“Bloom’s Taxonomy”

What is Bloom’s Taxonomy?

-Traditional Hierarchy of Thinking Processes In 1956, Benjamin Bloom wrote

Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Cognitive Domain, and his six level description of
thinking has been widely adapted and used in countless contexts ever since. His list of
cognitive processes is organized from the most simple, the recall of knowledge, to the most
complex, making judgments about the value and worth of an idea.

-Bloom's taxonomy is a set of three hierarchical models used for classification of

educational learning objectives into levels of complexity and specificity. The three lists cover
the learning objectives in cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains. The cognitive
domain list has been the primary focus of most traditional education and is frequently used to
structure curriculum learning objectives, assessments and activities.

-In its basic definition, a taxonomy is a structured set of names and descriptions used
to organize information and documents in a consistent way

-Example activities at the Creation level: design a new solution to an ‘old’ problem
that honors/acknowledges the previous failures, delete the least useful arguments in a
persuasive essay, write a poem based on a given theme and tone
-In one sentence, Bloom’s Taxonomy is a hierarchical ordering of cognitive skills
that can, among countless other uses, help teachers teach and students learn.
-Here are the authors’ brief explanations of these main categories in from the appendix
of Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (Handbook One, pp. 201-207):

 Knowledge
o  “Involves the recall of specifics and universals, the recall of methods and
processes, or the recall of a pattern, structure, or setting.”
o This initial level involved recalling basic facts, processes, and methods, or
patterns and structures.
 Comprehension 
o “Refers to a type of understanding or apprehension such that the individual
knows what is being communicated and can make use of the material or idea
being communicated without necessarily relating it to other material or seeing
its fullest implications.”
o This level refers to the learners’ understanding of the ideas and materials
presented at the first level. At this stage, they won’t necessarily be able to see
the full implications or their knowledge or be able to relate it to other
material.  
 Application
o  Refers to the “use of abstractions in particular and concrete situations.”
o At this level of thinking, learners should be able to use their
knowledge and understanding in certain situations.
 Analysis
o  Represents the “breakdown of a communication into its constituent elements
or parts such that the relative hierarchy of ideas is made clear and/or the
relations between ideas expressed are made explicit.”
o At the analysis level, learners are expected to be able to articulate the
relationship between different ideas and be able to breakdown their learning
into elements or parts.  
 Synthesis
o  Involves the “putting together of elements and parts so as to form a whole.”
 o This level of thinking involves combining different ideas or elements to create
new structures or ideas.  
 Evaluation 
o Engenders “judgments about the value of material and methods for given
purposes.”
o In the original Bloom’s taxonomy, ‘evaluation’ was the highest level of
thinking and was thought to require the most complex mental processes. At
this level, learners are expected to make judgments about the value of the
methods or materials presented to them.  
-Bloom’s Taxonomy can be used to:

1. create assessments
2. frame discussions
3. plan lessons
4. evaluate the complexity of assignments
5. design curriculum maps
6. develop online courses
7. plan project-based learning
8. self-assessment

“Knowledge”
-Knowledge involves recognizing or remembering facts, terms, basic concepts, or
answers without necessarily understanding what they mean. 

-A knowledge taxonomy, focuses on enabling the efficient retrieval and sharing of

knowledge, information, and data across an organization by building the taxonomy around
workflows and knowledge needs in an intuitive structure (Lambe, 2007, Malafsky, 2008).

-Is defined as remembering of previously learned material. This may involve the
recall of a wide range of material, from specific facts to complete theories, but all that is
required is the bringing to mind of the appropriate information. Knowledge represents the
lowest level of learning outcomes in the cognitive domain.

--TheKnowledge Dimension is the “knowing what.” It has four

categories: factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive.
In the revised taxonomy, knowledge is at the basis of these six
cognitive processes, but its authors created a separate taxonomy of
the types of knowledge used in cognition:
 Factual Knowledge
o Knowledge of terminology
 oKnowledge of specific details and elements
 Conceptual Knowledge
o Knowledge of classifications and categories

o Knowledge of principles and generalizations

o Knowledge of theories, models, and structures

 Procedural Knowledge
o Knowledge of subject-specific skills and algorithms

o Knowledge of subject-specific techniques and methods

o Knowledge of criteria for determining when to use

appropriate procedures
 Metacognitive Knowledge
o Strategic Knowledge

o Knowledge about cognitive tasks, including appropriate

contextual and conditional knowledge

o Self-knowledge

-A group of researchers, psychologists, and assessment specialists produced a revised

version of Bloom’s Taxonomy, A Taxonomy for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment, in
2001. Their main goal was to move the focus away from purely educational objectives and
make it clearer for learners to understand specifically what was required of them at each
stage.  

These are: Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, and Create.

 QUESTIONS:

1.) What level of Bloom’s Taxonomy that recalls, Identify, and reproduce information?
a.) Analysis
b.) Comprehension
c.) Knowledge
d.) Evaluation
2.) ____________ is to visualize, recognize, memorize, and to cite data.
 a.) Application
b.) Synthesis
c.) Comprehension
d.) Knowledge
3.) _____________ is a familiarity, awareness, or understanding of someone or something,
such as facts, information, descriptions, or skills, which is acquired through experience or
education by perceiving, discovering, or learning.
a.) Knowledge
b.) Analysis
c.) Comprehension
d.) All of the above
4.)_______________acquisition involves complex cognitive processes: perception,
communication, and reasoning.
a.) Knowledge
b.) Skills
c.) Application
d.) Comprehension
5.) What is the lowest level of learning outcome in the cognitive domain and requires student
to recall of facts?
a.) Analysis
b.) Understanding
c.) Evaluation
d.) Knowledge
6.) This is a level of bloom’s taxonomy that serves a method of inquiry must be based on
gathering observable and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning and
experimentation.
a.) Evaluation
b.) Comprehension
c.) Analysis
d.) Knowledge
7.) It is an awareness or familiarity gained by experience of a fact or situation or the
theoretical and practical understanding of a subject.
a.) Remembering
b.) Conceptualizing
 c.) Analysis
d.) Knowledge
8.) The basis of the six cognitive processes.
a.) Knowledge
b.) Analysis
c.) Comprehension
d.) Evaluation
9.) Refers to a theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.
a.) Analysis
b.) Understanding
c.) Skill to analyse
d.) Knowledge
10.) The following are examples of knowledge except:
a.) Making timeline of your typical day
b.) Recite a poem you have learned.
c.) What characters were in the story?
d.) in your own words, define science.