Bloom’s Taxonomy

Taxonomy Definition

What is mean by the term ‘taxonomy? Taxonomy is the science of organizing things and
classifying them according to various criteria.

Bloom’s Taxonomy
Benjamin Bloom
In brief, Bloom’s taxonomy is a series of cognitive skills and learning objectives arranged in a
hierarchical model.

Originally, Bloom’s taxonomy was designed as a way of gauging competence by placing a

student’s knowledge on one of 6 levels which are often represented visually in the form of a
pyramid.

Each step of the pyramid from bottom to top represents a move from a lower order thinking skill
to a higher order one; from straightforward concrete cognition to a more abstract, conceptual
understanding.

This taxonomy of educational objectives gets its name from its creator, Benjamin Bloom. Bloom
was an American educational psychologist who is best remembered for his significant
contributions to the theory of mastery learning, as well as this renowned and widely used
taxonomy.

Back in the 1940’s, Bloom and his colleagues devised his taxonomy by categorizing a range of
educational goals and arranging them into a hierarchy. Bloom believed that by classifying goals
in this manner, it would make it easier for educators to more accurately assess student
performance.

This work went through countless revisions and reviews before a finalized version was published
in 1956 as The Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. The document described a path towards
educational attainment that passed through 6 orders of learning.

While Bloom’s taxonomy can be divided into 3 domains of educational objectives cognitive,
psycho motor, and effective, it is the cognitive domain where our 6 levels are focused.

1. Cognitive Domain

Bloom identified six levels within the cognitive domain, from the simple recall or recognition
of facts, as the lowest level, through increasingly more complex and abstract mental levels, to
the highest order which is classified as evaluation. A description of the six levels as well as
verb examples that represent intellectual activity are listed here

2. Effective Domain

The affective domain involves our feelings, emotions, and attitudes. This domain includes the
manner in which we deal with things emotionally, such as feelings, values, appreciation,
enthusiasms, motivation, and attitudes. This domain is categorized into five levels which include:

1. Receiving
2. Responding
 3. Valuing
4. Organization
5. Characterization

3. Psychomotor Domain

The Application of Bloom’s Taxonomy

Though the original intention of the taxonomy was to serve as an assessment tool, it’s use
quickly spread into other areas of teaching. It became a very effective tool to help educators
identify clear learning objectives, build curricula, as well as to create purposeful learning
activities in the classroom.

Despite its dry, academic sounding title, Bloom’s taxonomy has had concrete and measurable
positive impact in classrooms worldwide, from kindergarten to college and beyond.

Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy

Nouns were replaced by much more action-oriented verbs to reflect the idea that learning is not
just passive acquisition, but an engaged, active participation.

In the revised version we can see that evaluating is no longer the highest level, instead synthesis
has been replaced by create and now represents the highest expression of learning.
For example, where the original version talked of Knowledge, the revised Bloom’s taxonomy
referred to the much more active Remember. It is helpful here to take a look at the full list of 6
levels in the above table for ease of comparison.

Why Should Teachers Use Bloom’s Taxonomy?

Bloom’s taxonomy is a great tool for helping teachers to develop higher order critical thinking
abilities in students. Referring to the taxonomy’s concepts during the planning process helps
teachers to focus in on appropriate objectives for groups and individuals and to plan for their
progression in the short, medium, and longer term.

The taxonomy provides a clear framework or system of organization for classifying lesson
objectives, as well as a coherent starting point to build lessons from.

 How Can Teachers Use Bloom’s Taxonomy?

The starting point of any planning process should be the consideration of the level of the
students. Luckily, Bloom’s provides a very convenient framework within which to begin this
process.

When creating objectives you can move from the simple to complex, the concrete to abstract,
according to the ability of your students through reference to the taxonomy.

For example, knowing that Remember refers to the lowest level of cognitive rigor means you can
design your objectives with this in mind.

Likewise, Create references the highest level of cognitive rigor and this will inform the
objectives you create for the students.

Bloom’s Taxonomy Verbs

The knowledge above provides a good starting point, but it doesn’t mean that every objective
you write for Level 1 students must begin with the word ‘remember’.

Conveniently, Bloom’s Taxonomy provides lots of related verbs that provide a helpful way for
educators to plan lessons. Verb tables have been created to align with each of these levels.

Bloom’s Taxonomy Levels and Corresponding Verb Lists

Level 1: Remember - To recall facts and ideas

At this level, students are challenged to recall and remember the basic facts and information of
the story or text.
Verb List: Cite, Define, Describe, Draw, Identify, Label, List, Match, Memorize, Name, Record,
Repeat, State, Write

Level 2: Understand - To comprehend information and grasp its meaning

Level 2 gives the student a chance to show a fundamental understanding of the story or text.

Verb List: Add, Clarify, Compare, Contrast, Explain, Give, Infer, Observe, Predict, Summarize,
Translate

Level 3: Apply - To use information, theories, concepts and skills to solve problems

Here, students gain an opportunity to demonstrate their ability to use the information in a new
way.

Verb List: Adapt, Assign, Calculate, Construct, Employ, Express, Illustrate, Modify, Show,
Solve, Use

 Level 4: Analyze - To make connections; recognize patterns and deeper meanings

At this level, students can deconstruct the story into its component parts to better understand it.

Verb List: Break down, Characterize, Classify, Contrast, Distinguish, Explore, Identify,
Investigate, Order, Prioritize

Level 5: Evaluate - To make and justify a judgment

This level gives students an opportunity to develop an opinion and back it up with reasoning and
evidence.

Verb List: Appraise, Assess, Critique, Defend, Determine, Estimate, Explain, Grade, Justify,
Rank, Rate 

Level 6: Create - To combine elements of learning to create new or original work

This level affords an opportunity for students to take what they have learned and make
something new from it.

Verb List: Abstract, Assemble, Combine, Compose, Construct, Correspond, Design, Develop,
Generate, Integrate, Portray, Produce

Clearly, the verbs listed above do not represent a comprehensive list of all the possibilities of
verbs and verbal phrases available at each level, but they certainly provide a good starting point.
Students may also note that some verbs and phrases will work at more than one level, just be
sure to refer to the stated aim of each level to assess what the purpose is in that particular
context. A useful way to employ verb lists such as those above is to incorporate them into
learning objectives for lessons, or for longer range planning such as term plans or writing a
curriculum or scheme of work. Students can easily differentiate the learning objectives set by
moving up and down levels and by using simpler verb synonyms in those objectives. Using a
thesaurus is a great way to achieve this quickly.