Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy

 Taxonomy of Cognitive Objectives

 1950s- developed by Benjamin Bloom
 Means of expressing qualitatively different kinds of thinking
 Adapted for classroom use as a planning tool
 Continues to be one of the most universally applied models
 Provides a way to organise thinking skills into six levels, from the most
basic to the higher order levels of thinking
 1990s- Lorin Anderson (former student of Bloom) revisited the taxonomy
 As a result, a number of changes were made
(Pohl, 2000, Learning to Think, Thinking to Learn, pp. 7-8)
 Original Terms New Terms
 Evaluation •Creating
Synthesis

•Evaluating
 Analysis
•Analysing
 Application
•Applying
 Comprehension
•Understanding
 Knowledge
•Remembering
(Based on Pohl, 2000, Learning to Think, Thinking to Learn, p. 8)
 Change in Terms
 The names of six major categories were changed from noun to verb forms.

 As the taxonomy reflects different forms of thinking and thinking is an active

process verbs were more accurate.

 The subcategories of the six major categories were also replaced by verbs

 Some subcategories were reorganised.

 The knowledge category was renamed. Knowledge is a product of thinking

and was inappropriate to describe a category of thinking and was replaced
with the word remembering instead.

 Comprehension became understanding and synthesis was renamed creating in

order to better reflect the nature of the thinking described by each category.
(http://rite.ed.qut.edu.au/oz-teachernet/training/bloom.html (accessed July 2003) ; Pohl, 2000, p. 8)
 Change in Emphasis
 More authentic tool for curriculum planning, instructional
delivery and assessment.

 Aimed at a broader audience.

 Easily applied to all levels of schooling.

 The revision emphasises explanation and description of

subcategories.

(http://rite.ed.qut.edu.au/oz-teachernet/training/bloom.html (accessed July 2003; Pohl, 2000, p. 10).

 BLOOM’S REVISED TAXONOMY
Creating
Generating new ideas, products, or ways of viewing things
Designing, constructing, planning, producing, inventing.

Evaluating
Justifying a decision or course of action
Checking, hypothesising, critiquing, experimenting, judging

Analysing
Breaking information into parts to explore understandings and relationships
Comparing, organising, deconstructing, interrogating, finding

Applying
Using information in another familiar situation
Implementing, carrying out, using, executing

Understanding
Explaining ideas or concepts
Interpreting, summarising, paraphrasing, classifying, explaining

Remembering
Recalling information
Recognising, listing, describing, retrieving, naming, finding
 Why use Bloom’s
taxonomy?
 Write and revise  Incorporate
learning objectives knowledge to be
learned (knowledge
 Plan curriculum dimension) and
cognitive process to
 Identifies simple to learn
most difficult skills
 Facilitate
 Effectively align questioning (oral
objectives to language =
assessment techniques important role
and standards within framework)
Using Blooms To Align Learning Activities
and Assessments

Align Assessments with Objectives

• Assessments should provide us, the instructors, and the students with evidence of
How well the students have learned what we intend them to learn.
• What we want students to learn and be able to do should guide the choice and
design of the assessment.
• There are two major reasons for aligning assessments with learning objectives.
• First, alignment increases the probability that we will provide students with the
opportunities to learn and practice the knowledge and skills that will be required on
the various assessments we design.
• Second, when assessments and objectives are aligned, “good grades” are more
likely to translate into “good learning”.
 Using Blooms To Align Learning Activities and
Assessments
Align Assessments with
Objectives

Assessments should provide us, the instructors, and the

students with evidence of how well the students have learned
what we intend them to learn.

What we want students to learn and be able to do should

guide the choice and design of the assessment.

• There are two major reasons for aligning assessments with

learning objectives.
• First, alignment increases the probability that we will
provide students with the opportunities to learn and
practice the knowledge and skills that will be required
on the various assessments we design.
• Second, when assessments and objectives are aligned,
“good grades” are more likely to translate into “good
learning”.
There are many different types of activities that can be used to assess students’
proficiency on a given learning objective, and the same activity can be used to
assess different objectives.

To ensure more accurate assessment of student proficiencies, it is recommended

that you use different kinds of activities so that students have multiple ways to
practice and demonstrate their knowledge and skills.

When deciding on what kind of assessment activities to use, it is helpful to keep

in mind the following questions:
 What will the student’s work on the activity (multiple choice answers,
essays, project, presentation, etc) tell me about their level of competence on
the targeted learning objectives?
 How will my assessment of their work help guide students’ practice and
improve the quality of their work?
 How will the assessment outcomes for the class guide my teaching practice?

