Bloom's Taxonomy is a hierarchical model used to classify the Educational Learning Objectives. It is an important theory considered while planning the curriculum. It covers three domains – Cognitive, Affective and Psychomotor Domains. Each of these domains have their hierarchies that defines the stages one passes through while learning something.

In this article, I am going to talk about the Cognitive Domain and how games play a role in each of the levels of Cognitive Domain, and how is Game Therapy used to empower one’s learning.

The Cognitive domain has six hierarchical levels. Let us understand each level, and what kind of games can be useful to stimulate them. The first level is to ‘Remember’, which is given the highest importance in our current education system. Most of the examinations require this level to be achieved. Thus, for academic success, the first step it to have a good working memory.

Most of us have a good long-term memory, but working memory is different than long term memory. There is a big range of games that can enhance our working memory. However, I would talk about my top 5 favourite games that I feel are really effective in improving the memory skills.

Brain Cache, a Card Game: (For all ages (above 7), including senior citizens) Launched towards the end of November 2019, designed by a creative bunch of people including a Neuro-Scientist, this game includes many scientific elements to make it effective to aid the memory function of the brain. Brain Cache is a fun card game that can be played Solo or 2 to 11 players. It has memory cards to be memorised fast and effectively, followed by Question Cards that test the memory. You need finish all your cards first to win the game.

Face Tag, a Board Game: (For all ages above 8 years) Face Tag is a 2 to 4 players board game play that involves one to remember faces, their names and cities that you assign to them for that board. The better your memory and recall, the faster you can pass thru’ the board and win the Game. It’s again a new launch in 2020, designed by an innovative person, and a game of my Like.

Jigsaw Puzzles: Though many people do not realise, or directly relate a jigsaw puzzle to memory, I can assure that the working memory is highly exercised in solving bigger Jigsaw puzzles. Being an absolute lover of Jigsaw puzzles and having solved multiple 500 and 1000 pieces puzzles, I have experienced the need to use visual memory, visual observation and recall skills, and highly recommend playing of Jigsaw puzzles to children as well as children.

In my first article, I talked about the first level of the Cognitive Domain and also mentioned my top 5 favourite games to boost the Memory and Recall. Continuing with the second level, it is all about 'understanding' & 'comprehension'.

Once we receive some information, we should be able to comprehend or understand it. This means we must be able to fit it in various context, or able to relate to it with regards to different situations or concepts. It also means that if we understand, we should be able to explain it to others.

Simply memorizing content doesn’t help, comprehending is equally important and thus we have the application-based questions in our examinations. We can start training children early to develop these skills. There are games that help build these skills in usin various ways, and many games can be played at any age. Also, these skills can be developed or boosted at any age.

Usually any games that involve following a set of instructions, or require one to make connections are the most effective in developing comprehending skills. Let us see some such games. Some of the games that I am about to mention are also used in our Corporate or B-Schools sessions.

Logika: (a single player tabletop game) Logika is a game of logical deduction, that also works on improving the Reading Comprehension. It has 100 challenges to be solved and can be played by anyone adult, or child above 7 years of age. This game would also fall in the upper levels that require Higher Order Thinking Skills.

Guessing Junior/Senior: (Party Game) Guessing Junior or Senior are both excellent group games that help one build connections and think fast to be able to explain the terms given on the cards for their team to guess it. These are Indian versions of the well-known game Taboo.

Why Connect: (Card-laying Board Game) Why Connect is a beautiful 2 to 4 player card laying game where you need to create associations or connect the pictures with your own understanding, This game also overlaps with a higher level skill of this hierarchy of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Though the game board mentions the age 6 to 12 years, I would equally recommend it for adults too.

What’s Yours Like: (Party Game) This game involves the players to come up with clever, witty and outrageous clues. The players need to describe the word as per the card drawn; descriptions have to be truthful, yet clever so the person in the hot seat doesn’t get an easy guess. This game can become super fun and hilarious.

Sort In the Box: (A knowledge classification game for preschoolers) To begin early, this is a game that develops the comprehending ability in the kindergartners. It is a sorting activity where kids need to drop the appropriate ones from mixed-up tiles in to the sorting box.

Bloom’s Taxonomy Level 1 and 2 are about developing the Lower Order Thinking Skills (LOTS), and thereafter levels 3 to 6 are about developing the Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS). Usually all kids easily acquire LOTS through school education, but different kids may be at different levels of HOTS depending on the environment and exposure they have received. To develop these HOT skills, one needs to be exposed to various application-based processes.

Games naturally provide the application aspect and that too in a safe environment, depending on the selection of the games. We find hundreds of games that exercise one’s different types of Thinking abilities.

The third level of Bloom’s Taxonomy is about developing the sense to ‘Apply’. This means one's ability to apply the acquired knowledge in real life, to be able to use one’s knowledge in real life situation. We would be coming across various such situations in daily life where we can see our ability to apply the acquired knowledge. For example, learning numerical operations and applying it when shopping the groceries, learning new vocabulary and applying in our daily life, learning about Science phenomena and apply it in situations in our life.

I can immediately think of the movie ‘3 idiots’ where the lead character Rancho is an extra-ordinary student and shown to apply the basics of Science to his daily life.

