This week we learned all about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as well as Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning Domains, and I couldn’t have been more excited! This lesson parleys directly into my major and I already had a lot of background knowledge about the topics, which made it easier to read and understand. However, I did find that Maslow’s theory was the simpler of the two concepts, whereas Bloom’s theory took me a couple of reads to figure out.
For those who don’t know, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is basically a theory on the perfect human existence. It personifies the need of each individual in order to feel secure in themselves and their surroundings. The first tier is Physical Needs such as food, water, air, and shelter, the basics. Then as we move up the pyramid, we get to Safety, which can translate to employment, personal security, health, and resources in general. The next tier in Maslow’s hierarchy is Love and Belonging, which is where most people tend to get stuck for a bit, especially in college. As a transfer, sophomore, in college, whose moved four times in the past three years, I can safely say that this zone is probably one of the hardest to find/accept. But, finding clubs that I enjoy, making new friends, and getting out in general helps me as well as others find that sense of belonging. After belonging, comes esteem, another tier people easily get lost in. Esteem is about respect, status, self-esteem, freedom, and most other concepts along those lines. Again, as a college student, it’s easy to doubt yourself in multiple aspects of your life. My suggestion is, if you’re feeling down on yourself, make a list of everything you love about yourself, and that you’re proud of. Keep that list handy, and whenever you down, look at the list to remind yourself what an amazing person you are. The final tier in Maslow’s Hierarchy is Self-Actualization. This tier as all about being the best you that you can be. It’s the motivation to keep improving yourself, and the drive to keep moving forward in every aspect of your life.
While Maslow’s theory is more about life in general, Bloom’s theory is more education based. While the original theory was ordered, Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation, it has since been reformulated to Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating, and Creating. In my opinion, the new domain more properly illustrated the original function of the theory which was to go further than simply memorization of information. The process of taking the information and applying it to everyday life is, in my opinion, a more valuable skill than memorizing, regurgitating and forgetting the information. Bloom’s theory also explains the three domains of learning which are Cognitive, Affective, and Psychomotor. The Cognitive domain focuses on mental skill, the Affective domain focuses on growth of emotion and feeling, and the Psychomotor domain focuses on manual or physical skills. All of these skills combine allow a person to grow to their fullest both academically, and non-academically.
Maslow’s and Bloom’s theories both complement each other in that both theories want to help individuals (in this case students) to have their best life possible. It is my personal opinion that you cannot have one without the other, as each explains a different aspect of life. Without both Bloom and Maslow, education would not be where it is today.
Academic Angeleigh! 