After each Taxonomy I will share examples of the kinds of activities that can be
used to assess different types of learning objectives, and the ways that we can
analyze or measure performance to produce useful feedback for teaching and
learning. The categorization of learning objectives is taken from the
revised Bloom’s Taxonomy.
(http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/assessment/howto/basics/objectives.html)
 Remembering
The learner is able to recall, restate and
remember learned information.
– Recognising
– Listing
– Describing
– Identifying
– Retrieving
– Naming
– Locating
– Finding
Can you recall information?
 Remembering cont’
• List • Listen
• Memorise
• Relate • Group Recall or
• Show • Choose recognition of
• Locate • Recite specific
• Distinguish information
• Review
• Give example
• Reproduce • Quote
• Quote • Record
• Repeat • Match Products include:
• Label
• Recall • Select • Quiz • Label
• Know • Underline • Definition • List
• Group • Cite • Fact • Workbook
• Read • Sort • Worksheet • Reproduction
• Write
• Outline • Test •Vocabulary

Type of Learning Objective
•Remember
Students will be able to:recall
•recognize
Examples of Types of
Assessment How to Measure
•Objective Test items that •Accuracy – correct vs
require students to recall number of errors
or recognize information: •Item Analysis (at the class
• Fill-in the Blank level, are there items that
• Multiple Choice had higher error rates? Did
items with question some items result in the
stems such as, same errors?)
“what is a…”, or
“which of the
following is the
definition of)
• Labeling diagrams
•Reciting (orally, musically,
or in writing)
 Classroom Roles for
Remembering
Teacher roles Student roles

• Directs • Responds
• Tells • Absorbs
• Shows • Remembers
• Examines • Recognises
• Questions • Memorises
• Evaluates • Defines
• Describes
• Retells
• Passive recipient
 Remembering: Potential
Activities and Products
• Make a story map showing the main events of
the story.
• Make a time line of your typical day.
• Make a concept map of the topic.
• Write a list of keywords you know about….
• What characters were in the story?
• Make a chart showing…
• Make an acrostic poem about…
• Recite a poem you have learnt.
 Understanding
The learner grasps the meaning of information by
interpreting and translating what has been
learned.
– Interpreting
– Exemplifying
– Summarising
– Inferring
– Paraphrasing
– Classifying
– Comparing
– Explaining
Can you explain ideas or concepts?
 Understanding cont’
• Restate • Describe
• Identify • Report Understanding
• Discuss • Recognise of given
information
• Retell • Review
• Research • Observe
• Outline
• Annotate
• Account for
• Translate Products include:
• Interpret • Recitation
• Give examples of • Example
• Give main • Summary • Quiz
• Paraphrase
idea • Collection • List
• Reorganise • Estimate • Explanation • Label
• Associate • Define • Show and tell • Outline
 Examples of Types of
Type of Learning Objective Assessment How to Measure
•Understand •Papers, oral/written exam Scoring or performance
Students will be able questions, problems, class rubrics that identify critical
to:interpret discussions, concept maps, components of the work and
•exemplify homework assignments that discriminates between differing
•classify require (oral or levels of proficiency in
•summarize written):Summarizing addressing the components
•infer readings, films, speeches,
•compare etc.
•explain •Comparing and/or
contrasting two or more
theories, events,
processes, etc.
•Classifying or categorizing
cases, elements, events,
etc., using established
criteria
• Paraphrasing documents
or speeches
•Finding or identifying
examples or illustrations of
a concept, principle
 Understanding: Potential
Activities and Products
• Write in your own words…
• Cut out, or draw pictures to illustrate a particular event in the story.
• Report to the class…
• Illustrate what you think the main idea may have been.
• Make a cartoon strip showing the sequence of events in the story.
• Write and perform a play based on the story.
• Write a brief outline to explain this story to someone else
• Explain why the character solved the problem in this particular way
• Write a summary report of the event.
• Prepare a flow chart to illustrate the sequence of events.
• Make a colouring book.
• Paraphrase this chapter in the book.
• Retell in your own words.
• Outline the main points.
 Classroom Roles for
Understanding
Teacher roles Student roles

• Demonstrates • Explains
• Listens • Describes
• Questions • Outlines
• Compares • Restates
• Contrasts • Translates
• Examines • Demonstrates
• Interprets
• Active participant
 Applying
The learner makes use of information in a context
different from the one in which it was learned.

