Overview
The original Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, commonly referred to as Bloom’s Taxonomy, was created by Benjamin Bloom in 1956, and later revised in 2001. Bloom categorized and classified the cognitive domain of learning into varying levels according to complexity and richness. As you travel up the pyramid, the level of complexity increases. This framework is important for designing a learning experience because it helps instructors identify, classify, and outline what students are expected to learn in the course.
In Bloom’s Taxonomy from 1956, he outlined six main categories: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. In 2001, a group of cognitive psychologists, curriculum theorists, instructional researchers, and testing specialists revised the category names of Bloom’s Taxonomy from nouns to verbs.
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Application
Bloom's Taxonomy Graphic Description
When writing student learning objectives and ensuring academic rigor, it’s helpful to refer to Bloom’s Taxonomy. Referring to various learning levels from Bloom’s Taxomony will ensure that you are addressing the appropriate level of learning and scaffolding assessments where necessary. Bloom’s Taxonomy invites us to reflect about what we are asking students to do with the information we want them to learn.
Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). A revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy: An overview. Theory into Practice, 4 (Autumn).
Knowledge Domain Verbs
Remembering | Understanding | Applying | Analyzing | Evaluating | Creating |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Recall specific facts. | Grasp meaning of materials. | Use information in a new situation. | Identify schemas or relationships. | Use information to make judgments. | Create or develop something new. |
define |
associate |
apply |
analyze |
appraise argue assess choose convince critique debate defend editorialize estimate evaluate grade judge justify measure persuade predict rank rate reframe summarize support |
adapt |
References and Additional Resources
Further Exploration
- Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). Theory into Practice, 4 (Autumn). A revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy: An overview.
- Bloom’s Taxonomy Resource