Levels of Learning: Growing in God’s Truth

The Bible presents a plan for mankind, a process of salvation and a guide for day-to-day life. Obviously, this is a lot for the human mind to process and digest, but understanding how our minds learn may provide some insight as we strive to grow.

Educators have long been fascinated by how the human mind thinks and learns. One of the most famous ways of categorizing how we think is called Bloom’s Taxonomy. In the mid-1950s, Benjamin Bloom and other educational psychologists developed this classification system for the cognitive domain. Here’s how he ranked his six levels of critical thinking, from lowest to highest:

• Knowledge.
• Comprehension.
• Application.
• Analysis.
• Synthesis.
• Evaluation.

Growing in the most important knowledge

There are levels of learning about God too. It is evident from Scripture that Christians are expected to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ (2 Peter 3:18). Also, Hebrews 5:12-13 tells: “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.”

In other words, we are expected to continually grow in understanding of God’s Word, and not just stay where we are in our learning.

The levels presented in Bloom’s Taxonomy can give us an interesting parallel to our own progression in learning God’s truth. The most important thing to remember throughout our learning, however, is that God is there to help and guide us.

Knowledge: Familiarity with the Bible

According to Bloom, the lowest/easiest level of the cognitive domain is knowledge, or basic recall of facts or concepts from memory. This would refer to the ability to answer wh- questions (who, what, where, when, why, how) about the Bible. Imagine how we would do on “Bible Jeopardy,” and we may get a feel for how we are doing on this level. Would we win or lose the game?

Comprehension: Making sense of Scripture

This level refers to demonstrating understanding of the knowledge learned. God’s Word is full of complex ideas and language. In fact, one of the apostles even mentioned that another apostle’s writings were hard to understand (2 Peter 3:16).

The ability to let the Bible interpret the Bible by organizing and comparing scriptures is part of this level of learning. The Church offers FAQs, booklets, sermons and blogs to assist in understanding difficult sections of God’s truth. God, through His Spirit, gives additional help to allow us to understand spiritual concepts.

Application: Living the truth

To apply something is to be able to generalize what you know and understand into a variety of situations. At this point in the parallel with Bloom’s Taxonomy, there is a transition from knowing God’s Word to living God’s Word. Our choices and the plans we make in our lives, and their relationship with what we know from God’s truth, define this level. Do we model our lives based on our knowledge and comprehension of the Bible?

Analysis: Cause and effect of God’s truth

This level involves finding evidence to support ideas and breaking down information into parts. When thinking of a whole-to-parts approach, imagine taking a scalpel and dissecting the Bible, or even single verses of the Bible, into all the lessons and concepts you observe. Or, for a less messy example, imagine using a microscope and then jotting down all the little nuances you see. Have we truly analyzed what God says He expects from us?

Synthesis: Putting it all together

Synthesizing refers to using a compilation of information to propose solutions or look at things in a different way. The difference between learning about the world and learning about God is striking to say the least. Our ability to predict the pain and consequences of sin (hopefully leading us away from those choices) and to modify/improve our life by following God’s beneficial commandments would be a part of this level. Do we make the necessary changes based on our information?

Evaluation: Choose life

The final, and most difficult, level of the cognitive domain according to Bloom is the ability to evaluate information. God has shown us how He evaluates things. Have we come to the point of making judgments about what is right or wrong as God does? Also, evaluation includes how well one can rate his or her own progress (or self-monitoring). How deeply do we know and follow God’s Word?

As with all educational situations, learning the truth of God is a process. Bloom’s Taxonomy involves building each level on top of the other. For example, one cannot apply without knowledge. The levels of our cognitive domain must work together for effective learning, which also applies to our learning of the most important information available—God’s Word.

Eddie Foster, a school speech-language pathologist, and his wife are members of the Cincinnati/Dayton, Ohio, congregation of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association.