Bloom’s Taxonomy 101

Taxonomy is the science of classifying, naming, and organising based on characteristics and hierarchy. Traditionally used for the natural world, when applied to education it can help create a tiered approach to the teaching-learning process.

Initially introduced in 1956, Bloom’s Taxonomy was the work of Benjamin Bloom (an educational psychologist at the University of Chicago) and collaborators Englehart, Frust, Hill, and Krathwohl. Titled the Taxonomy of Educational Concepts, it consisted of a framework that categorised hierarchical educational goals, starting from the basic, and leading up to the application. Today Bloom’s Taxonomy is widely used for effective instruction design across K-12 levels. It provides educators with a shared framework to set tiered teaching goals and assess learning outcomes.

What is Bloom’s Taxonomy?

Bloom’s Taxonomy is a hierarchical classification of learning outcomes and skills, that helps educators set progressive learning goals for their students starting from lower-order processing, and going up to higher-order cognitive thinking.

Originally classified into stages of Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation, the terminology of the 6 levels was updated in 2001 by Krathwohl and Anderson for ease of understanding and application. Known as the Pyramid of Bloom’s Taxonomy it now includes nomenclature of Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analysing, Evaluating, and Creating. Each stage depends on developing expertise in the preceding one and is built on the foundation of the previous stages.

Three Domains of Bloom’s Taxonomy

Depending on the learning objective Bloom’s Taxonomy classifies the learning activity into three key domains. The Cognitive Domain deals with developing the intellect, the Affective Domain deals with nurturing the emotional aspects, values and attitudes, and the Psychomotor Domain is concerned with developing motor skills. The three domains put down corresponding hierarchical stages required to develop higher-order skills.

• Cognitive Domain Six Levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy
  • Remembering refers to recalling and retrieving relevant information and knowledge from memory. It includes accessing factual, procedural and conceptual information.
  • Understanding stands for comprehending the information leading to metacognition. This is demonstrated through summarising, comparing, interpreting or explaining the gleaned knowledge.
  • Applying refers to executing or implementing recalled knowledge and its subsequently gained understanding to an appropriate situation.
  • Analysing means taking apart and keenly observing the previous step of application to infer relationships between the different aspects.
  • Evaluating refers to assessing the aptness of the conclusions drawn via analysis, taking into account all the previous stages and the outcome of the application
  • Creating requires organising, reassigning and categorising learnings distilled from all the stages to create a new, desired outcome
• Affective DomainFocused on developing the emotional quotient of the students, this domain concerns itself with helping students pay attention to the feelings and emotions associated with the material. The students receive the information in the first stage of the hierarchy, they respond to the situation, highlighting their rationale and values before moving on to organising, characterising and internalising complex ideas such as conscience, personality, duty, ethical and moral actions etc.
• Psychomotor Domain This domain deals with mastering dual adeptness of mental processing closely followed by skilful motor execution. It applies to the fields of sports, instrumental music, performances and performing arts, fine arts, photography, sculpting etc. and requires a great amount of practice, internalising and performing. The hierarchy of learning moves from learning basic movements to reflex action, perceptual abilities, physical capabilities, skilled movement and finally to non-discursive communication that meaningfully expresses the student’s intentions.

Importance of Bloom’s Taxonomy

• For Teachers: Bloom’s Taxonomy helps teachers plan the curriculum, determine the appropriate learning goals and arrive at the teaching objectives for a given class. It further helps them decide on an effective lesson plan and instruction design in line with the desired learning outcomes. Bloom’s Taxonomy also informs the assessment blueprint to gauge the efficacy of the teaching-learning process.
• For Institutions: Using Bloom’s Taxonomy helps institutions optimise their resources and align their teaching methods for the most effective learning outcomes. It assists institutions in structuring a clear and easily understood approach shared by all its faculty thus facilitating working towards a common goalwhile supporting improved learning, aligned teaching strategy and easy monitoring of progress.
• For Students: Bloom’s Taxonomy facilitates creating a strong foundation of lower-order skills for students before introducing them to higher-order thinking. It equips them to progress in a systematic manner improving their capability to deliver higher-order cognitive skills. It provides them with the essential brain strength to master skills that help them perform complex intellectual tasks such as problem-solving, and analytical thinking needed in the 21st century world.

Bloom’s Taxonomy Verbs Chart

Bloom’s Taxonomy verb chart is a list of actionable and measurable verbs populated under each of the 6 levels of the cognitive domain that assist you in putting down teaching objectives, creating lesson plans, and designing formative and summative assessments.

