Marzano's taxonomy: what it is, objectives, and what parts it has

As disconnected as we are from nature, humans are animals and, as in most of the animal kingdom, learning is critical to survival.

However, in the human case, our cognitive capacity acquires great weight, which means that we are not simple data receptacles, but rather that we process the information acquired and know how to use it, that is, use what is intelligently learned.

For a long time, attempts have been made to explain and enhance the human learning capacity, being Marzano and Kendall's taxonomy a great example of this, as well as being appropriate to what we know about learning processes in the 21st century. Let's get to know this model in more depth.

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Marzano's taxonomy: what is it?

Marzano's taxonomy is an educational goal classification system, developed by Robert J. Marzano and John S. Kendall. This system takes its base from the famous Bloom's taxonomy, elaborated by Benjamin Bloom from the year 1956, although it had subsequent revisions. In the proposal by Marzano and Kendall, a revision of the classic model was made, recycling it and incorporating new ideas about how the human being processes information.

Bloom's model, while having its origins as far back as the 1950s, has become very outdated over time. That is why, after several decades of research in the field and improving knowledge about how human beings learn, it is required a reformulation of this model, being the taxonomy of Marzano and Kendall, elaborated between 2007 and 2008 that answer.

Although Bloom wanted, from the beginning, to develop a practical educational objective classification system, in the In reality, this was more of a theoretical type, having little impact on the school curriculum and how it should be Elaborated. This is why Marzano and Kendall decided to develop a more practical taxonomy, focused on improving the education system. Its classification system is more applicable, allowing teachers to adjust their teaching to the demands and needs of their students.

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Dimensions

Marzano's taxonomy is made up of two dimensions, which interact with each other: knowledge domains and processing levels.

knowledge domains

The domains of knowledge refer to the type of learning that a student can acquire. These domains are three: information, mental procedures and psychomotor procedures.

1. Information

The domain of information refers to the acquisition of pure data, such as dates, historical events, theories, facts... That is, is to memorize data, without the need for reasoning behind, such as “copy the information and nothing else”.

2. mental procedures

Mental procedures are related to all the knowledge that involves thinking, that is, they make it necessary to follow a series of steps to achieve an objective.

An example of this would be solving a mathematical problem or applying a logical thought system, such as the scientific method or philosophical reasoning. Mental procedures are also considered reading or learning a new language.

3. psychomotor procedures

Psychomotor procedures are those that are related to using the body, that is, mastery and physical coordination. Within this domain would be all sports activities, as well as manual learning such as writing or playing an instrument.

processing levels

The levels of processing come to indicate the degree of depth necessary to acquire a certain knowledge. Normally there are three levels of processing: cognitive, metacognitive and internal or "self", although in practice they are divided into six sublevels.

1. cognitive level

At the cognitive level is recently acquired information, which is still on a conscious level.. Here we can find four sublevels: retrieval, understanding, analysis and use of knowledge.

2. metacognitive level

At the metacognitive level, they apply newly acquired knowledge to regulate one's mental processes, that is, thinking in terms of what is being learned and understanding how to direct the learning process.

Thanks to metacognitive learning, goals can be set and self-regulated to achieve them.

3. Internal level or "self"

The internal or "self" level is reached when a new knowledge affects the belief system of the individual, making him reflect or changing his previous knowledge, either by expanding them or by questioning them.

Interaction between domains and levels

Knowledge domains and levels are not isolated aspects of each otherOn the contrary, they interact very strongly.

All new knowledge passes through the cognitive level, while at some point in the individual's learning that knowledge is something newly acquired.

This knowledge can be information, a mental procedure or a psychomotor procedure and, whatever the type, there will be a moment in which the person sets goals or regulates her behavior to improve it, going to the metacognitive level.

Whether it is learning a language, playing sports or applying a mathematical formula, all knowledge has, without doubts, an influence on the belief system of the individual, therefore, passes, finally, through the internal level or “self”.

Marzano's taxonomy utilities

Marzano and Kendall's taxonomy has several advantages over the model it was intended to improve, that is, Bloom's.

First, this system allows learning to occur gradually, increasing the knowledge of the individual as fast as it takes and being much more practice oriented than Bloom's taxonomy is. Thus, knowing aspects such as what the individual already knows, learning can be personalized, avoiding having to repeat content already seen or placing greater emphasis on aspects that matter most to you cost.

Another important aspect of this taxonomy is that it is especially useful to apply it with adults, especially considering that it attaches great importance to the metacognitive level. Metacognitive abilities, that is, being aware of what is known and what should be improved, are aspects that improve with age. Although the model is perfectly applicable with children, it is this nuance that makes it ideal for older people, especially in relation to the workplace.

How is it different from Bloom's taxonomy?

Marzano and Kendall's taxonomy was developed with the intention of overcoming several limitations seen in Bloom's classical model, including its lack of practical applicability. Besides, Marzano's proposal takes into account the type of information or knowledge that is to be promoted, being aware that there are several differences between the acquisition of pure information, thinking in a reasoned way and learning to perform physical actions.

Marzano and Kendall took into account the fact that in the learning process not everything that is learned or that influences this process is visible. On the one hand, we have the knowledge itself but, on the other, we have subjective but very important aspects such as motivation, memory, emotions and metacognition of the individual. Thanks to all this, the learning objectives can be established with a greater degree of precision, personalizing the teaching of the students.

It is worth noting some small differences, although important, between both taxonomies with respect to the type of learning that can be carried out. In the case of Bloom's model we have that, also as Marzano and Kendall do, there would be three types of knowledge:

Cognitive (equivalent to Marzano's information domain) Psychomotor (same as psychomotor procedures) afeassets: ways of feeling and emotions.

Although Bloom's taxonomy became very famous as early as the 1950s and 1960s, when most of the taxonomy was written, the proposal of Marzano and Kendall is considered more appropriate. The reason for this is that, to begin with, it is more current, and without falling into an ad novitatem fallacy, it should be noted that much progress has been made from the 1950s to the 21st century.

Bibliographic references:

• Bloom, B.S., Engelhart, M.D., Furst, E.J., Hill, W.H. and Krathwohl, D.R. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives. The classification of the educational goals. Handbook I: Cognitive domain. New York, USA: David McKay.
• De Vicenzi, A. and De Angelis, P. (2008). The evaluation of student learning: Guidelines for the design of evaluation instruments. Education and Development Magazine, April-June, (17-22).
• Marzano, R. J. and Kendall, J.S. (2007). The new taxonomy of educational objectives. California, USA: Corwin Press.
• Marzano, R. J. and Kendall, J.S. (2008). Designing and assessing educational objectives: Applying the new taxonomy. California, USA: Corwin Press.