6 Levels of Thinking Every Student MUST Master

Summary

This video script delves into six levels of thinking essential for learners, revealing that many students remain stuck at basic levels, causing frustration and hindering top results. It explains that progressing through these levels, from memorization to creation, can enhance academic and professional success. The speaker emphasizes the importance of starting at the higher level of evaluation to solidify understanding and retention, ultimately leading to more efficient learning.

Takeaways

• 📚 There are six levels of thinking that learners should master, with each level leading to a different outcome.
• 🔄 Many students get stuck at the lower levels of thinking, which can lead to stress and frustration.
• 🧠 The first level, 'Remember', involves memorization and is not an effective long-term retention strategy.
• 📘 The second level, 'Understand', is about comprehending the material rather than just memorizing it.
• 🔑 The third level, 'Apply', involves using knowledge to solve simple problems directly related to what was learned.
• 🔍 The fourth level, 'Analyze', requires comparing and contrasting information, which is more mentally demanding.
• 🏆 The fifth level, 'Evaluate', is about making judgments and prioritizing information, key for top academic and professional performance.
• 🛠 The sixth level, 'Create', is about synthesizing new information and creating hypotheses, relevant for advanced learners or professionals.
• 📈 Starting at the highest level of thinking (level five) and working downwards can be more effective than progressing linearly through the levels.
• 🔄 The process of 'knowledge decay' means that revisiting lower levels is often necessary due to forgetting previously learned material.
• 💡 Bloom's revised taxonomy is a framework that categorizes these levels of thinking and is useful for understanding educational objectives and assessment types.

Q & A

What are the six levels of thinking mentioned in the script?

The six levels of thinking are: Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, and Create.

Why do most students struggle to reach top results according to the script?

Most students struggle to reach top results because they are thinking at the wrong level, which causes stress, wastes time, and can lead to frustration and a lack of confidence.

What is the first level of thinking called, and what does it involve?

The first level of thinking is called 'Remember' and involves memorizing things through rereading, rewriting, and repetition, which can feel tedious and often makes one feel drowsy.

What is the result of thinking at the 'Remember' level?

The result of thinking at the 'Remember' level is the ability to regurgitate facts, which is less common in higher education and semi-useless in professional life.

What is the second level of learning called, and what is its focus?

The second level of learning is called 'Understand' and focuses on comprehending what is being learned rather than just memorizing it.

How does the script describe the 'Apply' level of thinking?

The 'Apply' level of thinking involves using learned knowledge to solve problems, which can range from simple problems where knowledge is directly applied to more advanced problems requiring strategic thinking.

What is the 'Analyze' level of thinking, and how is it achieved?

The 'Analyze' level of thinking involves comparing and contrasting information to find similarities and differences. It can be achieved through techniques like Venn diagrams, tables, summaries, and mind maps.

What does the 'Evaluate' level of thinking entail, and what result does it unlock?

The 'Evaluate' level of thinking involves making judgments and prioritizing information based on its importance. It unlocks the 'Prioritize' result, which requires forming conclusions and justifying them.

What is the 'Create' level of thinking, and what is its relevance to most people?

The 'Create' level of thinking is about synthesizing new and novel information from existing knowledge, creating hypotheses for gaps in knowledge. It is less relevant for most people unless they are at the highest levels of education or their profession.

What is the recommended method to reach higher levels of thinking according to the script?

The recommended method to reach higher levels of thinking is to start at the top level, which is 'Evaluate', and then move down. This approach is more effective because the brain processes information and forms memory more strongly at higher levels.

What is the phenomenon called when students move back and forth between learning levels without mastering them?

The phenomenon is called 'knowledge decay', which occurs due to the forgetting curve, causing students to spend most of their time relearning forgotten information instead of progressing.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Mastering the Six Levels of Thinking for Academic Success

The script introduces six levels of thinking essential for students to achieve top academic results. Most students remain at the basic levels, causing frustration and stress. The speaker emphasizes the importance of thinking at the right level and shares their experience with achieving academic success through deliberate thinking. The first level is 'remember,' which involves rote memorization and leads to 'regurgitate' results, where students can only list and define facts. The second level is 'understand,' which allows for explaining concepts and processes, and is often the focus of university assessments.

