Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy

Original Work by:

Benjamin Bloom, et al. 1956.
Revised in 2001.
 In 1956, Benjamin Bloom headed a group of
educational psychologist who developed a
classification of levels of intellectual behavior
important in learning. This became a
Taxonomy including three overlapping
domains, the Cognitive, Psychomotor, and
Affective domains.
 Cognitive Learning
Cognitive learning is demonstrated through knowledge
recall and the intellectual skills: comprehending
information, organizing ideas, analyzing and
synthesizing data, applying knowledge, choosing
among alternatives in problem solving, and evaluating
ideas or actions.
Bloom identified 6 Levels within the Cognitive
Domain from simple recall or recognition of facts at
the lowest level, through increasingly more complex
and abstract mental levels, to the highest order which
is classified as Evaluation.

• Knowledge
• Comprehension
• Application
• Analysis
• Synthesis
• Evaluation
Bloom’s Taxonomy
 Knowledge

Know, define, memorize, repeat, record,

list, recall, name, relate, collect, label,
specify, cite, enumerate, tell, recount….
 Comprehension

Restate, summarize, discuss, describe,

recognize, explain, express, identify,
locate, report, retell, review, translate….
 Application
Exhibit, solve, interview, stimulate,
apply, employ, use, demonstrate,
dramatize, practice, illustrate, operate,
calculate, show, experiment….
 Analysis
Interpret, analyze, differentiate, compare,
contrast, scrutinize, categorize, probe,
investigate, discover, inquire, detect, inspect,
classify, arrange, group, organize, examine,
survey, dissect, inventory, question, test,
distinguish, diagram….
 Synthesis
Compose, plan, propose, invent, develop,
design, formulate, arrange, assemble,
construct, create, set-up, prepare, imagine,
hypothesize, incorporate, generalize,
originate, predict, contrive, concoct,
systematize….
 Evaluation

Judge, decide, appraise, evaluate, rate,

compare, revise, conclude, select, criticize,
assess, measure, estimate, infer, deduce,
score, predict,choose, recommend,
determine….
 Affective Learning
Affective learning is demonstrated by behaviors indicating
attitudes of awareness, interest, attention, concern, and
responsibility, ability to listen and respond in interactions
with others, and ability to demonstrate those attitudinal
characteristics or values which are appropriate to the test
situation and the field of study….
 Affective Learning
The domain relates to emotions, attitudes,
appreciations, and values, such as enjoying,
conserving, respecting, and supporting. Verbs
applicable to the affective domain include:
accepts, attempts, challenges, defends, disputes,
joins, judges, praises, questions, shares, supports,
and volunteers.
 Affective Learning
• There are 5 categories
listed in the Affective
Domain.
• Receiving.
• Responding.
• Valuing.
• Organization.
• Internalizing, (Character).
Affective Learning
 Affective Learning
• Receiving Phenomena: Awareness, willingness to
hear, selected attention.
• Responding to Phenomena: Active participation
on the part of the learner. Attends and reacts to a
particular phenomena. Learning outcomes may
emphasize compliance in responding, willingness
to respond, or satisfaction in responding
(motivation).
 Affective Learning
• Valuing: The worth or value a person attaches to a
particular object, phenomenon, or behavior. This ranges
from simple acceptance to the more complex state of
commitment. Valuing is based on an internalized set of
specified values.
• Organization: Organizes values into priorities, by
contrasting different values, resolving conflicts between
them, and creating a unique value system. The emphasis is
on relating, comparing, and synthesizing values.
 Affective Learning
• Internalizing Values (Characterization): Has a
value system that controls their behavior. The
behavior is pervasive, consistent, predictable, and
most importantly, characteristic of the learner.
Instructional objectives are concerned with the
student’s general patterns of adjustment (personal,
social, and emotional).
 Psychomotor Learning

Psychomotor learning is demonstrated by physical

skills; coordination, dexterity, manipulation, grace,
strength, speed; actions which demonstrate the use of
fine motor skills such as the use of precision
instruments or tools, or actions which evidence gross
motor skills such as the use of the body in dance or
athletic performance.
 Psychomotor Learning

