Describing the Cognitive Level of Professor Discourse and Student Cognition in College of Agriculture Class Sessions

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the cognitive level of professor discourse and student cognition during selected college of agriculture class sessions. Twenty-one undergraduate class sessions were videotaped in 12 professors’ courses. Results were interpreted to show that professors’ discourse was mostly (62%) at the knowledge and comprehension levels of cognition, the lower levels of cognitive thought (Bloom, Engelhart, Furst, Hill, & Krathwohl, 1956). During the 21 class sessions, 1,448 student thoughts were recorded. Forty percent (n = 564) of those thoughts were found to be engaged. Engaged thoughts were then analyzed using Bloom’s Taxonomy (1956). Sixty-two percent of the total 564 engaged thoughts occurred at the knowledge and comprehension levels of cognition. The cognitive levels of professor discourse and student cognition (engaged thoughts categorized and weighted using Bloom’s Taxonomy) were mostly at the two lowest levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, knowledge and comprehension. Recommendations included professor and student awareness of the cognitive levels at which they teach and think, and further study of relationships between professor and student variables.