"Knowledge is Power"
These 3 words have make me believe that Pharmacist in Pakistan can achieve their identity and respect by simply becoming competent.In Pakistan,most of the people don't consider teaching as science. There are a lot teaching and training methodologies and models to achieve intended learning outcomes one of them is Bloom's Taxonomy which addresses classification of intended learning outcomes.This article is one of the tiny efforts to provide solution to produce competent Pharmacist from our institutions.
Gaining knowledge is a science. Psychologist has worked on this subject extensively. Epistemology is the term related to the type of knowledge,methods of gaining knowledge and extent of knowledge.
In 1956, A committee of educators had a meeting to improve communication between educators from the world on the design of circular and examination. This committee was chaired by Benjamin Bloom that's why it is called Bloom's Taxonomy while taxonomy means "set of classification principles".Educators from the world decides that they will set learning objectives for students to achieve at the end to every topic,course,session etc and this will also help them in evaluating students.This is why you will find a set of questions at the end of topic in many books. As I am a Pharmacist one of the relevant example is "Katzung and Trevor's Pharmacology Examination and Board Review", you'll find a checklist of learning objectives at the end of every topic. If you haven't noticed it yet do it now.
Blooms Taxonomy is divided into Three domains i.e.
Cognitive i.e Intellectual ability or thinking like knowledge of a particular topic or subject
Psycho motor: i.e doing things manually or physical skills like surgery, counselling patients etc
Affective i.e emotion and attitude like participating in group discussion or being enthusiastic for action
I am going to discuss the cognitive domain of blooms taxonomy and its application in Pakistan's Institutions.Cognitive Domain is divided into Six Levels and its a hierarchy from the lowest to the highest are as follows.
Level 1: Remembering : it is simply recalling knowledge like You know Penicillin was discovered by Alexander Fleming.
Level 2: Understanding : Its about understanding or comprehending knowledge like You know Ampicillin is a Cell Wall Inhibitor and understanding that it inhibits cell wall to kill bacteria.
Level 3: Applying : Its about applying what you understand through knowledge like As You know Ampicillin is a cell wall inhibitor, you will never administer it to kill a bacteria that does not have a cell wall i.e. mycoplasma
Level 4: Analyzing : Its about breaking a concept into its parts or understanding interrelationships of different concepts like analyzing an interrelationship between a formulation of a extended release tablet and its bioavailibility
Level 5 : Evaluating : it can be simplified as you have a problem and you have two or more solutions , so evaluation its about choosing the best solution like you have many different guidelines for vancomycin dosing but with your knowledge and expertise on topic you choose the one that fits for your population.
Level 6: Creating : its like putting parts together to create whole new knowledge or its simply about creating knowledge like calculating Pharmacokinetic Parameters of Vancomycin in a new Population
This was cognitive domain of blooms taxonomy and This is like a ladder you can't jump from Level 2 to Level 5. You have to take your learners from all this level step-by-step. I want educators from Pakistan's Pharmacy institutions to decide at the beginning of the course that on which level you want your learner to be at the end of a course , semester , session etc .I want them to write their learning objectives at the very beginning of their learning sessions and evaluate their learners accordingly. There are a lot of material on the internet and books on "How to write learning objectives using blooms taxonomy".
and Finally following are the learning objectives for this article
* Describe Three domains of Blooms Taxonomy
* Classify Six Levels of Cognitive Domain
Follow RPh - Rangeela Pharmasust On Facebook Like This Page
https://www.facebook.com/rangeela.pharmasust?ref=hl
