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As a longtime provider of professional development for early childhood educators, I continually search for techniques to make workshops more effective for participants. My purpose for this article is to share how I used Bloom’s Taxonomy to create a new framework that reconceptualizes workshops in a way that not only promotes adult learning and higher order thinking skills, but also models the pedagogical practices educators can use in their work with children. I hope that by providing both the background methodology and a model for this new workshop framework, I will help other trainers, directors, administrators, and especially educators, to think about ways we can introduce, explore and extend content knowledge in meaningful ways that mirror best practice.

For the past 15 years, I followed the standard linear PD model for creating and delivering workshops. I identified objectives participants should learn by the end of the workshop and created a PowerPoint presentation with specific content and related activities. The presentations began with stating the workshop objectives, followed by an ice breaker for group introductions, lecture, interactive activities and discussions that related to each of the objectives in sequential order followed by a summary. Although on the surface, this model appeared to be successful because participants frequently commented how much fun they had, I began to wonder how much they were really learning, and if they could actually apply these concepts in their programs.

I began experimenting with different models and looked for a format in which participants moved from statements such as “This is fun” to “Wow, I learned something new” or even better, “I’m so excited to try this with my students to see what they discover.” I began to reconceptualize how I used workshop objectives. I realized that while the purpose of the workshop might be focused on a specific content or topic area, my real goals are not limited to that specific domain, but rather are broader in terms of improving pedagogy and practice. For example, when I present workshops on science, technology, engineering and math, while I share with participants that we are going to cover key concepts, my main objective is for participants to explore STEM as a lens for being more intentional in their teaching and engagement of children in inquiry learning practices. 

I now design workshops to intentionally spiral; I come back to key concepts repeatedly, but each time with additional ways to extend or expand those ideas. This spiral design allows participants to deepen their understanding and use higher order thinking skills to further their knowledge, apply ideas, evaluate and create new knowledge. The original taxonomy (Bloom, 1956) was developed as a rubric demonstrating why it is critical to assess students’ knowledge in ways that move beyond demonstration of rote memorization to utilizing their knowledge in a new way. It provided sample questions for every domain of learning to help educators deepen student thinking. When what is commonly referred to as Bloom’s Taxonomy was revised and expanded (Anderson, et al., 2001), educators and psychologists found useful applications for a wide variety of purposes.

When I began exploring Bloom’s Taxonomies in greater depth, I recognized that although I did not intend to, in my linear workshops I often presented information in a rote way. This created a false sense of knowledge acquisition. Although it appeared that participants learned the content, because of my presentation style and questions, they were—more often than not—just parroting back information I shared rather than creating their own connections. Consequently, these educators modeled this same behavior with students because on the surface, it seemed to be effective. The genius of Bloom’s Taxonomy (Bloom, 1956; Anderson, et al., 2001) is that it provides a blueprint for building higher order thinking skills by asking more sophisticated questions that require meaningful and deeper integration of knowledge. 

My new professional development model uses Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy to restructure workshops in a more cohesive manner, creating an upward spiral rather than a linear progression. Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy includes: Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, and Create (Anderson, et al., 2001) as the keys to acquiring knowledge. I began constructing my workshops by carefully selecting my overarching goals for what knowledge and experience I hope participants will learn and what I might learn with or from them. These become the benchmarks I explore and assess multiple times throughout the workshop to ensure everyone is learning. When I struggle with selecting content or creating activities, I find it helpful to return to these goals to ensure that I am providing learning opportunities that align with my objectives. Once I have a basic framework for what I hope participants will learn, I can start to craft a workshop that deepens knowledge and critical thinking skills. Here is how to replicate this process:

Begin with identifying a way to assess participants prior knowledge. (What do participants already know and understand about this topic?). I use the icebreaker/introduction as an opportunity to collect assessment data for myself so I can make changes to content in the workshop as well as providing an opportunity for participants to connect with each other as well as the subject of the workshop. This way, participants are immediately immersed in thinking about the topic(s) that will be presented and making connections to their current practice. I find that knowing where participants are starting gives me an opportunity to make adjustments along the way, in order to better individualize the content of the training to meet the needs and knowledge base of the participants.