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

A pyramid representation of Bloom's Taxonomy

Text description of Bloom's Taxonomy graphic above

Below is Bloom's Taxonomy Revisited, which differentiates between AI capabilities and distinct human skills for each learning level:

PDF version Bloom's Taxonomy Revisited

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.

If you need help, it might be beneficial to use generative AI as a starting point. Generative AI tools can help evaluate student learning objectives for clarity and alignment. Consider asking a generative AI tool to assist with:

  • Reviewing the alignment of a set of SLOs with the course goals and/or assessments.
  • Refining an objective for clarity and suggest related objectives as replacements or for scaffolding.
  • Suggesting assessment ideas based on the SLOs.

Analyzing a set of SLOs for gaps in the learning levels in Bloom’s Taxonomy and/or the three learning domains of cognitive, psychomotor, and affective.

Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). A revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy: An overview. Theory into Practice, 4 (Autumn).

Knowledge Domain Verbs

Lower Order Thinking Skills appear earlier in the chart
and
Higher Order Thinking Skills appear later in the chart

 

RememberingUnderstandingApplyingAnalyzingEvaluatingCreating
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
describe
examine
identify
label
list
locate
match
memorize
recall
recite
recognize
record
reproduce
retell
select
state
tabulate
tell
visualize

associate
classify
compare
contrast
convert
describe
discuss
distinguish
explain
illustrate
interpret
order
predict
relate
report
represent
restate
select
summarize
trace
transform
translate

apply
articulate
calculate
change
chart
compute
construct
develop
employ
examine
experiment
explain
illustrate
interpret
manipulate
modify
operate
predict
produce
relate
solve
transfer

analyze
categorize
compare
connect
contrast
criticize
deduce
diagram
differentiate
discriminate
dissect
estimate
evaluate
experiment
infer
organize
plan
prioritize
question
separate
survey
test

appraise
argue
assess
choose
convince
critique
debate
defend
editorialize
estimate
evaluate
grade
judge
justify
measure
persuade
predict
rank
rate
reframe
summarize
support

adapt
assemble
compose
construct
create
design
develop
facilitate
hypothesize
integrate
invent
modify
negotiate
plan
propose
revise
role-play
schematize
simulate
speculate
support
validate

References and Additional Resources

Further Exploration

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