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Fink’s  Significant Taxonomy of significant learning can be seen as a successor to the well-known Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives. When I read the taxonomy two important points caught my attention. First, each category of significant learning requires some kind of change in the learner. Second, the six elements are overlapping which means that when educators use this taxonomy to design their curricula they should include all those synergetic learning categories and none can be neglected because learning in one area enhances learning in other areas (Fink, 2003).

Here is brief explanation to each category of significant learning:

1. Foundational Knowledge: involves the fundamental understanding of content that includes remembering and understanding key concepts of the subject matter.
2. Application: This category has moments that students will experience the most that their learning is useful, their gains exceed the experience of apply their learning by doing something to include acquainting precious skills such as communication and managerial ones.
3. Integration: When students see the connection among ideas within a course, with other courses, or with life outside of their institutes. They are empowered with what Fink called the intellectual power (2003).
4. Human Dimension: have students learn about themselves and others and how to interact effectively with one another. They get to acquire skills in dimension such as leadership and teamwork and ethics which will to a better understanding of their self-image and have a vision of their self-ideal.
5. Caring: involves feelings, interests, and values. Affective issues ignored in educational literature though when students care, they put their full potential effort to get things done in the best way possible.
6. Learning-how-to-learn: focus on how to be a good student, how to construct knowledge in the discipline area, and how to be a self-directed learner. The latter category is getting more crucial than ever with the recent explosion of knowledge and technology, every one realized that there is much more to learning than content (Fink, 2003). In fact learning for each one of us is getting to be a lifelong occupation. And thus it is getting more important to have the skills to be able to learn on our own after leaving our educational institutes. “Learning-how-to-learn” is a skill that won’t only empower us to learn for a lifetime but also will make us continue our learning journey with greater effectiveness.

References:

• Fink., L.(2003).WHAT IS ”’SIGNIFICANT LEARNING”? .West Carolina University. Retrieved from http://www.wcu.edu/WebFiles/PDFs/facultycenter_SignificantLearning.pdf