05:03

🧐 Advancing to Higher Order Learning: Application and Analysis

The script explains the third level of thinking, 'apply,' which involves using knowledge to solve simple problems, and the fourth level, 'analyze,' where students compare and contrast information. Techniques such as Venn diagrams and mind maps are suggested to aid in analysis. The speaker also discusses Bloom's revised taxonomy, a framework that categorizes these levels of thinking, and how understanding this can help students predict and prepare for exam questions. The script highlights the mental effort required to progress from simple problem-solving to more complex, higher-order learning.

10:04

🔍 Evaluation and Synthesis: The Path to Top Results

The script delves into the fifth level of thinking, 'evaluate,' which is about making judgments and prioritizing information, and the sixth level, 'create,' which involves synthesizing new information. The speaker clarifies misconceptions about the levels and emphasizes that consistent practice at level five is more important for most people than reaching level six. They also discuss two methods for reaching higher levels of thinking, suggesting that starting at level five and working down is more effective than the traditional bottom-up approach due to the brain's stronger memory formation at higher levels.

15:06

🚀 Overcoming Forgetting and Achieving Efficient Learning

The final paragraph addresses the issue of knowledge decay and forgetting, proposing that starting learning at the higher level of evaluation can lead to better retention and understanding. The speaker suggests focusing on evaluation to naturally achieve the lower levels as a side effect. They offer a newsletter subscription for further insights into efficient learning strategies and encourage viewers to sign up for more information, summarizing the key points discussed in the video.

Keywords

💡Levels of Thinking

The concept of 'Levels of Thinking' is central to the video's theme, which outlines six distinct cognitive stages that learners should master to achieve top academic results. Each level builds upon the previous one, with higher levels requiring more complex thinking and leading to more profound outcomes. The video emphasizes the importance of not just memorizing information (level one) but also understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating new knowledge (levels two through six).

💡Memorizing

Memorizing is the first level of thinking discussed in the video, which involves the repetitive process of learning through rereading and rewriting. It is considered the most basic level of learning, often associated with rote memorization and the use of flashcards. The script mentions that this level can be tedious and is not an effective way to retain information long-term, but it is the foundation for unlocking level one results, which is regurgitation of facts.

💡Understanding

Understanding is the second level of thinking, which goes beyond mere memorization to comprehend the material being studied. It requires actively engaging with the content to grasp its meaning. The video script uses the term to illustrate the shift from passive learning to active learning, where learners are encouraged to think about the material in a deeper way, leading to the ability to explain concepts, which is a level two result.

💡Applying

Applying is the third level of thinking, where learners use the knowledge they have acquired to solve problems. The script differentiates between simple problems, where direct application of learned concepts is required, and more advanced problems that involve strategic thinking. Achieving level three thinking allows learners to solve 'One to One problems,' demonstrating their ability to directly apply concepts to problem-solving scenarios.

💡Analyzing

Analyzing is the fourth level of thinking, which involves comparing and contrasting information to find similarities and differences. This level is crucial for higher-order learning and is characterized by techniques such as Venn diagrams and mind maps. The script explains that analyzing leads to the level four result, which is the ability to compare concepts, and it requires more mental effort than the previous levels.

💡Evaluating

Evaluating, or level five thinking, is about making judgments and prioritizing information. It requires learners to not just understand the similarities and differences between concepts (level four) but also to determine their importance and relevance. The video script suggests that level five thinking is challenging and involves going back and forth between materials to answer questions like 'Why does this matter?' and 'How does it fit in with everything else?'

💡Creating

Creating, or level six thinking, is the highest level discussed in the video and involves synthesizing new and novel information from existing knowledge. It is about forming hypotheses and generating original ideas or solutions. The script clarifies that level six is not as commonly required as level five, except for those at the highest levels of education or in certain professional fields. It is exemplified by creating potential answers for gaps in knowledge.

💡Bloom's Revised Taxonomy

Bloom's Revised Taxonomy is a framework mentioned in the video that categorizes educational goals into a hierarchy of complexity and specificity. The script references this taxonomy to explain the different levels of thinking and learning, suggesting that it is still relevant and useful for understanding the cognitive processes involved in education, despite being over 70 years old.

💡Knowledge Decay

Knowledge Decay is a phenomenon discussed in the video that refers to the natural tendency of memory to forget information over time, following a 'forgetting curve.' The script uses this concept to explain why it is inefficient to learn by starting at the lowest level and moving upwards, as learners will continually have to relearn forgotten information instead of progressing to higher levels of thinking.

