Flying SOLO.
Taxonomies of cognitive
processing.
Earl Irving
Team Day
September, 2009
Overview
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Ways of describing questioning &
thinking --> cognitive taxonomies
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Bloom et al
SOLO (Collis & Biggs)
Examples
Summary
The questions teachers ask.
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80% of teacher questions require low
order thinking skills
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Recall or remembering
Knowledge
Simple handling of a restricted set of ideas,
data, knowledge
Goal is to ask more higher level
questions – make ‘em think!!
Back to Questioning
Taxonomies of thinking
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Need a way to classify categories of
thinking (cognitive processing) in
increasing degrees of complexity
Bloom et al (1956). Cognitive, affective
and psychomotor
Has dominated approaches to
assessment / questioning
Supposed to be hierarchical, but isn’t
Bloom’s Taxonomy (1956)
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appraise, evaluate,
justify
combine, rearrange,
rewrite
critique, discriminate,
relate
demonstrate, modify,
solve
explain, infer,
summarise
list, label, name, state
SOLO
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Structure of Observed Learning
Outcomes (Collis & Biggs, 1982)
Analysed structure of student responses
to questions
Four (five) categories at two levels:
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Surface: Unistructural, and
Multistructural
Deep: Relational, and Extended Abstract
Elements of SOLO
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 Student
R Response
X Irrelevant, not
given
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• Relevant, given
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o
Relevant, not
given
Unistructural
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Uses one given piece of
information.
Student presents simple
and obvious information
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What was the name of
that movie?
What year was the Treaty
of Waitangi signed?
How many beans make
five?
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Sees a part of the
house in isolation.
Identifies a window,
or the roof.
Cannot see
connections or
significance of the
parts
Multistructural
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Uses 2 or more facts,
which are not
necessarily related to
each other
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Name three characters
in the movie.
Give 2 reasons why it
is sensible to drive on
the left.
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Can see parts of the
house separately,
but no sense of the
whole.
Disorganised
collection of ideas
around the issue
Relational
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Uses 2 or more pieces of
information, and makes
connections among
them
Sees the significance of
the parts to the whole
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Compare and contrast
meiosis and mitosis
Explain the causes of …
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Students able to
appreciate the
significance of parts in
relation to the whole
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Can put the whole
house together
Work starts to move
between the facts and
theory
Extended abstract
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Makes connections not
only with the given
subject material, but also
beyond it
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Why do fairy tales use
animals to portray human
characteristics?
Find a formula to describe
the pattern –1, 1, 3, 5, …
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Students make
connections not just with
the given subject area
but beyond it; apply,
generalise and transfer
principles and ideas
underlying the specific
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Sees the community
around the house
Another SOLO schema
Learning: deep and surface
approaches
STOPPING BY WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING
by Robert Frost
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s a sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Bloom Questions for Frost
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Knowledge
Where does the owner of the woods have his house?
_____________________________________
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Comprehension
Why do the horse’s bells shake?
a.
The horse is shaking off the snow
b.
The horse is shivering with the cold
c.
The horse is ready to move on
d.
The horse is being blown by the wind
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Application
Write a poem that uses the same rhyme scheme as stanza
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
Bloom Questions for Frost
Analysis
Janet thinks the poem is set at Christmas time. Find two pieces of evidence in the
poem she would use to support her argument.
a) ________________________________________________
b) ________________________________________________
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Synthesis
Frost suggests that people need to choose between responsibility and personal needs.
What would happen to society if everyone chose only personal needs?
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
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Evaluate
Is this poem a classic? Support your opinion with reference to the quality of its
message and style.
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
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SOLO Surface Questions for Frost
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Unistructural
Why does the horse shake the harness bells?
_____________________________________________
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Multistructural
What two phrases suggest that the poem could be set
at Christmas?
a) ___________________________________________
b) ___________________________________________
SOLO Deep Questions for Frost
Relational
Why does the horse think it is unusual to stop by the woods?
a)
It is the darkest evening of the year
b)
The woods are filling up with snow
c)
There is no sound other than the soft wind
d)
There are no houses near the woods
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Extended Abstract
What is the main message of the poem?
a.