– Implementing
– Carrying out
– Using
– Executing

Can you use the information in another

familiar situation?
 Applying cont’
• Translate • Paint
• Manipulate • Change Using strategies,
• Exhibit • Compute concepts, principles
and theories in new
• Sequence
• Illustrate situations
• Show
• Calculate • Solve
• Interpret • Collect
• Make • Demonstrate Products include:
• Practice • Dramatise • Photograph • Presentation
• Construct • Illustration • Interview
• Apply
• Use • Simulation • Performance
• Operate • Adapt • Sculpture • Diary
• Interview • Draw • Demonstration • Journal
 Examples of Types of
Type of Learning Objective Assessment How to Measure
•Apply Activities that require Accuracy scores, Check
Students will be able students to use lists, Rubrics, Primary Trait
to:execute procedures to solve or Analysis
•implement complete familiar or
unfamiliar tasks; may also
require students to
determine which
procedure(s) are most
appropriate for a given
task. Activities include:
Problem sets,
performances, labs,
Prototyping, Simulations
Classroom Roles for Applying
Teacher roles Student roles

• Shows • Solves problems

• Facilitates • Demonstrates use of
• Observes knowledge
• Evaluates • Calculates
• Organises • Compiles
• Questions • Completes
• Illustrates
• Constructs
• Active recipient
 Analysing
The learner breaks learned information into its
parts to best understand that information.
– Comparing
– Organising
– Deconstructing
– Attributing
– Outlining
– Finding
– Structuring
– Integrating

Can you break information into parts to explore

understandings and relationships?
 Analysing cont’
• Distinguish • Compare
• Question • Contrast
• Appraise • Survey Breaking
• Experiment • Detect information down
• into its component
• Inspect Group
elements
• Examine • Order
• Probe • Sequence
• Separate • Test
• Inquire • Debate
• Arrange • Analyse Products include:
• Investigate • Diagram • Graph • Survey
• Sift • Relate
• Spreadsheet • Database
• Research • Dissect
• Calculate • Categorise • Checklist • Mobile
• Criticize • Discriminate • Chart • Abstract
• Outline • Report
 Applying: Potential Activities
and Products
• Construct a model to demonstrate how it looks or works
• Practise a play and perform it for the class
• Make a diorama to illustrate an event
• Write a diary entry
• Make a scrapbook about the area of study.
• Prepare invitations for a character’s birthday party
• Make a topographic map
• Take and display a collection of photographs on a particular
topic.
• Make up a puzzle or a game about the topic.
• Write an explanation about this topic for others.
• Dress a doll in national costume.
• Make a clay model…
• Paint a mural using the same materials.
• Continue the story…
Type of Learning Examples of Types of
Objective Assessment How to Measure
•Analyze Activities that require •Rubrics, scored by
Students will be able students to discriminate instructor, juries,
to:differentiate or select relevant from external clients,
•organize irrelevant parts, employers, internship
•attribute determine how elements supervisor, etc.
function together, or •Primary Trait Analysis
determine bias, values or
underlying intent in
presented materials.
These might include:
Case studies, Critiques,
Labs, Papers, Projects,
Debates, Concept
Maps,
 Analysing: Potential Activities
and Products
• Use a Venn Diagram to show how two topics are the same and
different
• Design a questionnaire to gather information.
• Survey classmates to find out what they think about a particular topic.
Analyse the results.
• Make a flow chart to show the critical stages.
• Classify the actions of the characters in the book
• Create a sociogram from the narrative
• Construct a graph to illustrate selected information.
• Make a family tree showing relationships.
• Devise a roleplay about the study area.
• Write a biography of a person studied.
• Prepare a report about the area of study.
• Conduct an investigation to produce information to support a view.
• Review a work of art in terms of form, colour and texture.
• Draw a graph
• Complete a Decision Making Matrix to help you decide which breakfast
cereal to purchase
 Classroom Roles for Analysing
Teacher roles Student roles

