Category three: Apply
In this stage, provide students with a case study they can work on.
This can be done as a group activity. The case study shouldn’t be the same as the company manufacturing processes. For example, if students work at a bakery that produces bread, use a different process (e.g., the manufacture of pizzas).
The benefit of the case study is that it allows students to apply their new knowledge and skills in a controlled environment.
Write the case study in a way that brings out key learning points. Include a model answer to the case study that can be used in category four, where students can review their own
HACCP Plan against the model HACCP Plan.
Category four: Analyse
In the “Analyse” category, groups should be allowed to analyse the other groups’ HACCP Plans and provide constructive criticism.
Encourage groups to challenge each other as to why they included certain information and what justification they have for doing so.
One way to ensure in-depth valuation of a group’s HACCP plan is to provide a written overview of Codex HACCP principles and a copy of BRCGS HACCP requirements and have each group to generate a checklist of questions they can use to review the other group’s HACCP Plans.
Finish by providing each group with the model answer. Have them review their own HACCP Plan against the model answer, then list key areas they didn’t cover in their own HACCP Plan.
Category five: Evaluate
Using the information from category four, encourage students to write a reflective journal. This should cover:
- What you have covered during the training programme
- Positive and negative experiences
- Any additional support and training required
Review journals and put any necessary training or support in place before the student undertakes the final category.
One way to ensure in-depth valuation of a group’s HACCP plan is to provide a written overview of Codex HACCP principles and a copy of BRCGS HACCP requirements and have each group to generate a checklist of questions they can use to review the other group’s HACCP Plans.
Finish by providing each group with the model answer. Have them review their own HACCP Plan against the model answer, then list key areas they didn’t cover in their own HACCP Plan.
Category six: Create
In this last category, students need to put their knowledge and skills into practice in a workplace assignment.
Issue students with details of the assignment they must complete. Make sure you clearly detail the deliverables expected and the time scales required so that students know exactly what’s expected of them.
Adavntages & Disadvantages of Bloom’s Taxonomy
Bloom’s Taxonomy is an effective way of helping students learn and put that learning into practice. However, as with any method of training, there are negatives to consider.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the pros and cons:
Advantages
- Bloom’s Taxonomy establishes learning goals to be achieved by both teacher and student.
- By classifying learning, it allows you to think strategically about the type of learning students should be undertaking.
- It makes it easy to assess if your lessons and evaluations are consistent with your learning objectives.
Disadvantages
- Bloom’s Taxonomy provides a false representation of learning. Learning is not a linear process whereby each category is separate from all others.
- The training programme takes more time to develop than delivering a standard PowerPoint classroom course.
Get started with Bloom’s Taxonomy
Traditional exams can put the emphasis on memory over practicality. A student can know what the answer is to a question, without properly understanding how to put it into practice.
Bloom’s Taxonomy changes this. By guiding students through each of the six categories you can instil an understanding of HACCP and ensure it translates to their ability to communicate and perform tasks.
Use it in your next training programme and see how your students benefit. If you need help from us, get in touch.
tolearn innovative Food Safety Management System.
Book a demo at a date and time which is best for you and find out how tolearn can help your company with onboarding of staff, employee competency and improve food safety culture.
Want to learn more about food safety?
Check out our range of BRCGS, Food Safety and HACCP courses by clicking the button below.
.
