I dislike the pyramid because it creates the impression that there is a scarcity of creativity - only those who can traverse the bottom levels and reach the summit can be creative. And while this may be how it plays out in many schools, it's not due to any shortage of creative potential on the part of our students.
I think the narrowing pyramid also posits that our students need a lot more focus on factual knowledge than creativity, or analyzing, or evaluating and applying what they've learned. And in a Google-world, it's just not true.
Here's what I propose. In the 21st century, we flip Bloom's taxonomy. Rather than starting with knowledge, we start with creating, and eventually discern the knowledge that we need from it. Shelley Wright
""The reality is that to survive in a fast-changing world you need to be creative," says Gerard J. Puccio, chairman of the International Center for Studies in Creativity at Buffalo State College, which has the nation's oldest creative studies program, having offered courses in it since 1967.
"That is why you are seeing more attention to creativity at universities," he says. "The marketplace is demanding it."
Critical thinking has long been regarded as the essential skill for success, but it's not enough, says Dr. Puccio. Creativity moves beyond mere synthesis and evaluation and is, he says, "the higher order skill." This has not been a sudden development. Nearly 20 years ago "creating" replaced "evaluation" at the top of Bloom's Taxonomy of learning objectives. In 2010 "creativity" was the factor most crucial for success found in an I.B.M. survey of 1,500 chief executives in 33 industries."
"A new study from the Stanford Graduate School of Education flips upside down the notion that students learn best by first independently reading texts or watching online videos before coming to class to engage in hands-on projects. Studying a particular lesson, the Stanford researchers showed that when the order was reversed, students' performances improved substantially."