Theories

Bloom's Taxonomy Theory: Cognitive Domain (1956)
     The cognitive domain of Bloom's (1956) Taxonomy Theory involves a series of levels, in which a student's cognitive abilities can improve as they progress through them, working their way from the bottom to the top. As teachers, this theory is of importance to us, as it is informative of the extent to which we can assist our student's in improving their cognitive abilities through the activities and work we provide them. 

Dwyer's Learning Theory (1996)
     Dwyer's (1996) Learning Theory discusses the connection between the degree to which a student can remember information and the form of interaction they have with the material. It states that students remember:

• 20% of what they hear
• 30% of what they see
• 50% of what they read or write
• 70% of what they discuss
• 80% of what they do or experience
• 90% of what they teach to others

Therefore, as teachers, it is important for us to pay attention to the ways in which we are teaching and expecting our students to learn, as they may not be retaining all of the information we wish they would due to the way in which they are learning. 


Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (1954)
     Maslow's (1954) Hierarchy of needs discusses the needs that people wish to meet in their daily lives, with the most important and basic needs being the one's needed to be met first, followed by the next need as they progress up the pyramid. As teachers, it is important for us to remember that these are needs that our students are slowly trying to meet as well, and that there are ways in which we can assist them along the way. 

Multimodal Theory (Kress, 2010)
     Kress' (2010) Multimodal Theory discusses the ways in which people may create things based on their situated context. For instance, in groups some students may want to design a project, produce it, and then negotiate with their group whether or not their product is the best it can be before they disseminate it. While another group may choose to negotiate their project before producing it, depending on the context in which they are working. 

Multiple Intelligences Theory (Gardner, 1991)
     Gardner's (1991) Multiple Intelligences Theory discusses the different intelligences people may possess and the strengths in ability they may have because of these intelligences. The intelligences within the theory include: 

Intrapersonal:

• Ability to reflect (Language Arts)
• Analyzing self
• Evaluating thinking
• Awareness of body (Physical Education)

Interpersonal:

• Ability to relate to & understand others
• Encourage cooperation
• See various perspectives
• Peaceful conflict solution
• Empathy
  • understand the feelings of characters (Language Arts)
• Peer pressure, personal safety (Physical Education)

Bodily Kinesthetic:

• Express self through movement
• Aware of space around them
• Express emotions through body
• Movement (Drama)
• Experiment (Science)
• Use manipulatives (Math)

Musical/Rhythmic:

• Ability to produce & appreciate music
• Sensitive to sounds
• Patterns (Math)
• Flow of conversation (French)

Mathematical/Logical:

• Ability to reason & figure out logic
• Problem-solving
• Classifying/categorizing information
• Logical and conceptual thinking (Math)
• Controlled experiments (Science)

Naturalist

• Biology (Science)
• Outdoor activities (Physical Education)

Visual

• Think in pictures
• Need to create mental images
• Visualize equations (Math)
• Maps (Geography)

Linguistic:

• Use words & language
• Think in words rather than pictures
• Speeches, reading, writing, etc. (Language Arts)
• Scene building (Drama)

As teachers, this theory is of importance to us, as our classroom may be filled with students with many different types of intelligence to which we should attempt to cater our lessons to. In doing so, we will hopefully be providing the best opportunity for all of our students to succeed to the best of their ability.