💡Misinterpreted Effort Hypothesis

The Misinterpreted Effort Hypothesis is a concept introduced in the video that suggests learners often avoid higher levels of thinking because they require more mental effort and can feel slower. The script explains that this phenomenon prevents many learners from improving their cognitive abilities and achieving higher levels of understanding and application.

💡Forgetting Curve

The Forgetting Curve is a concept related to the natural decline in memory retention over time, which is mentioned in the context of explaining why the traditional approach to learning (starting from the bottom level) is not effective. The script uses the Forgetting Curve to illustrate how knowledge from lower levels decays as learners progress, necessitating constant relearning and hindering the achievement of higher levels of thinking.

Highlights

Six levels of thinking are essential for learners to master, each leading to different levels of results.

Students often struggle to reach top results due to thinking at the wrong level, causing stress and wasted time.

Learning to think deliberately at the right level is key to achieving top academic results.

The first level of thinking, 'remember,' involves memorization and is often tedious.

The second level, 'understand,' focuses on comprehension rather than rote learning.

Level three, 'apply,' is about using knowledge to solve simple problems directly.

Level four, 'analyze,' involves comparing and contrasting information to find similarities and differences.

Level five, 'evaluate,' is about making judgments and prioritizing information based on importance.

Level six, 'create,' is about synthesizing new information and creating hypotheses.

Bloom's revised taxonomy, a framework for educational goals, is still relevant and useful for learners.

Most students are not aware of Bloom's taxonomy, which can help improve learning efficiency.

Starting learning at level five and moving down can be more effective than starting at level one.

Focusing on evaluation (level five) naturally incorporates lower levels of thinking and reduces forgetting.

The 'misinterpreted effort hypothesis' can prevent learners from improving due to perceived slow progress.

Techniques like mind maps and summaries are useful for higher levels of thinking but require the right mental approach.

Level six thinking is less common and typically relevant for advanced education or professional fields.

A newsletter offering distilled learning efficiency tips is available for those interested in further insights.

