1. Understanding Levels of Thinking using:
SOLO TAXONOMY
(after Biggs and Collis 1982)
Jonathan Peel SGS 2012: after Lincoln College, NZ

2. Jonathan Peel SGS 2012: after Lincoln College, NZ
AD ASTRA – aiming high!
Think critically and creatively
Be prepared to take risks
Reflect on learning
Seek and use feedback
Look for connections
Communicate with each other
Learn in a variety of ways – Emotion, language, perception, reason
Don’t settle for the minimum
Solo taxonomy...
Jonathan Peel SGS 2012: after Lincoln College, NZ

3. Jonathan Peel SGS 2012: after Lincoln College, NZ
SOLO TAXONOMY
(after Biggs and Collis 1982)
WHICH ARE YOU?
Jonathan Peel SGS 2012: after Lincoln College, NZ

4. Jonathan Peel SGS 2012: after Lincoln College, NZ
Compare/contrast
Explain causes
Sequence
Classify
Analyse
Part/whole
Relate
Analogy
Apply
Formulate questions
Evaluate
Theorise
Generalise
Predict
Create
Imagine
Hypothesise
Reflect
SOLO TAXONOMY
(after Biggs and Collis 1982)
Define
Describe
List
Do algorithm
Combine
Define
Identify
Do simple procedure
Prestructural
Unistructural
Multistructural
Relational
Extended abstract
Jonathan Peel SGS 2012: after Lincoln College, NZ

5. Describing words for each type of Thinking Compare/contrast
Explain causes
Sequence
Classify
Analyse
Part/whole
Relate
Analogy
Apply
Formulate questions
Evaluate
Theorise
Generalise
Predict
Create
Imagine
Hypothesise
Reflect
SOLO TAXONOMY
(after Biggs and Collis 1982)
Define
Describe
List
Do algorithm
Combine
Define
Identify
Do simple procedure
Visual image of the type of Thinking
Type of Thinking
Prestructural
Unistructural
Multistructural
Relational
Extended abstract
Jonathan Peel SGS 2012: after Lincoln College, NZ

6. What does it mean? Really there’s not much there. For example:
What do you know about Hardy?
Err….. What??
Prestructural
Jonathan Peel SGS 2012: after Lincoln College, NZ

7. What does it mean? There’s one idea there. For example: Define
Identify
Do simple procedure
What do you know about Hardy
Err….. He’s an author?
Unistructural
Jonathan Peel SGS 2012: after Lincoln College, NZ

8. What does it mean? There are a number of ideas. For example:
He wrote books.. And poems.. He wrote Tess of the D’Urbervilles.. He’s dead?
Define
Describe
List
Do algorithm
Combine
There are a number of ideas.
For example:
What do you know about Hardy?
Jonathan Peel SGS 2012: after Lincoln College, NZ
Multistructural

9. What does it mean? Compare/contrast Explain causes Sequence Classify
Analyse
Part/whole
Relate
Analogy
Apply
Formulate questions
What does it mean?
There are a number of ideas and links are be made between these ideas
For example:
He wrote the Emma poems after the death of his wife, although they had not had a happy marriage. She had opposed his later novels which caused him to write more poetry in which he explores love and missed opportunities.
What do you know about Hardy?
Jonathan Peel SGS 2012: after Lincoln College, NZ
Relational

10. What does it mean? Evaluate Theorise Generalise Predict Create Imagine
Extended abstract
Evaluate
Theorise
Generalise
Predict
Create
Imagine
Hypothesise
Reflect
What does it mean?
There is a range of ideas which are linked together plus some knew or extended thinking is added.
For example:
The Emma poems could be said to follow the psychology of grief, suggesting the Hardy really did love Emma. Certainly, his inability to name her in the poems and his reliance on euphemisms for death suggest that he struggled...
What do you know about Hardy?
...to come to terms with her death. It is not unusual for artists to respond to grief or struggle with some of their strongest work. An example form a different field is Shostakovich...
Jonathan Peel SGS 2012: after Lincoln College, NZ

11. Why is Mr Peel Telling me this? (Two Reasons)
It’s incredibly interesting
It parallels most exam marking perfectly and thus, thinking about levels of thinking (metacognition) puts us in a more likely position to achieve at higher levels- though my Shostakovich digression may not be strictly relevant to the average A level essay..
Jonathan Peel SGS 2012: after Lincoln College, NZ

12. So How do they match up? Multistructural SOLO TAXONOMY
Unistructural
Multistructural
Relational
Extended abstract
Define
Identify
Do simple procedure
Describe
List
Do algorithm
Combine
Compare/contrast
Explain causes
Sequence
Classify
Analyse
Part/whole
Relate
Analogy
Apply
Formulate questions
Evaluate
Theorise
Generalise
Predict
Create
Imagine
Hypothesise
Reflect
SOLO TAXONOMY
(after Biggs and Collis 1982)
Prestructural
Achieved with Merit
Achieved with Excellence
Not Achieved
Achieved
Jonathan Peel SGS 2012: after Lincoln College, NZ

13. What can I (that’s you) do?
Be aware of the links between high grades and an ability to link and to engage with debate in your responses
Consciously seek to produce the extended abstract in your responses.
Always seek to hit the relational level in formal writing in all subjects.
Jonathan Peel SGS 2012: after Lincoln College, NZ