Fink

Six Components of Significant Learning

Fink (2013) presents anoth­er way to con­sid­er the design of sig­nif­i­cant learn­ing expe­ri­ences. He iden­ti­fies and applies six inter­con­nect­ed com­po­nents.

The six inter­con­nect­ed com­po­nents:

  1. Foun­da­tion­al Knowl­edge - stu­dents’ abil­i­ty to remem­ber and under­stand infor­ma­tion
  2. Appli­ca­tion — learn­ing a new action, whether a new skill, way of think­ing or how to man­age projects
  3. Inte­gra­tion - mak­ing con­nec­tions between ideas, learn­ing expe­ri­ences or from one area of life to anoth­er
  4. Human Dimen­sion — learn­ing about your­self and oth­ers
  5. Car­ing - devel­op­ing stu­dents’ inter­est in or valu­ing of the top­ic
  6. Learn­ing How to Learn — help­ing stu­dents become self-direct­ed, self-reg­u­lat­ed learn­ers so they can learn beyond the course

  • Tip: Each kind of learn­ing is inter­ac­tive — one kind of learn­ing can stim­u­late anoth­er kind. Not all kinds of learn­ing need to be includ­ed in our cours­es, but the more we can include, the more inter­con­nect­ed the learn­ing expe­ri­ences will be.

Pros of Fink

  • pro­vides a frame­work for align­ing learn­ing out­comes with assess­ment
  • includes focus ‘learn­ing how to learn’ and how to pro­mote skills stu­dents will use beyond learn­ing con­tent
  • it iden­ti­fies the impor­tance of learn­ing that extends beyond the class­room expe­ri­ence

Cons of Fink

  • if you’re new to writ­ing learn­ing out­comes, Fink ‘s tax­on­o­my is not as clear as Bloom’s in terms of how to apply it
  • cre­at­ing assess­ments that assess ‘car­ing’ can be hard, depend­ing on the dis­ci­pline
  • few­er online resources to sup­port how to apply Fink

Questions to Ask

Here are some writ­ing prompts/questions for you to con­sid­er when writ­ing learn­ing out­comes using Fink’s tax­on­o­my

Foundational Knowledge

  • What key infor­ma­tion (facts, terms, for­mu­la, con­cepts, rela­tion­ships) is impor­tant for stu­dents to under­stand and remem­ber in the future?
  • What key ideas or per­spec­tives are impor­tant for stu­dents to under­stand in this course?

Application

  • What kinds of think­ing are impor­tant for stu­dents to learn:
    • Crit­i­cal think­ing, in which stu­dents ana­lyze and eval­u­ate?
    • Cre­ative think­ing, in which stu­dents imag­ine and cre­ate?
    • Prac­ti­cal think­ing, in which stu­dents solve prob­lems and make deci­sions?
  • What impor­tant skills do stu­dents need to learn?
  • What com­plex projects do stu­dents need to learn how to man­age?

Integration

  • What con­nec­tions (sim­i­lar­i­ties and inter­ac­tions) should stu­dents rec­og­nize and make…
    • Among ideas with­in this course?
    • Among the infor­ma­tion, ideas, and per­spec­tives in this course and those in oth­er cours­es or areas?
    • Between mate­r­i­al in this course and the stu­dents’ own per­son­al, social, and work lives?

Human Dimension

  • What can or should stu­dents learn about them­selves?
  • What can or should stu­dents learn about inter­act­ing with peo­ple they may encounter in the future?

Caring

  • What changes would you like to see in what stu­dents care about, that is, any changes in their…
    • Inter­ests?
    • Val­ues?
    • Feel­ings?

Learning How to Learn

  • What would you like for stu­dents to learn about…
    • How to be a good stu­dent in a course like this?
    • How to engage in inquiry and con­struct knowl­edge with this sub­ject mat­ter?
    • How to become a self-direct­ing learn­er rel­a­tive to this sub­ject? That is, have a learn­ing agen­da of what else they need and want to learn and a plan for learn­ing it?

Handouts

Additional Resources

  • Uni­ver­si­ty of Alber­ta — Writ­ing Learn­ing Out­comes (PDF Ver­sion, p.25) for ideas on how to apply Fink when devel­op­ing learn­ing out­comes
  • Else­vi­er — Teach­ing and Learn­ing in Nurs­ing, ‘Beyond Bloom’s: Fink’s tax­on­o­my as a cat­a­lyst for mean­ing­ful learn­ing in nurs­ing edu­ca­tion’ (PDF Ver­sion)