Remember	Understand	Apply	Analyse	Evaluate	Create
Cite	Add	Acquire	Analyse	Appraise	Abstract
Define	Approximate	Adapt	Audit	Assess	Animate
Describe	Articulate	Allocate	Blueprint	Compare	Arrange
Draw	Associate	Alphabetize	Breadboard	Conclude	Assemble
Enumerate	Characterize	Apply	Break down	Contrast	Budget
Identify	Clarify	Ascertain	Characterize	Counsel	Categorize
Index	Classify	Assign	Classify	Criticize	Code
Indicate	Compare	Attain	Compare	Critique	Combine
Label	Compute	Avoid	Confirm	Defend	Compile
List	Contrast	Back up	Contrast	Determine	Compose
Match	Convert	Calculate	Correlate	Discriminate	Construct
Meet	Defend	Capture	Detect	Estimate	Cope
Name	Describe	Change	Diagnose	Evaluate	Correspond
Outline	Detail	Classify	Diagram	Explain	Create
Point	Differentiate	Complete	Differentiate	Grade	Cultivate
Quote	Discuss	Compute	Discriminate	Hire	Debug
Read	Distinguish	Construct	Dissect	Interpret	Depict
Recall	Elaborate	Customize	Distinguish	Judge	Design
Recite	Estimate	Demonstrate	Document	Justify	Develop
Recognize	Example	Depreciate	Ensure	Measure	Devise
Record	Explain	Derive	Examine	Predict	Dictate
Repeat	Express	Determine	Explain	Prescribe	Enhance
Reproduce	Extend	Diminish	Explore	Rank	Explain
Review	Extrapolate	Discover	Figure out	Rate	Facilitate
Select	Factor	Draw	File	Recommend	Format
State	Generalize	Employ	Group	Release	Formulate
Study	Give	Examine	Identify	Select	Generalize
Tabulate	Infer	Exercise	Illustrate	Summarize	Generate
Trace	Interact	Explore	Infer	Support	Handle
Write	Interpolate	Expose	Interrupt	Test	Import
	Interpret	Express	Inventory	Validate	Improve
	Observe	Factor	Investigate	Verify	Incorporate
	Paraphrase	Figure	Layout		Integrate
	Picture graphically	Graph	Manage		Interface
	Predict	Handle	Maximize		Join
	Review	Illustrate	Minimize		Lecture
	Rewrite	Interconvert	Optimize		Model
	Subtract	Investigate	Order		Modify
	Summarize	Manipulate	Outline		Network
	Translate	Modify	Point out		Organize
	Visualize	Operate	Prioritize		Outline
		Personalize	Proofread		Overhaul
		Plot	Query		Plan
		Practice	Relate		Portray
		Predict	Select		Prepare
		Prepare	Separate		Prescribe
		Price	Subdivide		Produce
		Process	Train		Program
		Produce	Transform		Rearrange
		Project			Reconstruct
		Provide			Relate
		Relate			Reorganize
		Round off			Revise
		Sequence			Rewrite
		Show			Specify
		Simulate			Summarize
		Sketch
		Solve
		Subscribe
		Tabulate
		Transcribe
		Translate
		Use

Difference Between Bloom’s Taxonomy (1956) and Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy (2001)

The revised version of Bloom’s Taxonomy was released by his collaborators Krathwohl and Anderson who also partnered with him on the drafting of the original version in 1956. Keeping true to the essence and the approach of the original draft the revised version attempted to make Bloom’s Taxonomy streamlined, applicable and up-to-date. Their key differences lie in the below-listed points.

• Ease of Application: The original hierarchy included Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation. It was a combination of a noun and verbs. The first stage (knowledge) outlined an assumed state over which the actions of learning were built. The revised hierarchy highlights Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analysis, Evaluation and Creation. It converts all stages into measurable action verbs.
• High-Order Skill: While the original hierarchy concluded at the evaluation stage, the revised hierarchy includes the higher-order skill of creation, which takes learning outcomes a notch higher by introducing an element of productivity. This aligns with the relevant skills of problem-solving via creative application nudging students towards innovation and original thought.
• Knowledge Continuum: The revised structure places each stage along a knowledge continuum that progresses as the student gains newer skills. It allows for each stage to be dynamic yet complete becoming the stepping stone for the next skill. The original hierarchy, with knowledge at its base, created a learning structure that remained unidimensional without expanding the scope of certain aspects of learning.

How Extramarks Helps in Implementing the Bloom’s Taxonomy Model?

With its integrated learning solutions, Extramarks can assist students and educators alike at each stage of Bloom’s Taxonomy hierarchy.

• Interactive Learning Modules: Extramarks offers engaging multimedia content like learning videos and quizzes that can support the Remembering and Understanding stages.
• Application and Analysis: It offers an exhaustive bank of problem-solving exercises as well as real-world case studies that help assist students in mastering the Application and Analysis stages.
• Evaluation and Creation: Powered by smart edtech, Extramarks helps students develop creativity and critical thinking by facilitating collaborative projects, topical essay writing and innovative projects.
• Personalized Learning Paths: Extramarks supports individualised progression and aids personalised learning by tailoring content to a learner’s expertise and level via adaptive learning technology.

Wrapping it up

Bloom’s Taxonomy is great practical tool to structure the curriculum, lesson plans and classroom instruction. With its 6 levels it provides educators with a simple framework for progressive learning, breaking down the learning outcome in stages from lower-order skills to higher-order thinking. It helps teachers define learning objectives and informs students on what is expected of them, partnering both for an optimised teaching-learning experience.

Last Updated on August 23, 2024