Bloom’s Taxonomy

Introduction
• Benjamin Samuel Bloom (February 21, 1913 –
September 13, 1999) was an American
educational psychologist who examined and then
restructured the way teaching should be
approached, to maximise learners’ performance.
• Bloom's taxonomy is a classification system used
to define and distinguish different levels of
human cognition—i.e., thinking, learning, and
understanding.
• Bloom's taxonomy is based on the belief that
learners must begin by learning basic,
foundational knowledge about a given subject
before they can progress to more complex types
of thinking such as analysis and evaluation.
 Bloom’s Taxonomy
• Bloom’s taxonomy is a multi-layered model
for encouraging learning by progressing
through six levels of increasing complexity.
• Bloom’s Taxonomy provides a learning
framework that moves a student from
lower-order thinking to higher-order
thinking.
• There are six levels of cognitive learning
according to the revised version of Bloom's
Taxonomy. Each level is conceptually
different. The six levels are remembering,
understanding, applying, analyzing,
evaluating, and creating.
Interdependance of
Learning Levels
Before we can understand a concept,
we must be able to remember it.

Before we can apply the concept, we

must be able to understand it.

Before we analyse it, we must be able

to apply it.

Before we can evaluate its impact, we

must have analysed it.
Before we can create something based
on the concept, we must have
remembered, understood, applied,
analysed and evaluated the concept.
Level 1: Remembering
• Verbs: Describe, Identify, Label, List, Name, Recite,
Repeat.
• Remembering is the act of retrieving knowledge and
can be used to produce things like definitions or
lists. It is the lowest of the taxonomic levels but is
essential for the learning process because learners
need to have knowledge in place before they can
engage with it at higher cognitive levels. Examples
of Remembering include reciting the times’ table,
naming different parts of the human anatomy,
answering true or false questions, recalling critical
events on a historical timeline or even naming the
six cognitive levels of Bloom’s taxonomy.
Remembering requires no understanding of the
knowledge, only to have it accurately and
thoroughly in mind.
Level 2: Understanding
• Verbs: Examine, Generalize, Group, Order, Paraphrase, Rephrase,
Sort.
• The next level in the taxonomic structure is Understanding, which is
defined as the construction of meaning and the building of
relationships. Understanding can be demonstrated by, for example,
grouping a list of different animals into the right categories (marine,
avian, terrestrial, amphibian); explaining how one event on a
historical timeline impacted on another, discussing the moral of a
story or being able to explain why Bloom’s has different cognitive
levels and the logic behind their hierarchy.
Level 3: Applying
• Verbs: Compute, Demonstrate, Direct, Dramatise, Formulate,
Make, Present.
• The third level in Bloom’s taxonomy, Applying, marks a
fundamental shift from the pre-Bloom’s learning era because it
involves remembering what has been learnt, having a good
understanding of the knowledge, and then being able to apply
it to real-world exercises, challenges or situations. Examples of
Applying in action could include making repairs to a computer’s
components; role-playing mediation and conflict resolution
between two warring countries; demonstrating the steps that
take place in HIV counselling and testing, or presenting a talk on
solutions to climate change.
 Level 4:
Analysing
• Verbs: Simplify, Criticise, Distinguish, Explain,
Illustrate, Inspect, Question.
• Analysing is the cognitive level where a learner
can take the knowledge they have
remembered, understood and applied, then
delve into that knowledge to make
associations, discernments or comparisons.
Analysing would mean a learner can take
complex information, and simplify it or
summarise it. As other examples, a learner
would be able to give reasons why one historic
military campaign failed and why another
succeeded, or critically examine aspects of
Bloom’s original taxonomy and explain why his
students later updated them.
Level 5: Evaluating
• Verbs: Decide, Forecast, Judge, Prioritise, Revise,
Value, Weigh.
• The fifth level in Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy is
evaluation. This level requires the learner to make
criteria-based judgements through the processes of
critiquing and checking. Evaluating could involve
reading a book and writing a review on its merits;
looking at the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
and deciding which rights are more or less relevant to a
given country; suggesting ways to introduce digital
technology into the classroom environment, or making
an informed judgement in a role play of court case
proceedings.
Level 6: Creating
• Verbs: Construct, Write, Develop, Design, Invent, Originate, Set
up.
• The final taxonomic level is concerned with taking various
elements and creating a new, coherent product. This level draws
on all of the other levels, with the learner remembering,
understanding and applying knowledge; analysing and evaluating
outcomes and processes, and then constructing the end product,
which may be either physical or conceptual. For example,
designing and building a house out of wooden segments, and
designing a 3D model of a house on a computer would both be
examples of Creating. Another example would be a Learner
taking the knowledge of Bloom’s taxonomy which they have
remembered, understood, applied, analysed and evaluated, and
creating a brand new model for the tiers of cognitive thinking and
learning.
Example 1: Primary
English-language classroom
• Remembering – Teaching learners the letters of the
alphabet through rote (repetition) learning.
• Understanding – Learners realise how words, for example,
their names, are constructed by combining letters.
• Applying – Learners use the letters of the alphabet to write
words they are shown.
• Analysing – Learners appraise a list of words and can point
out correctly and incorrectly spelt words.
• Evaluating – Learners determine that the alphabet can be
used to form written communication.
• Creating – Learners construct simple pieces of
communication from the words and phrases learnt.
Example 2: Secondary
school Biology class
• Remembering – Teaching learners the scientific parts of a flowering
plant using a diagram.
• Understanding – Learners realise how different parts of the plant
relate and work together.
• Applying – Learners are divided into groups and given plants to
cultivate for a set period. Each group is instructed to give their plant
different amounts of water and sunlight and to use different soils.
• Analysing – The groups examine their own and each other’s plants
under microscopes, to see the effects of variable cultivation on the
plants’ different parts.
• Evaluating – Learners propose optimal cultivating guidelines and
their likely outcome.
• Creating – Learners plant a vegetable garden at the school and
create a cultivation roster.
Example 3: English as a second
language training course
• Remembering – Teaching learners to recite commonly used English
phrases.
• Understanding – There is a realisation of when and how these
phrases are used in everyday life.
• Applying – In pairs, the students role-play using the phrases in
everyday situations.
• Analysing – The students are able to group English phrases into
different categories – greeting, question, request, order, praise,
criticism, warning, complaint, etc.
• Evaluating – The students are able to assess different messages
written in English and put forward better or clearer ways to express
what is being said.
• Creating -The students can create a written conversation between
two people in English.
Example 4: University-
level politics class
• Remembering – Teaching learner’s history’s most prominent political
movements.
• Understanding – Students gain an understanding of their different values,
priorities and manifestos.
• Applying – Students divide into groups where each group represents a
different political movement and conduct a class debate on a topical issue,
taking the standpoint of the different movements.
• Analysing – Students appraise how the different political parties addressed
the same issue and identify which parties shared the most common
ground with each other.
• Evaluating – Students give reasons for the merits and relevance of the
different political movements for today’s society.
• Creating – In groups, the students create new fictional political parties
with their own names, values, priorities and manifestos.
Summary
Bibliography
Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about
Bloom’s Taxonomy
(https://www.niallmcnulty.com/2019/12/introduction-to-
blooms-taxonomy/)