Nature is especially beautiful in winter
b.
People would like to avoid their responsibilities if they could
c.
People and animals don’t like to be out in the dark and cold
d.
Travelling at winter time is disturbing
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Strategy for Writing Deeper
Questions
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Take a Unistructural Question and require a list
of 3 things  Multistructural Question
Put the list of things into the question and ask
what they have in common Relational
Question
Decide what the individual relationship is
representative of – what class of event,
personality, situation, rule, etc. does this
relationship in this context connect to? Generate
list of possible wrong answers to go with correct
answer to create M-C question that asks for the
rule  Extended Abstract Question
Sample Deeper Questions:
Goldilocks & Three Bears
Multi-structural
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List 3 aspects of the story that suggest that the story is not a real life situation.
Bears don’t live in houses
2.
Bears don’t sleep in beds
3.
Bears don’t eat cooked food
Relational
1.
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What does the fact that the bears behave in a human-type fashion (e.g., they live in
houses, eat cooked food, and sleep in beds) tell us about the kind of story
Goldilocks is?
It’s a nursery tale
b)
It’s a newspaper story
c)
It’s a biography
d)
It’s an encyclopaedia entry
Extended Abstract
a)
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Why do nursery tales allow wild animals to act in human fashion?
a)
b)
c)
d)
humans anthropomorphise in order to reveal more about human nature in a
psychologically safe way
to show the oneness of nature and humanity by having wild beasts behave like humans
to entertain children who easily believe that they can communicate with imaginary and
wild creatures
to give children courage to face the mysteries and dangers of powerful nature and scary
adult life
Mathematics example
Houses
Sticks
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1
5
2 3
9 __
How many sticks are needed for 3 houses? UNI
How many sticks are there for 5 houses? ______
MULTI
If 52 houses require 209 sticks, how many sticks do
you need to be able to make 53 houses? ______
RELATIONAL
Make up a rule to count how many sticks are needed
for any number of houses.
EXTENDED ABSTRACT
Achievement Objective:
Recognise & Use Factors in a Variety of
Practical Settings
UNISTRUCTURAL  Complete (x +2)(x+2) = x2 +4x + ___
MULTISTRUCTURAL  Factorise x2 + 2x – 8.
RELATIONAL  The area of a rectangle in square centimetres is
represented by the expression x2 + 2x – 8. The length of the
rectangle is x + 4 centimetres. What is an expression for the
width of the rectangle in centimetres?
EXTENDED ABSTRACT  When the final term of a quadratic is a
negative value, what is the pattern of operations within the two
factors?
(A) both addition
subtraction
(B) both subtraction C) addition &
Changing SOLO Levels:
Technology (MES)
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Achievement
Objective:
Basic Skills in
Using Ordinary
Hand Tools in
Manufacturing.
Changing SOLO Levels:
Technology (MES)
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UNISTRUCTURAL Name Tool A. ____________
MULTISTRUCTURAL Identify the primary function
of Tools D and B. D _________ B __________
RELATIONAL Explain how Tool C could be used in
making a metal sink.
________________________________________
EXTENDED ABSTRACT What might be the best
reason for an engineer keeping hand tools for metal
work?
(a) They would make a valuable historical collection
(b) They are more powerful than electric tools
(c) They can be used when the power goes off
(d) They are less likely to break or wear out
Summary
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SOLO is a hierarchic taxonomy—increasing
quantity & quality of thought
SOLO is powerful in creating variety in the
difficulty of curriculum & cognitive challenge
SOLO level depends on assumed ‘Givens’—
the prior knowledge & tools available to
students
Both Surface & Deep questions are needed,
not one is better than the other
Contact
Earl Irving
Team Solutions
University of Auckland
623 8899 Extn 48419
e.irving@auckland.ac.nz