Bloom's Taxonomy

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Bloom's Taxonomy Of Educational Objectives (Revised)

Objectives state what we want our students to learn. The statement of an objective describes the type of cognitive process that you want the student to use to demonstrate learning the subject matter content.

Examples, with the cognitive processes in italics and the subject matter content in bold:

The student will learn to categorize rational and irrational numbers.
The student will learn to distinguish among confederal, federal, and unitary systems of government.
The student will be able to design an experiment to test a hypothesis.

Type of Knowledge	Examples
Factual Knowledge The basic elements students must know to be acquainted with a discipline or solve problems in it	Technical vocabulary, musical symbols, major natural resources, reliable sources of information, works by an artist, historical events
Conceptual Knowledge The interrelationship among the basic elements within a larger structure that enables them to function together	Syntax classifications, periods of geological time, forms of business ownership, Pythagorean theorem, fundamental laws of physics, theory of evolution, theory of plate tectonics, genetic models, models of government
Procedural Knowledge How to do something, methods of inquiry, and criteria for using skills, algorithms, techniques, and methods	Skills used to paint a watercolor, skills used to determine a sports injury, algorithms for solving quadratic equations, methods of literary criticism, the scientific method, criteria for determining which statistical procedure to use
Metacognitive Knowledge Knowledge of cognition in general as well as awareness and knowledge of one's own cognition	Knowledge of various mnemonic strategies, knowledge of various organizational strategies, knowledge that elaboration strategies such as summarizing and paraphrasing can result in deeper levels of comprehension, knowledge of one's level of knowledge in an area, knowledge of one's motivation for a task

Cognitive Process	Verbs	Sample Question Stem	Potential Student Activity
Remember Retrieve relevant knowledge from long-term memory	Remember, recognize, identify, recall, retrieve	What happened after...? How many...? What is...? Who was it that...? Where did...?	Make a list showing... Make a time line Make a chart showing...
Understand Construct meaning from instructional messages, including oral, written, and graphic communication	Understand, interpret, clarify, paraphrase, infer, represent, translate, exemplify, match, illustrate, explain, classify, categorize, map, summarize, abstract, generalize, predict, conclude, compare, contrast, interpolate, extrapolate	Explain... Who do you think... Why did... What would a graph of ... look like Which equation corresponds to this statement... What are examples of... How could you group... How are ... similar	Write a summary of ... Prepare a flow chart (concept map) of ... Write an explanation of... Make a taxonomy of ... Draw a map/graph of ... Write down possible outcomes of... Retell an event in your own words Make a model of...
Apply Carry out or use a procedure in a given situation	apply, execute, carry out, use, implement	What is the answer to the following problem ...? How would you solve...? How would you do ...?	Solve a problem Write a response to a case study Perform a lab experiment
Analyze Break material into its constituent parts and determine how the parts relate to one another and to an overall structure or purpose	Analyze, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, focus, select, organize, integrate, outline, structure, attribute, deconstruct, find coherence	What was the turning point ...? How is ... similar to ...? Why did ... occur? What is needed to ...? Can you distinguish between ...? What were some of the motives behind ...?	Write a biography Make a map showing interrelationships Write an analysis of ... Write an essay examining bias in ... Construct a graph to organize relevant information
Evaluate Make judgments based on criteria or standards	Evaluate, check, coordinate, detect, monitor, test, critique, judge	Is there a better solution? What do you think about ... and why? Is ... good and why?	Conduct a debate Write a critique Prepare a case Write an opinion piece
Create Put elements together to form a coherent or functional whole; reorganize elements into a new pattern or structure	Create, generate, hypothesize, plan, design, produce, construct	What are possible solutions to ...? Can you design a... to...? What would happen if...? How many ways can you...?	Design an experiment Create a new product Plan a marketing campaign Create a piece of art Design a new building

Resources

Anderson, L.W., & Krathwohl, D.R. (Eds.). (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives. New York: Longman.