Bloom's Art Progression

Progression as Learning

A while ago I developed this rubric based on Krathwold’s; ‘Blooms Revised Taxonomy 2001’ for developing learning targets in art and design. It was based on a similar thing I’d seen developed at Ohio State University for their Science students.

This sets out the development of learning and progression in the subject in increasingly complex and more challenging targets from the Factual Remembering cognition in the top left corner to Metacognitive Creating in the bottom right.

I believe it’s based on sound science and indeed it relates strongly to the GCSE Assessment Objectives for the subject. It isn’t Key Stage related either, so it’s perfectly able to be adapted to any educational phase perhaps with some modification, though I doubt many teachers will use it in the Primary sector. Nor is it linear either, so you might access the ultimate goal; ‘Create’ at any time and still need to constantly revisit ‘Factual Remembering’. The four Knowledge dimensions relate strongly to the requirements of the new curriculum for art and the NSEAD’s Competencies, but I would argue that these are more succinct and flexible. Whilst the Cognitive Process dimensions are all very familiar to us educators, here each one is defined in four ways, to the four knowledge strands making them I believe more useful. What appeals to me also is that a Metacognitive strand is prominent, replacing and improving the evaluation targets that many art teachers struggled to facilitate effectively. Here, metacognition is embedded in such a way as to make understanding a recognisable aspect of attainment. These learning goals are a very useful working tool for you to identify the key aspects of the art understanding that you are trying to deliver.