Bloom’s Taxonomy is a multi-tiered model of classifying thinking according to six cognitive levels of complexity. Throughout the years, the levels have often been depicted as a stairway, leading many teachers to encourage their students to “climb to a higher (level of) thought”.
Terminology changes
Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): Terminology changes “The graphic is a representation of the NEW verbiage associated with the long familiar Bloom’s Taxonomy. Note the change from Nouns to Verbs [e.g., Application to Applying] to describe the different levels of the taxonomy. Note that the top two levels are essentially exchanged from the Old to the New version.” (Schultz, 2005) (Evaluation moved from the top to Evaluating in the second from the top, Synthesis moved from second on top to the top as Creating.). (Copyright; Lorin Anderson via Carnegie Mellon University)
Remembering: Retrieving, recognizing, and recalling relevant knowledge from long-term memory.
Understanding: Constructing meaning from oral, written, and graphic messages through interpreting, exemplifying, classifying, summarizing, inferring, comparing, and explaining.
Applying: Carrying out or using a procedure through executing, or implementing.
Analyzing: Breaking material into constituent parts, determining how the parts relate to one another and to an overall structure or purpose through differentiating, organizing, and attributing.
Evaluating: Making judgments based on criteria and standards through checking and critiquing.
Creating: Putting elements together to form a coherent or functional whole; reorganizing elements into a new pattern or structure through generating, planning, or producing.
(Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001, pp. 67-68)
Structural changes
Table \(\PageIndex{1}\): Bloom's Taxonomy. (Dianna Fisher, via Oregon State University, Extended Campus )
Why use Bloom’s Taxonomy?
Today’s teachers must make tough decisions about how to spend their classroom time. Clear alignment of educational objectives with local, state, and national standards is a necessity.
How can Bloom’s Taxonomy be used?
Teachers need to be aware to ask questions on different levels of Bloom's Taxonomy, by doing this, teachers will help students develop their thinking skills.
Here are some examples of prompts created on the spectrum of Bloom's Taxonomy using the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
Remembering: Describe where Goldilocks lived.
Understanding: Summarize what the Goldilocks story was about.
Applying: Construct a theory as to why Goldilocks went into the house.
Analyzing: Differentiate between how Goldilocks reacted and how you would react in each story event.
Evaluating: Assess whether or not you think this really happened to Goldilocks.
Creating: Compose a song, skit, poem, or rap to convey the Goldilocks story in a new form.
Although this is a very simple example of the application of Bloom’s taxonomy the author is hopeful that it will demonstrate both the ease and the usefulness of the Revised Taxonomy Table.
Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\): Bloom's Taxonomy. (CC-BY; Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching)
“Bloom’s Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain Explained”
Extended Campus- Oregon State University has an interactive Bloom’s Taxonomy chart of the six Cognitive Process dimensions (Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, and Create) with the four Knowledge Dimensions (defined as Factual, Conceptual, Procedural, and Meta-Cognitive) forming a grid with twenty-four separate cells as represented.
Printable Taxonomy Table Examples to clearly define the “Essential Question” or lesson objectives.