• Probes • Discusses
• Guides • Uncovers
• Observes • Argues
• Evaluates • Debates
• Acts as a resource • Thinks deeply
• Questions • Tests
• Organises • Examines
• Dissects • Questions
• Calculates
• Investigates
• Inquires
• Active participant
 Evaluating
The learner makes decisions based on in-depth
reflection, criticism and assessment.
– Checking
– Hypothesising
– Critiquing
– Experimenting
– Judging
– Testing
– Detecting
– Monitoring
Can you justify a decision or course of action?
 Evaluating cont’
• Judge • Choose
• Rate • Conclude Judging the value of
• Validate • Deduce ideas, materials and
• Predict • Debate methods by developing
• Assess • Justify and applying standards
• Score • Recommend and criteria.
• Revise • Discriminate
• Infer • Appraise
• Determine • Value
• Prioritise • Probe Products include:
• Tell why • Argue • Debate • Investigation
• Compare • Decide • Panel • Verdict
• Evaluate • Criticise
• Defend • Report • Conclusion
• Rank
• Select • Reject • Evaluation •Persuasive
• Measure speech
Type of Learning Examples of Types of
Objective Assessment How to Measure
•Evaluate A range of activities that •Rubrics, scored by
Students will be able require students to test, instructor, juries,
to:check monitor, judge or critique external clients,
•critique readings, performances, employers, internship
or products against supervisor, etc.
established criteria or •Primary Trait
standards. These Analysis
activities might include:
Journals, Diaries,
Critiques, Problem Sets,
Product Reviews, Case
Studies.
 Evaluating: Potential Activities
and Products
• Write a letter to the editor
• Prepare and conduct a debate
• Prepare a list of criteria to judge…
• Write a persuasive speech arguing for/against…
• Make a booklet about five rules you see as important.
Convince others.
• Form a panel to discuss viewpoints on….
• Write a letter to. ..advising on changes needed.
• Write a half-yearly report.
• Prepare a case to present your view about...
• Complete a PMI on…
• Evaluate the character’s actions in the story
 Classroom Roles for Evaluating
Teacher roles Student roles

• Clarifies • Judges
• Accepts • Disputes
• Guides • Compares
• Critiques
• Questions
• Argues
• Assesses
• Decides
• Selects
• Justifies
• Active participant
 Creating
The learner creates new ideas and
information using what has been previously
learned.
– Designing
– Constructing
– Planning
– Producing
– Inventing
– Devising
– Making
Can you generate new products, ideas, or
ways of viewing things?
 Creating cont’
• Compose • Formulate
• Assemble
• Organise • Improve Putting together ideas
or elements to develop
• Invent • Act a original idea or
• Compile • Predict
engage in creative
thinking.
• Forecast
• Produce
• Devise
• Propose • Blend
• Construct • Set up Products include:
• Plan • Film • Song
• Devise
• Prepare • Story • Newspaper
• Develop • Concoct
• Project • Media product
• Originate • Compile • Plan • Advertisement
• Imagine
• New game • Painting
• Generate
Creating: Potential Activities and
Products
• Use the SCAMPER strategy to invent a new type of sports shoe
• Invent a machine to do a specific task.
• Design a robot to do your homework.
• Create a new product. Give it a name and plan a marketing campaign.
• Write about your feelings in relation to...
• Write a TV show play, puppet show, role play, song or pantomime
about..
• Design a new monetary system
• Develop a menu for a new restaurant using a variety of healthy foods
• Design a record, book or magazine cover for...
• Sell an idea
• Devise a way to...
• Make up a new language and use it in an example
• Write a jingle to advertise a new product.
Type of Learning Examples of Types of
Objective Assessment How to Measure
•Create Research projects, •Rubrics, scored by
Students will be able musical compositions, instructor, juries,
to:generate performances, external clients,
•plan essays, business employers,
•produce plans, website internship
designs, prototyping, supervisor, etc.
set designs •Primary Trait
Analysis
Classroom Roles for Creating
Teacher roles Student roles

• Facilitates • Designs
• Extends • Formulates
• Reflects • Plans
• Takes risks
• Analyses
• Modifies
• Evaluates
• Creates
• Proposes
• Active participant
 Practical Bloom’s
• Suitable for use with the entire class
• Emphasis on certain levels for different children
• Extend children’s thinking skills through emphasis on higher levels of the
taxonomy (analysis, evaluation, creation)
• Possible approaches with a class could be:
– All children work through the remembering and understanding stages
and then select at least one activity from each other level
– All children work through first two levels and then select activities from
any other level
– Some children work at lower level while others work at higher levels
– All children select activities from any level
– Some activities are tagged “essential” while others are “optional”
– A thinking process singled out for particular attention eg. Comparing,
(done with all children, small group or individual)
– Some children work through the lower levels and then design their own
activities at the higher levels
– All children write their own activities from the taxonomy
(Black, 1988, p. 23).
Some ways to use Bloom’s Taxonomy include:
• Your unit/course should include all levels of Bloom’s – not
necessary to have all levels in one lesson/session
Intention is to move students to higher order thinking –therefore
your course should ensure all students have this opportunity to
demonstrate higher order thinking
• All pupils work through Knowledge and Comprehension.
• All pupils work through Knowledge and Comprehension then
select at least one activity from Application, Analysis, Synthesis
and Evaluation.
• All pupils work through Knowledge and Comprehension then
select activities from any of Application, Analysis, Synthesis and
Evaluation.
• Some pupils may work through Knowledge and Comprehension
while other pupils work through Application, Analysis, Synthesis
and Evaluation.
• All pupils select activities from any level.
 THANK YOU
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