Bloom's Taxonomy | Center for Teaching | Vanderbilt University

The framework elaborated by Bloom and his collaborators consisted of six major categories: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and ... Skiptomaincontent link Bloom’sTaxonomy byPatriciaArmstrong PrintVersion Citethisguide:Armstrong,P.(2010).Bloom’sTaxonomy.VanderbiltUniversityCenterforTeaching.Retrieved[todaysdate]fromhttps://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/.   BackgroundInformation|TheOriginalTaxonomy|TheRevisedTaxonomy|WhyUseBloom’sTaxonomy?|FurtherInformation TheabovegraphicisreleasedunderaCreativeCommonsAttributionlicense.You’refreetoshare,reproduce,orotherwiseuseit,aslongasyouattributeittotheVanderbiltUniversityCenterforTeaching.Forahigherresolutionversion,visitourFlickraccountandlookforthe“Downloadthisphoto”icon.   BackgroundInformation In1956,BenjaminBloomwithcollaboratorsMaxEnglehart,EdwardFurst,WalterHill,andDavidKrathwohlpublishedaframeworkforcategorizingeducationalgoals:TaxonomyofEducationalObjectives.FamiliarlyknownasBloom’sTaxonomy,thisframeworkhasbeenappliedbygenerationsofK-12teachersandcollegeinstructorsintheirteaching. TheframeworkelaboratedbyBloomandhiscollaboratorsconsistedofsixmajorcategories:Knowledge,Comprehension,Application,Analysis,Synthesis,andEvaluation.ThecategoriesafterKnowledgewerepresentedas“skillsandabilities,”withtheunderstandingthatknowledgewasthenecessarypreconditionforputtingtheseskillsandabilitiesintopractice. Whileeachcategorycontainedsubcategories,alllyingalongacontinuumfromsimpletocomplexandconcretetoabstract,thetaxonomyispopularlyrememberedaccordingtothesixmaincategories.   TheOriginalTaxonomy(1956) Herearetheauthors’briefexplanationsofthesemaincategoriesinfromtheappendixofTaxonomyofEducationalObjectives(HandbookOne,pp.201-207): Knowledge“involvestherecallofspecificsanduniversals,therecallofmethodsandprocesses,ortherecallofapattern,structure,orsetting.” Comprehension“referstoatypeofunderstandingorapprehensionsuchthattheindividualknowswhatisbeingcommunicatedandcanmakeuseofthematerialorideabeingcommunicatedwithoutnecessarilyrelatingittoothermaterialorseeingitsfullestimplications.” Applicationreferstothe“useofabstractionsinparticularandconcretesituations.” Analysisrepresentsthe“breakdownofacommunicationintoitsconstituentelementsorpartssuchthattherelativehierarchyofideasismadeclearand/ortherelationsbetweenideasexpressedaremadeexplicit.” Synthesisinvolvesthe“puttingtogetherofelementsandpartssoastoformawhole.” Evaluationengenders“judgmentsaboutthevalueofmaterialandmethodsforgivenpurposes.” The1984editionofHandbookOneisavailableintheCFTLibraryinCalhoun116.SeeitsACORNrecordforcallnumberandavailability. BarbaraGrossDavis,inthe“AskingQuestions”chapterofToolsforTeaching,alsoprovidesexamplesofquestionscorrespondingtothesixcategories.Thischapterisnotavailableintheonlineversionofthebook,butToolsforTeachingisavailableintheCFTLibrary.SeeitsACORNrecordforcallnumberandavailability.   TheRevisedTaxonomy(2001) Agroupofcognitivepsychologists,curriculumtheoristsandinstructionalresearchers,andtestingandassessmentspecialistspublishedin2001arevisionofBloom’sTaxonomywiththetitleATaxonomyforTeaching,Learning,andAssessment.Thistitledrawsattentionawayfromthesomewhatstaticnotionof“educationalobjectives”(inBloom’soriginaltitle)andpointstoamoredynamicconceptionofclassification. Theauthorsoftherevisedtaxonomyunderscorethisdynamism,usingverbsandgerundstolabeltheircategoriesandsubcategories(ratherthanthenounsoftheoriginaltaxonomy).These“actionwords”describethecognitiveprocessesbywhichthinkersencounterandworkwithknowledge: Remember Recognizing Recalling Understand Interpreting Exemplifying Classifying Summarizing Inferring Comparing Explaining Apply Executing Implementing Analyze Differentiating Organizing Attributing Evaluate Checking Critiquing Create Generating Planning Producing Intherevisedtaxonomy,knowledgeisatthebasisofthesesixcognitiveprocesses,butitsauthorscreatedaseparatetaxonomyofthetypesofknowledgeusedincognition: FactualKnowledge Knowledgeofterminology Knowledgeofspecificdetailsandelements ConceptualKnowledge Knowledgeofclassificationsandcategories Knowledgeofprinciplesandgeneralizations Knowledgeoftheories,models,andstructures ProceduralKnowledge Knowledgeofsubject-specificskillsandalgorithms Knowledgeofsubject-specifictechniquesandmethods Knowledgeofcriteriafordeterminingwhentouseappropriateprocedures MetacognitiveKnowledge StrategicKnowledge Knowledgeaboutcognitivetasks,includingappropriatecontextualandconditionalknowledge Self-knowledge MaryForehandfromtheUniversityofGeorgiaprovidesaguidetotherevisedversiongivingabriefsummaryoftherevisedtaxonomyandahelpfultableofthesixcognitiveprocessesandfourtypesofknowledge.   WhyUseBloom’sTaxonomy? Theauthorsoftherevisedtaxonomysuggestamulti-layeredanswertothisquestion,towhichtheauthorofthisteachingguidehasaddedsomeclarifyingpoints: Objectives(learninggoals)areimportanttoestablishinapedagogicalinterchangesothatteachersandstudentsalikeunderstandthepurposeofthatinterchange. Organizingobjectiveshelpstoclarifyobjectivesforthemselvesandforstudents. Havinganorganizedsetofobjectiveshelpsteachersto: “plananddeliverappropriateinstruction”; “designvalidassessmenttasksandstrategies”;and “ensurethatinstructionandassessmentarealignedwiththeobjectives.” CitationsarefromATaxonomyforLearning,Teaching,andAssessing:ARevisionofBloom’sTaxonomyofEducationalObjectives.   FurtherInformation SectionIIIofATaxonomyforLearning,Teaching,andAssessing:ARevisionofBloom’sTaxonomyofEducationalObjectives,entitled“TheTaxonomyinUse,”providesover150pagesofexamplesofapplicationsofthetaxonomy.AlthoughtheseexamplesarefromtheK-12setting,theyareeasilyadaptabletotheuniversitysetting. SectionIV,“TheTaxonomyinPerspective,”providesinformationabout19alternativeframeworkstoBloom’sTaxonomy,anddiscussestherelationshipofthesealternativeframeworkstotherevisedBloom’sTaxonomy.     ThisteachingguideislicensedunderaCreativeCommonsAttribution-NonCommercial4.0InternationalLicense.       LoadingComments...   WriteaComment... Email(Required) Name(Required) Website