Inquiry Criteria

1. Knowledge
I can recognise what culture means.
I can recognise the effect of culture on myself/people.
I can describe what cultures are.
I can recall facts/experiences about my culture.

2. Understanding
I can look at facts and paraphrase or summarise them.
I can give examples to back up my points.
I can explain what I mean.

3. Application
I can apply a theory to something practical.
I can plan my inquiry.
I can collect data and do research.
I can make predictions about the outcome.

4. Analysis
I can separate contents to work out what things mean.
I can compare data to form a conclusion.
I can combine/organize information to form a conclusion.
I can select relevant information.
I can distinguish between facts and opinions.
I can analyze how my understanding has changed.

5. Synthesis
I can decide on the best and most interesting way to present my findings to show understanding, analysis,etc.
I can make predictions.
I can be original and creative in my presentation.

6. Evaluation
What have I learned from this experience?
What did I/we do well?
What could be improved on?
What are my targets for next time?
What data was most reliable/valuable?
How effective are my conclusions?


Bloom’s Cognitive Taxonomy
1. Factual Knowledge
Learning facts is the simplest educational goal. Knowledge is defined as memory of the content learned before. This memory can relate to a wide range of content: from memorising the terminology, through remembering specific facts, all the way to remembering a complex theory. All that you need to achieve on this level is to remember a certain fact. This does not necessarily include understanding. Some words which indicate knowledge are remember, recall, describe, and recognize.
2. Understanding
Understanding is defined as an ability to reflect on the meaning of the acquired facts. This can be demonstrated by interpreting the facts that were learned or summarizing them. This educational goal is higher than the previous, and represents the lowest level of understanding. For example, for this level the student has to be able to interpret paintings, maps, charts and tables, transfer verbal problems into formulae, give examples that demonstrate a theory or idea, interpret or paraphrase something.
3. Application
Application refers to ability to use the rules, laws, methods or theories in new concrete situations. For example, on you should be able to solve a mathematical problem, create a graph or a curve and demonstrate appropriate use of a method or procedure. You might also predict the effects or consequences of a situation or series of interacting variables.
4. Analysis
On the analytical level a student has to be able to separate content into its components and understand its organic structure. When doing that a student has to be able to determine the composing parts and the relations between them, as well as organic principles. This educational goal is higher than the levels of understanding and application, since it requires joint understanding of the content and of the organizational structure of the material. For example, on this level you might be able to compare, argue against, recognize unspoken assumptions, make a distinction between the facts and conclusions, as well as of causes from effects, determine the relevance of data or analyze the organization or structure of a piece of art (e.g. music or literary work).
5. Synthesis
To synthesize means to create a new whole from individual parts. In this case the educational goal points out creative behaviour with emphasis on formulating new patterns or structures. Examples of educational goals on the synthetic level are: ability to combine, make a hypothesis, plan, reorganize, write a well organized paper, make a well organized speech (lecture), write a creative story (poem, song) or propose an experiment plan.
6. Evaluate
Evaluation is ability to make a meaningful judgement of the value of a certain material (poem, novel, speech, research report or a project). Evaluations must be based on precisely defined criteria. Educational goals of this area are the highest on the scale because they contain the elements of all the previous levels, as well as the ability to evaluate based on strictly defined criteria. Examples of educational goals on this level are: evaluating the adequacy of conclusions from the given data, evaluating the value of a piece of art (music or literary work) by using external standards of excellence, evaluate the logical consistency of written material or a lecture.



Each entry in your journal should include the following:

1. Description of what happened at the mentor meeting (if you had one that day)

2. Record goals/objectives for the upcoming week

3. Any idea/action carried out

4. Reflection on what you have done this week

Use the following as a guide for writing your reflections:

- What did you do?

- What did you think?

- What didn't you do?... and what could or should you have done?

- What decisions did you make as a group?

- What did yo decide to change and what are the reasons for making the change?

- Were there any problems? How did you deal with them? What did you learn about yourself? Which skills did you use well? (communication, social, thinking, research, self management?)

- What made you happy, annoyed, frustrated, angry, nervous disappointed, proud...?

- Where are you going next?

Adapted from sample supplied by International School of Geneva, Campus des nations - Pregny, Switzerland