Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is a theory that describes a specific path to an individual’s self-actualization. The hierarchy consists of five tiers that serve as building blocks to the highest tier, which is the desire to become the most an individual can be. The first four tiers are considered deficiency needs, which are necessary for one to obtain before they can achieve the fifth stage of the hierarchy. Starting with the first and most basic step are one’s physiological needs: water, food, shelter, etc. The next building block that can be obtained when physiological needs are satisfied is safety needs; which consists of health, financial and personal security, ownership of valuables, etc. Continuing up the hierarchy, the third tier is composed of love and belongingness, i.e. intimacy, friendship, and personal connections. The fourth tier is the last of the deficiency needs, including the need for esteem, respect, and freedom. The final stage of the hierarchy is considered a growth need, which is where motivation boosted and needed to obtain self-actualization. Although the model is set up in a way that would convey unidirectional progress, Maslow claims that an individual will fluctuate between stages in their lifetime in a multidirectional progression; these can be due to events that can set an individual back or move them forward without obtaining one need before the other. Another claim Maslow made was that not all individuals can or will obtain self-actualization in their lifetime, with only a two percent probability that the hierarchy can be achieved.
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning Domains describes an individual’s development into higher levels of thinking and problem solving. Just as Maslow’s Hierarchy, the Taxonomy is arranged into a hierarchy, with specific tiers needed to be accomplished in order to advance onto higher ones. Because of this, the hierarchy is different from Maslow’s, as an individual needs to move in unidirectional progress to fulfill higher levels of thinking. The tiers go in order from easiest to hardest, beginning with remembering, understanding, and applying, eventually developing into analyzing, evaluating, and creating. These steps are a part of one of the three domains of learning that were outlined by Bloom and specialists. The three domains are: Cognitive (knowledge), Psychomotor (skills), and Affective (attitude). The cognitive domain contains the hierarchy of six learning developments to higher levels of thinking. The first tier is remembering, where one is able to recall previously learned knowledge. Second, the following tier is understanding the remembered information and being able to comprehend the new knowledge. After comprehending the information, one is able to apply the knowledge to real-world situations. Continuing on to more difficult tiers, analyzing information and being able to distinguish various components of the knowledge is the fourth tier. The fifth tier consists of making judgements on the information, whereas the sixth tier is taking information and creating new meaning with the information.
Wiggins & McTighe Backward Design
The Backward Design for curricula was created by Wiggins and McTighe to encourage growth in understanding knowledge by beginning with the end; it suggests a redesigned sequence for teaching curriculum. Beginning with the first stage, the desired results are meant to be laid out and elaborated on to gain an understanding of what and – most importantly – why students need to learn the subject. In doing so, it alleviates any confusion as to why the student is learning it and how it relates to the standards given by local and state governments. The next step in effectively quantifying how the students have learned the material is to ensure they understand and are proficient in. Continuing, the third stage is planning activities and instruction to help encourage understanding and proficiency. The second and third stages would most likely require Bloom’s Taxonomy to be able to plan and execute the assessments in an effective way, so that the student does not just learn the material to perform well on testing of knowing the information. By taking into account Bloom’s Taxonomy, educators and instructors would be able to successfully convey and teach information to students in a way that develops acquisition of knowledge to higher levels of learning; in doing so, the students would be able to evaluate situations and create new ways of thinking to be open to different perspectives.
“LEARNING IS NOT ATTAINED BY CHANCE, IT MUST BE SOUGHT FOR WITH ARDOR AND ATTENDED TO WITH DILIGENCE.”
ABIGAIL ADAMS
“ANY FOOL CAN KNOW. THE POINT IS TO UNDERSTAND.”
ALBERT EINSTEIN
“ANYONE WHO STOPS LEARNING IS OLD, WHETHER AT TWENTY OR EIGHTY.”
HENRY FORD
EME2040.796S20 