An Analysis of Learning Outcomes in Information Technologies and Software Curriculum based on Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze the learning outcomes within the Information Technologies and Software curriculum of middle schools in Turkey on the basis of the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy. The study was conducted through document analysis being a method of qualitative research. In the study, a total of 152 learning outcomes - 75 from the fifth grade and 77 from the sixth grade - were examined based on the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy which is depicted as a two-dimensional categorization representing the knowledge and the cognitive process. The data were analyzed using descriptive analysis method. The general results of the analyzes indicated that the learning outcomes examined in this study were usually related to the procedural knowledge category of the knowledge dimension and the understand and apply categories of the cognitive process dimension. When the analyses done within the knowledge dimension were compared with respect to the grade level, it was recorded that the fifth-grade learning outcomes placed more emphasis on the factual knowledge category than the sixth-grade learning outcomes did. On the other hand, the metacognitive knowledge category received more emphasis from the sixth-grade learning outcomes than those of the fifth grade. It was also seen that the emphasis placed on the conceptual and procedural knowledge categories did not differ by the grade level. When the analyses done within the cognitive process dimension were compared with respect to the grade level, it was discovered that the higher the grade level was, the more emphasis was placed on the evaluate category while the less emphasis was placed on the remember category. However, there were no differences in the understand, apply, analyze, and create categories by the grade level.