CLIL Methodology

Unit 4   CLIL – Teaching thinking skills

Task 1  The parts of the text below are jumbled. Put them in the correct order.

A)    According to this system, lower order skills included recalling knowledge to identify, label,
name or describe things. Higher order skills called on the application, analysis or synthesis of
knowledge, needed when learners use new information or a concept in a new situation, break
information or concepts into parts to understand it more fully, or put ideas together to form
something new.


B)    Nevertheless, the importance of teaching thinking and creativity is an important element in
modern education. Benjamin Bloom was the first to develop a highly popularized hierarchy of six
thinking skills placed on a continuum from lower to higher order skills: knowledge, comprehension,
application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation.


C)    Bloom's structure was a useful starting point and triggered many applications to school
activities and curricula.


D)    Today there is international recognition that education is more than just learning knowledge
and thinking, it also involves learners' feelings, beliefs and the cultural environment of the
classroom.


Task 2   Complete the gaps in the table with examples from your field of study.

Questions and tasks according to Bloom´s new taxonomy

Skill

Question

                                               Words

Examples of tasks and questions

Remembering


Can learners remember?


tell, repeat, recall, list




 Understanding



Can learners explain?



describe, explain, paraphrase






 Applying


Can learners use the information in another situation?


demonstrate, dramatise, illustrate




 Analysing


Can learners break the information into parts and see relationships?


compare, contrast, criticise, test




Evaluating


Can learners justify a position?


argue, judge, evaluate




  Creating


Can learners create new products?


construct, create, design




Extra tip – Video

Watch the video on Bloom´s taxonomy examples from the TV show Friends. Do you find the examples
appropriate?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqzkCFL3ZUY


Task 3  Guiding understanding: Skinny and fat questions and thinking skills

Complete the table with the missing questions. Add an example from your field of study.

Skinny questions (lower-order thinking skills)

                                               Fat questions (higher-order thinking skills)


                                               What is your opinion of Chapter 8?

What is the greenhouse effect?



                                              Can you explain the shape of the graph?