Transcripts

there are six levels or types of

thinking that every student or learner

of any age should master and each of

these six levels leads to a different

level of result unfortunately most of

the students I work with stuck in these

first few levels of thinking and the

reason that they struggle to reach top

results is because they are thinking at

the wrong level when this happens it

causes a lot of stress it wastes a lot

of time it can be very frustrating it

feel impossible to reach top results

with any degree of confidence and with

enough time we can start thinking that

maybe we're just not cut out for it but

that probably is not true and for me

learning how to think deliberately at

the right level is one of the main

reasons I was able to achieve top

academic results in both medical school

and for my masters of education and

trust me I'm certainly not a genius I've

seen similar results with thousands of

students and professionals that have

trained over years and by the end of

this video you'll be able to see what

level you tend to operate at and how you

can get to the level that you need to be

and FYI the level you need to be is

probably higher than you think but we'll

get to that later so the first level is

all about memorizing things this

involves a lot of rereading uh rewriting

it is usually very repetitive it can

feel very tedious it often makes us feel

drowsy and this level is called

remember it is the level of roote

learning and repeating hundreds and

thousands of flash cards this is the way

I and maybe you studied for like most of

High School uh and it's maybe the reason

why you might have hated studying and

when you do this level of thinking and

studying then it unlocks level one

result which is

regurgitate the regurgitate level is all

about listing defining stating facts

it's the kinds of questions that are

less common as you go through our

University and become semi useless in

professional life confusingly even

though this first level is called

remember it's actually not a very good

way to hold on to and retain the things

that you learn uh but we'll talk about

that later the second level of learning

is about really trying to comprehend

what you are learning rather than just

like repeatedly smash it into your brain

this is the level that we call

understand now there's a reason I've

been saying these are levels of thinking

uh and not different levels of studying

and that's because your intentions

really matter you could have two people

doing exactly the same technique and for

someone looking at you it can look

exactly the same and then when you ask

them hey how are you studying they might

both just say I'm just reading my

textbook but mentally it's different for

the person at level one by reading they

actually mean mean I'm reading it again

and again so I can try to get it stuck

in my head whereas for the person in

level two what they mean is I'm reading

it so I can understand what it's trying

to say and wrap my head around it and so

naturally at level two thinking

understand what we unlock is level two

result which is

explain this allows us to answer

questions that require us to explain our

understanding of a concept or a process

these these types of questions often

make up the bulk of most assessments up

until around later in uni now if this is

sounding familiar to you so far it's

because it's described in a framework

called Bloom's revised taxonomy which

was first published in

1956 and then later revised in 2001 and

even though it is 70 years old uh it is

still one of the most underrated

principle that most students have never

heard of and if you have heard of it

stick around because I'll teach you a

way of using it that helped me double my

learning efficiency so level three is

about using what you have leared to then

solve problems and this is a level that

we call apply now this is where things

can get a little bit confusing because a

lot of people misunderstand this about

Bloom's tonomy there are lots of

different ways that you can apply your

knowledge to solve problems so for

example you have what we I would say are

simple problems uh these are the types

of problems where you learn something

and then you just directly use that

thing that you learned to solve a

problem so for example in math or

physics you learn an equation or formula

and there is a problem that you need to

solve by just using that equation or

formula then again there are what I

might call a little bit more advanced

problems and these are the ones where

you actually have to think about the

best way to tackle the problem there are

a combination of Concepts that you need

to apply in a certain sequence and

there's a lot more strategic thinking

involved at level three we are mostly

talking about the first one simple

problem solving and so we unlock that

level which is the simple problem

solving result we're now able to solve

what I call One to One problems where

there is one concept you learn and the

problem requires that one concept to

solve and you can get to this level

level three by just literally solving

questions and solving problems lots of

practice papers and quizzes have

questions at the apply level for

something more procedural like coding it

might be building a simple function with

a few simple variables but what about

the harder and more complex questions

the types of problems that are Advanced

this is where level four thinking comes

in we're entering into the territory of

higher order learning people who know

how to think at level four tend to do

pretty well but level four thinkers are

not common and you'll see why why that

is soon level four thinking is all about

comparing and contrasting it's about

looking for similarities and differences

we call this level analyze it's the

first time that we're not just looking

at information by itself but we're

looking at it in relation to another

piece of information and there are

countless techniques that help with

level four analyze Vin diagrams making

tables making summaries that explain the

similarities and differences using mind

maps so in problems and questions that

force you to compare one Concept in

relation to another all of these things

are going to be helpful really any

technique is effective as long as it

forces you to compare and contrast one

thing against another thing so unlocking

level four accesses the level four

result which is the comparison level and

instead of just giving you some examples

of what comparison looks like like I'm

going to do one bit and show you this

great little study tip that you can use

go on to something like chbt or Gemini

and type in this prompt give me

questions at the educational stage that

you want so let's say second year

university level for the subject so

let's say in this example we'll say uh

microbiology at blooms revised taxonomy

level in this case it's going to be

level four and these are exactly the

types of questions that test you at

level four and you'll see that every

single option forces you to compare

ideas against each other now the reason

that this technique is actually useful

to use in your studying is because

Bloom's revised taxonomy was not created

for people like you like a learner they

were created for educators and exam

writers and internationally almost every

single curriculum is designed around

Bloom's taxonomy or a similar taxonomy

they're all pretty similar to each other

which means your exam writer is thinking

in this way to create the questions that

are going to filter out the good versus

the great Learners which means you can

now predict the types of questions

they're going to ask you and even create

your own practice papers but here is why

level four thinkers are not common as