For an easy connect of games to the academic success that requires this level of thinking, I shall put all DIY type of games under this category. We find games on Science Experiments, or creating Robotic devices, solar devices, or Mathematical board games that require hands-on activity, and thus ‘Apply’ the knowledge.
Here are some of the many games.

Nature Science: A Game kit to provides with material to do various experiments out in the nature and apply the book knowledge in real life.

Magic Tricks: Magic Tricks are best example to show the application of Physics or Chemistry or Mathematics in our life. Various tricks allow one to apply different knowledge or combination of subjects to facilitate the tricks.

Mystic Arts: A card game from Luma World that I really enjoyed playing, which requires one to apply the parameters of measurement while playing the game. Though it is a team game and doesn’t really talk of the theory of Measurements, yet the Game Play automatically makes you convert & calculate the measurements of Volume, Mass and Distance.

Galaxy Riders: Galaxy Riders is a board game that beautifully makes you apply the numerical operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. It is a game that can be played by children above 8 years of age, but equally fun for adults. Along with the speedy application of numerical operations, this game also requires strategic calculations to be able to acquire the planets.

The ability to ‘Analyse’ reserves its place on the fourth level, starting the higher half of the Cognitive domain of the Bloom’s Taxonomy. This basically refers to one's ability to think deeper into things already known; to be able to relate and compare. This happens only when your understanding on a topic is real and deep enough.

Analysis is an important life skill to be able to face real life situations. Most children achieve this stage in school education, though not all. The next two levels are not achieved by many kids in our School Educational system.

When you face a situation, and you are able to come to a Logical Deduction on what to do and what not to do, you are able to compare various options, you are able to analyze the situation and take a decision, that's when you are said to arrive at this stage. Being able to associate various things, concepts or experiences is the key element.

Once a child reaches this level, he / she is able to categorise things, compare and contrast between two different things, able to distinguish, infer or illustrate things.

One favourite game of mine that I can immediately relate to is Codenames. I shall list down a few more, and some games may overlap with some games listed in previous levels too.

Games that help develop this level of Bloom’s Taxonomy

Codenames: Codenames was once entitled the Number 1 party game, and having played this game, I can vouch for it. It is a super fun game, and more of a group game. It is about the ability to associate different words under matching categories, and give hints for the team members to be able to guess the words chosen.

Pictionary: An age-old classic game, Pictionary is about drawing the clues for the team to recognize the clue word. It is a nice family game or a group game. This game requires and develops the ability of being able to infer or associate and project through a drawing that others can connect with.

Dixit: Dixit, a well-known board game with excellent art-work story cards. Each card tells some story. The game play is about associating one of your cards to a given theme or story, and then voting for the cards on display. The more people that can associate a card to the given theme, the higher the chance of winning for the card owner.

Last Letter: (A fun and creative Card Game) A card game by the Think Fun company which requires one to think creatively and associate the picture cards to a situation or a story. From a variety of colourful picture cards, we need to think of a name that begins with the last letter of the previous card. This truly exercises our mind, and strengthens our ability of association and analysis.

The levels on the top of the hierarchy of Cognitive Domain of Bloom’s Taxonomy are about Evaluation and Creation.

Talking about each level, the fifth level of Evaluation defines the ability to look through the facts, analyze them and judge or opine about something or a situation.

To be able to Evaluate, one needs to have a strong foundation of all the levels below. Most often, our system has conditioned the children to NOT question and ONLY follow, which kills their curiosity and thus the ability to argue, oppose or think beyond. We are often so conditioned to ACCEPT things as they are, that we lose (or NOT develop) the ability to Evaluate / Reflect.

Amongst the children that I meet and interact with, mostly I see their ability to reflect and review is very low. So, at Khel Khel Mein, one of our most important ritual is the Review Circle - to reflect on all that we learnt or experienced. Initially very few kids are able to reflect and give their feedback, but over the time, sooner or later, most develop this ability. They are allowed to say whatever they feel, and are not judged whatsoever.

Usually this level is not about a game, but more about the process followed by the facilitator. But one can play games that involve debating or negotiation to improve this ability.

And finally, the skill that sits at the top level of the pyramid is to Create. This refers to one's ability to design or formulate something original on one's own. This requires one to achieve all the previous levels. In order to create something, one has to get a deep understanding, must have the ability to apply the knowledge, and should be able to analyze and evaluate what went wrong and what worked.

Most of the times, last two levels are NOT achieved by many kids for academic subjects; yet there are children at this level in their specific fields of interest. For example, when one is deeply interested in a field of sports or art or music or technology etc., then one goes deep enough to achieve all these 6 levels in that particular field.

Having visited multiple schools pan India from the rural most to the most elite ones, I believe there is a very low percentage overall of children who are able to function on the top two levels during the school days. Rather more tribal or rural kids often can operate from this level, NOT through school education, but owing to the survival needs of their location. They are nearly independent from very young age to create things, and meet their daily needs of life.

In urban and metro cities, very few schools have innovative and appropriate methods to allow the children to blossom to these two levels. These levels are NOT about the topic or tool like a game, but about the process, the way one conducts the games or any teaching-learning process.