SOLO Taxonomy

The structure of observed learning outcomes (SOLO) taxonomy is a model that describes levels of increasing complexity in student's understanding of subjects.

SOLO challenges students to think more deeply by giving them a framework for thinking about single ideas, connected ideas and extended ideas. SOLO can differentiate learning tasks and learning outcomes for every student. Learning communities benefit most when there is a shared language of learning. Videos below show how teachers, primary and secondary students benefit in using SOLO taxonomy.

Prestructural describes when the learner has no prior knowledge of the subject or concepts being taught.

Unistructural describes when the learner has one idea about the subject, knows one relevant aspect and can perform single tasks.

Multistructural describes when the learner has several ideas about the subject; knows several relevant aspects and can perform several tasks.

Relational describes when the learner has a level of understanding and can make connections and link several ideas together to solve complex problems or tasks.

Extended abstract describes when the learner can conceptualise and generalise all aspects of their knowledge into knew ideas and can transfer this into solving non-familiar problems or tasks.