Verbs applicable to the Psychomotor

domain include bend, grasp, handle,
operate, reach, relax, shorten, stretch, write,
differentiate (by touch), express (facially),
and perform (skillfully).
 Psychomotor Learning
• There are 5 categories
of psychomotor
learning.
• Imitation
• Manipulation
• Precision
• Articulation
• Naturalization
Psychomotor Learning
 Psychomotor Learning
• Perception: The ability to use sensory cues to
guide motor activities. This ranges from sensory
stimulation, through cue selection, to translation.
• Set: Readiness to act. It includes mental, physical
and emotional sets. These three sets are
dispositions that predetermine a person’s response
to different situations (sometimes called
mindsets).
 Psychomotor Learning
• Complex Overt Response: The skillful performance of
motor acts that involve complex movement patterns.
Proficiency is indicated by a quick, accurate, and highly
coordinated performance, requiring a minimum of
energy. To include performing without hesitation, and
automatic performance. Many learners express
themselves verbally as to their performance or actions.
They feel their performance.
 Psychomotor Learning
• Adaptation: Skills are well developed and the
individual can modify movement patterns to fit
special requirements.
• Origination: Creating new movement patterns to
fit a particular situation or specific problem.
Learning outcomes emphasize creativity based
upon highly developed skills.
 Psychomotor Learning
• Guided Response: The early stages in learning a
complex skill that includes imitation and trial and
error. Adequacy of performance is achieved by
practicing.
• Mechanism: This is the intermediate stage in
learning a complex skill. Learned responses have
become habitual and the movements can be
performed with some confidence and proficiency.
 Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy

Bloom created a learning taxonomy in 1956, and since

that time we have learned more about the way that
children learn. Teachers have also revised the way they
plan and implement instruction. Anderson and
Krathwohl (2001) revised Bloom’s original taxonomy by
combining both the cognitive process, and knowledge
dimensions.
The revised taxonomy incorporates both the kind of
knowledge to be learned (knowledge dimension) and
the process used to learn (cognitive process),
allowing for the instructional designer to efficiently
align objectives to assessment techniques. Both
dimensions are illustrated in the following table that
can be used to help write clear, focused objectives.
The Revised Taxonomy Table
 The Revised Taxonomy Table

For teachers, the objectives for an entire unit can be plotted

out on the taxonomy table, ensuring that all levels of the
cognitive process are used and that students learn different
types of knowledge. For example, if a math teacher were
planning a unit, they could use the taxonomy table to make
sure that students not only learned different math procedures,
but also learned how to think (meta-cognition) about the best
way to solve a math problem.
 The Revised Taxonomy Table

Teachers may also use the new taxonomy

dimensions to examine current objectives
(State Standards) in units, and to revise the
objectives so that they will align with one
another, and with assessments. The revised
table also gives teachers a place to start.
 The Revised Taxonomy Table
• Anderson and Krathwohl
also list specific verbs that
can be used when writing
objectives for each
column of the cognitive
process dimension.
• Remember: recognize, recall….
• Understand: compare, classify,
summarize….
• Apply: Implementing,
execute….
• Analyze: organizing,
attributing….
• Evaluate: checking,
critiquing….
• Create: produce, plan….
The purpose of writing objectives is to define what
the instructor wants the student to learn.
 How to use the Revised Taxonomy
Table
Learning objectives must fall under one of the four
categories under the knowledge dimension, and
under one of the six categories of the cognitive
process dimension. Where the knowledge and
cognitive process dimension intersect, is where the
objective stands on the revised taxonomy table.
The Revised Taxonomy Table
 The Revised Taxonomy Table

Utilize this technique to analyze objectives. If

an objective has a vague learning procedure
for students to complete, such as “to know”,
the objective cannot be placed on the table: a
clue that the old objective needs to be revised.
Bloom Taxonomy
Revised

Happy
Teaching
Gallup-McKinley
County Schools