soon as you jump from level three to

level four you will 100% notice that

this level of thinking requires more

mental effort it is harder to do you're

thinking for longer and more deeply than

the previous levels which is a good

thing because it means that your brain

is forming deeper knowledge and stronger

memory but it can feel like you've

gotten slower and some people think that

that means they're doing something wrong

so even though most students can think

at level four most students choose not

to because it doesn't feel as easy this

is a phenomenon called the

misinterpreted effort hypothesis and it

prevents the majority of Learners from

ever really improving and this is even

more the case at level five level five

thinking is for the top Learners if you

can think at level five you will be

reaching those top results it's also the

level that people find the most

confusing so I'm going to make it really

simple for you level five is all about

Judgment at level four we analyzed we

compared and contrasted we found

similarities and differences at level

five we're asking so what what does it

matter who cares why is it important

level five is called

evaluate and learning to think at this

level unlocks the level five result

which is

prioritize so let's do that little AI

trick again and see the difference in

the types of questions we get so you can

see level four on the left and level

five on the right so notice that at

level five we are forming conclusions

and now we have to justify it it's not

enough like at level four just to know

that there are similarities and

differences we then have to use that

knowledge to make a decision level five

thinking takes much more effort uh and

you'll know that you are doing it right

when you are going back and forth

between the material trying to answer

the question in your head of why does

this matter how does it fit in with

everything else why do I need to care

you're going to be jumping between your

lectures and your textbook and doing a

Google search these are the signs that

you are operating at level five and it's

not as easy as the previous levels but

to reach level five results you need to

go through this and level four and level

five are the types of questions and

challenges you'll find in second and

third year university and Beyond on uh

and in postgrad studies most of what

you're assist at is level four and level

five also pretty much any senior

position in any profession will require

you to have level four and level five

thinking and much like before it's less

about what your Technique looks like and

more about what's happening inside your

brain for example for level five mind

maps uh teaching answering questions uh

creating summaries these are all

techniques that are great for level five

but you could also do all of those

techniques and still not do it at level

five if you're not thinking in the right

way for example it's easy to make a mind

map just connecting a bunch of lines and

arrows together between words forming a

few groups and categories here and there

and just call it done but that's not

level five thinking it's very different

to for example creating a mind map where

you're critically evaluating which lines

and relationships are more important

than other possible relationships and

you're thinking what is the best way I

can group these ideas together mentally

it's a very different process even

though physically it can look very

similar now level six I'll go through

this one pretty quickly because finally

enough it's actually less important for

most people level six is about creating

a hypothesis it's about synthesizing new

and novel information from what you

already know this level is called create

and when you unlock create it unlocks

the level six result which is

hypothesize now some people think that

level six create is any situation where

you have to generate anything with your

knowledge uh this is not true it's only

level six if you are creating a answer

for something that you don't think the

answer exists in your knowledge already

you're identifying a gap and you're

creating a potential answer that makes

sense based on what you do know and the

reason level six is not as important as

the previous levels is because most

people will not really be assisted uh at

level six unless you are at the highest

levels of Education or your profession

most people in their daily lives will be

at the top of their game just being able

to perform at level five consistently

but just for your knowledge here are

some examples of level six and as you

can see it's pretty Advanced you can

pause to read this a little bit more if

you like or you can jump onto your AI

and do this for your own subject now

here's the part that is going to blow

your mind if you want to get to level

five and level six there are actually

two different methods to get there the

first way is to start studying and just

to go through each level from bottom to

top first you remember it and then you

understand it and then you apply it and

then you analyze it so on and so forth

this sounds very logical but for most

people this will not work the problem

with starting at the bottom mastering

level one then mastering level two then

mastering level three Etc is that it is

very very time consuming and most people

do not have enough time to even reach

level five let alone Master it so in

reality most people will just do a

little bit of each level kind of back

and forth like for example in lectures

they might be doing little bit of level

one and then a little bit of level two

and then later when doing some quizzes

they might be doing a bit of level two

and a little bit of level three and just

sort of moving back and forth if they do

a more challenging question they'll be

doing a little bit of level four and

then level five and this doesn't really

work very well because we will always

forget things over time in research we

call this phenomenon knowledge Decay it

occurs because the memory has something

called a forgetting curve so basically

while you're doing level two and level

three our knowledge of level one will

slowly Decay away right we're going to

forget it and so instead of being able

to actually just move up the levels

we're going to be spending most of our

time just relearning the things that we

continuously forget so instead here is

the better way to reach the higher

levels instead of starting at level one

and moving up we're going to start at

level five and actually move down

remember level five because level six is

not relevant for most people and the

reason this works is because our brain

actually processes information and forms

memory more strongly at level five than

it does at level one and when we set our

sights at the top our brain will

actually fill in and achieve the lower

levels of results along the way as

almost like a side effect and this

doesn't work the other way around if we

are trying to just learn so that we can

regurgitate material our brain is not

going to then be able to automatically

compare or prioritize information but if

we are trying to compare and prioritize

then we will gain better memory so that

we can if we need to regurgitate explain

and solve problems now by the way the

science on this gets a little bit

complicated so if you want me to go

deeper in on this then let me know in

the comments like I said level five

takes more mental effort but it pays off

big time by forgetting less so this

means when we start studying don't focus

on trying to remember or understand

Focus most of your attention on trying

to evaluate which forces you to

understand and analyze it in the first

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