@zareen said in ENG520 Assignment 1 Solution and Discussion:
Q2. SOLO Taxonomy is a systematic way of describing how a learner’s understanding develops from simple to complex when learning different subjects or tasks. Bloom’s Taxonomy is a set of three hierarchical models used to classify educational learning objectives into levels of complexity and specificity. Keeping this in mind, write down any five differences between SOLO Taxonomy and Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Advantages of the SOLO model for evaluation of student learning
There are several advantages of the SOLO model over the Bloom taxonomy in the evaluation of student learning. These advantages concern not only item construction and scoring, but incorporate features of the process of evaluation that pay attention to how students learn, and how teachers devise instructional procedures to help students use progressively more complex cognitive processes. Unlike the Bloom taxonomy, which tends to be used more by teachers than by students, the SOLO can be taught to students such that they can learn to write progressively more difficult answers or prompts. There is a closer parallel to how teachers teach and how students learn. Both teachers and students often progress from more surface to deeper constructs and this is mirrored in the four levels of the SOLO taxonomy. There is no necessary progression in the manner of teaching or learning in the Bloom taxonomy. The levels can be interpreted relative to the proficiency of the students. Six year old students can be taught to derive general principles and suggest hypotheses, though obviously to a different level of abstraction and detail than their older peers. Using the SOLO method, it is relatively easy to construct items to assess such abstractions. The SOLO taxonomy not only suggests an item writing methodology, but the same taxonomy can be used to score the items. The marker assesses each response to establish either the number of ideas (one = unistructural; _ two = multistructural), or the degree of interrelatedness (directly related or abstracted to more general principles). This can lead to more dependability of scoring. Unlike the experience of some with the Bloom taxonomy it is relatively easy to identify and categorise the SOLO levels. Similarly, teachers could be encouraged to use the ‘plus one’ principle when choosing appropriate learning material for students. That is, the teacher can aim to move the student one level higher in the taxonomy by appropriate choice of learning material and instructional sequencing.