Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy and Biblical Worldview

Critical thinking and biblical worldview formation are two concepts that are foundational to all of our materials. But how do those two ideas relate? Can you teach students how to formulate a worldview without critical thinking? We believe that both of these ideas are not only necessary but also inseparable. Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy is a great resource for seeing the relationship between critical thinking and biblical worldview shaping and for measuring the impact of these concepts in your classroom. Reaching all the levels of Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy can ensure that your students grow academically and understand a biblical worldview.

Establish the Right Foundations

The first three skills provide a necessary foundational knowledge of a biblical worldview. In order to practice critical thinking, there has to be existing knowledge. Before students can think critically to solve word problems in math, they have to know that 2+2=4. The same is true in teaching a biblical worldview. Before students can interpret the world through the lens of Scripture, they must have knowledge of what the Bible says. Students practice recalling, understanding, and applying Bible truths before they can effectively participate in the higher-order thinking skills.

Recall

Students must recall previously learned information about the Bible. In every subject there are certain concepts that are considered foundational and must be memorized. This concept is even more important when it comes to a biblical worldview. A biblical worldview will impact every subject. For students to be able to properly formulate a biblical worldview, students need a foundational knowledge of what the Bible says before they can interact with more complex ideas. This step often involves memorization. In a lesson about obedience, you can have students memorize a verse, like Ephesians 6:1 “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.” Assessment at this level is simple. Testing students by having them write or recite the verse or fill in the blanks will reveal whether they remember it.

Understand

Memorization alone does not guarantee understanding; students can recite a verse or a list of facts about the Bible without understanding what they mean. When students understand something, they are able to restate, summarize, or express the idea in their own words. Students must be able to connect meaning to their understanding of the Bible. In the lesson about obedience mentioned above, after the students memorize the verse the teacher should ask what the verse means. In order for students to demonstrate that they understand the verse, they should explain what obedience is and whom they should obey according to the verse.

Apply

Teachers should help students implement their knowledge about the Bible into their daily interactions. In an English class, students learn to apply grammar concepts to writing. But application of a biblical worldview happens in every class. When students understand the biblical concept of obedience, they can apply that understanding as they study social studies, literature, or math. For example, application could be identifying that a disobedient character in a literature story is acting against God’s commands, or following the teacher’s instructions for the homework assignment.

Develop Thinking for Worldview Shaping

The processes of remembering, understanding, and applying are important for the foundation of a biblical worldview. But these skills only result in knowledge and not changed thinking. The higher three skills from Bloom’s Taxonomy require students to use critical thinking to form a biblical worldview out of their foundational knowledge. These skills require students to use their knowledge to make something productive. When students mature, their biggest questions will not be about what the Bible says but why they should believe what the Bible says. Critical-thinking skills equip students to answer the hard questions about the Bible. Ultimately, in order for students to develop a biblical worldview, they must allow the Holy Spirit to shape their minds through the Bible.

Analyze

The first of these higher-order skills is analyzing. Students must investigate and research for themselves to analyze their worldview. In order to fully engage with this level, students must be active participants. When the answers are not given to them, they must use their own thinking to reach conclusions. In this lesson on obedience, students could analyze by investigating all the Bible verses on obedience or by studying the lives of obedient or disobedient characters. As they look up different passages of Scripture, they will start to ask questions. Who does God say to obey? What does real obedience look like? Is there a hierarchy of people to obey? Are there any exceptions to the command to obey? Did Jesus have to obey? Students will go from just knowing that God says to obey to being able to construct the themes and nuances of obedience throughout Scripture.

Evaluate

Once students have analyzed the nuances of an idea, they need to evaluate it. Evaluating requires students to make judgments about the value of something. Students already know how to make judgments, and it is important for Christian students to hone their ability to judge from a biblical perspective. Students should learn to judge and test worldviews by the standard of Scripture. In the lesson on obedience, students could practice this skill by evaluating why they should care that God tells them to obey. This argument could include the advantages of doing things God’s way and the disadvantages of disobedience. Students should examine the Bible, but they must understand that God’s Word is the standard for examining humans’ ideas not the other way around.

Create

Students must create new ideas and arguments by synthesizing information from each of the lower levels. When students are able to design and formulate new ideas, products, and arguments, based off previous information, they are moving towards mastery of a concept. This is necessary in biblical worldview formation. Students must be able to take their understanding of truth and apply it to every area of study. They should integrate the Bible into each area of their lives. With the example of studying obedience, the students could write a paper on how the biblical teaching of obedience has implications for them in relation to their teachers, to the government, or to God’s Word. Students could make a proposal for how governments are responsible to obey God. Or they could create a defense for obedience against a worldview of living for self.

This process of incorporating a biblical worldview must happen in every subject and at every grade level. For example, science teachers should have students evaluate the theory of evolution against the Bible’s Creation account, and social studies teachers should have students defend the value of being a good Christian citizen. Since God is the ultimate standard for truth, incorporating a biblical worldview strengthens the quality and value of any subject. Elementary teachers may be tempted to stick to the lower three steps when it comes to biblical worldview shaping, but even young students can learn to analyze, evaluate, and create with a biblical worldview. Students encounter many ideologies fighting for their attention every day, so it is vital to present God’s Word as truth throughout their education. It is only through a biblical worldview that students will be able to discover and apply truth.

Posted September 21, 2020.