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A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy: An Overview: David R. Krathwohl
A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy: An Overview: David R. Krathwohl
David R. Krathwohl
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THEORY INTO PRACTICE / Autumn 2002
Revising Bloom’s Taxonomy
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Krathwohl
An Overview
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THEORY INTO PRACTICE / Autumn 2002
Revising Bloom’s Taxonomy
Write original compositions that analyze patterns and Understand through Create are usually considered
relationships of ideas, topics, or themes. the most important outcomes of education, their
Placement of the objective along the Knowl- inclusion, or lack of it, is readily apparent from
edge dimension requires a consideration of the noun the Taxonomy Table. Consider this example from
phrase “patterns and relationships of ideas, topics, or one of the vignettes in the revised Taxonomy vol-
themes.” “Patterns and relationships” are associated ume in which a teacher, Ms. Gwendolyn Airasian,
with B. Conceptual Knowledge. So we would classi- describes a classroom unit in which she integrates
fy the noun component as an example of B. Concep- Pre-Revolutionary War colonial history with a per-
tual Knowledge. Concerning the placement of the suasive writing assignment. Ms. Airasian lists four
objective along the Cognitive Process dimension, we specific objectives. She wants her students to:
note there are two verbs: write and analyze. Writ-
1. Remember the specific parts of the Parliamentary
ing compositions calls for Producing, and, as such,
Acts (e.g., the Sugar, Stamp, and Townshend
would be classified as an example of 6. Create.
Acts);
Analyze, of course, would be 4. Analyze. Since
2. Explain the consequences of the Parliamentary
both categories of cognitive processes are likely to
Acts for different colonial groups;
be involved (with students being expected to ana-
3. Choose a colonial character or group and write
lyze before they create), we would place this ob-
a persuasive editorial stating his/her/its position
jective in two cells of the Taxonomy Table: B4,
on the Acts (the editorial must include at least
Analyze Conceptual Knowledge, and B6, Create
one supporting reason not specifically taught or
[based on] Conceptual Knowledge (see Figure 1).
covered in the class); and
We use the bracketed [based on] to indicate that
4. Self- and peer edit the editorial.
the creation itself isn’t conceptual knowledge; rath-
er, the creation is primarily based on, in this case, Categorizing the first objective, 1. Remember
conceptual knowledge. is clearly the cognitive process, and “specific parts
By using the Taxonomy Table, an analysis of the Parliamentary Acts” is Ab. Knowledge of spe-
of the objectives of a unit or course provides, cific details or elements, a subcategory of A. Factu-
among other things, an indication of the extent to al Knowledge. So this objective is placed in cell
which more complex kinds of knowledge and cog- A1.5 “Explain,” the verb in the second objective,
nitive processes are involved. Since objectives from is the seventh cognitive process, 2.7 Explaining,
A. Factual
Knowledge
B. Conceptual X X
Knowledge
C. Procedural
Knowledge
D. Metacognitive
Knowledge
Figure 1. The placement in the Taxonomy Table of the State of Minnesota’s Language Arts Standard for
Grade 12.
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Krathwohl
An Overview
under 2. Understand. Since the student is asked to more important and long-lasting fruits of educa-
explain the “consequences of the Parliamentary tion—the more complex ones.
Acts,” one can infer that “consequences” refers to In addition to showing what was included,
generalized statements about the Acts’ aftereffects the Taxonomy Table also suggests what might have
and is closest to Bc. Knowledge of theories, models, been but wasn’t. Thus, in Figure 2, the two blank
and structures. The type of knowledge, then, would bottom rows raise questions about whether there
be B. Conceptual Knowledge. This objective would might have been procedural or metacognitive
be classified in cell B2. knowledge objectives that could have been includ-
The key verb in the third objective is “write.” ed. For example, are there procedures to follow in
Like the classification of the State of Minnesota’s editing that the teacher could explicitly teach the
standard discussed above, writing is 6.3 Produc- students? Alternatively, is knowledge of the kinds of
ing, a process within 6. Create. To describe “his/ errors common in one’s own writing and preferred
her/its position on the Acts” would require some ways of correcting them an important metacognitive
combination of A. Factual Knowledge and B. Con- outcome of self-editing that could have been em-
ceptual Knowledge, so this objective would be clas- phasized? The panorama of possibilities presented
sified in two cells: A6 and B6. Finally, the fourth by the Taxonomy Table causes one to look at blank
objective involves the verbs “self-edit” and “peer areas and reflect on missed teaching opportunities.
edit.” Editing is a type of evaluation, so the process The Taxonomy Table can also be used to clas-
involved is 5. Evaluate. The process of evaluation sify the instructional and learning activities used
will involve criteria, which are classified as B. to achieve the objectives, as well as the assess-
Conceptual Knowledge, so the fourth objective would ments employed to determine how well the objec-
fall in cell B5. The completed Taxonomy Table for tives were mastered by the students. The use of
this unit’s objectives is shown in Figure 2. the Taxonomy Table for these purposes is described
From the table, one can quickly visually de- and illustrated in the six vignettes contained in the
termine the extent to which the more complex cat- revised Taxonomy volume (Anderson, Krathwohl,
egories are represented. Ms. Airasian’s unit is quite et al., 2001, chaps. 8-13). In the last two articles
good in this respect. Only one objective deals with of this issue, Airasian discusses assessment in great-
the Remember category; the others involve cogni- er detail, and Anderson describes and illustrates
tive processes that are generally recognized as the alignment.
C. Procedural
Knowledge
D. Metacognitive
Knowledge
Figure 2. The classification in a Taxonomy Table of the four objectives of Ms. Airasian’s unit integrat-
ing Pre-Revolutionary War colonial history with a persuasive writing assignment.
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THEORY INTO PRACTICE / Autumn 2002
Revising Bloom’s Taxonomy
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