Using Bloom’s Taxonomy to Create Media Savvy Spongeheads

Benjamin Bloom created a taxonomy for categorizing critical questions that are commonly the basis of most education curricula. Utilizing the six competencies of critical thinking, providing media education curriculum in the classroom incorporates the following skills:

Competence	Skills Demonstrated	Sample Question
Knowledge	Knowledge of major idea: media literacy. Ability to list, define, describe, examine, identify, name, whom, when, where	Who is communicating? Who is their target audience?
Comprehension	Understanding information, grasping meaning. Ability to interpret facts, compare, contrast, summarize, distinguish, estimate, discuss	What is the message? Why is the message being promoted?
Application	Use methods, concepts, theories in new situations. Ability to apply, demonstrate, classify	Who owns, profits from, and pays for media messages? How are messages communicated?
Analysis	Seeing patterns, recognition of hidden meanings. Ability to analyze, order, explain, connect, arrange, infer	What is NOT being said and why?
Synthesis	Relate knowledge from several disciplines. Ability to predict, draw conclusions, combine, integrate, modify, rearrange, substitute, plan, create, design, invest, ask "What if?", formulate, prepare, generalize, rewrite	Who receives media messages and what sense is made of them? How can media messages be deconstructed?
Evaluation	Compare and discriminate between ideas, assess value of theories, presentations, make choices based on reasoned argument. Ability to assess, decide, select, judge, support, conclude, discriminate, summarize	Is there consistency both within and across media? What biases or propaganada are contained in media messages?