Benjamin Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives

In their book, Richard D. Solomon and Neil A Davidson (2012) , Encouraging Skillful, Critical and Creative Thinking: Participant’s Guide Fourth R Consulting,  LLC, Tucson, AZ, wrote the following narrative about the Benjamin Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives:

Benjamin Bloom developed the first and most widely known educational taxonomy in 1956 (Bloom, 1956). In his book, Taxonomy of Educational Objectives  (Cognitive domain), he described six types of thinking: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. In the chart below, you will find definitions of the six types of thinking, and sample questions and sentence stems.

Questions and Directions Worksheet (Bloom's Taxonomy)

Directions: In the last column, write questions or directions based on the type of thinking described in each row.

Type of Thinking	Definition	Sample Questions or Stems	Your Question or Directions
Knowledge	Recalling data i.e. facts, concepts, etc.	Where did... What was... Who (was) were... When did... How many... Locate in the story where... Point to...
Comprehension	Explaining the meaning of information	Tell in your own words... What does it mean... Give an example of... Describe what... Illustrate the part of the story that... Make a map...
Application	Using knowledge in a new situation	What would happen to you if... Would you have done the same as... If your were there would you... How would you solve this problem in you own life? In the library, find information about... Solve this algebra problem by applying the rule for completing the square.

Analysis	Identifying parts and relationships	What things would you have used... What other ways could... What things are similar/different... What part of this story (etc.) was most... What things couldn't have happened in real life? What kind of person is... What caused...to act the way... did? Outline...
Synthesis	Reasoning from parts to whole	What would it be like if... What would it be like to live... Design a... Pretend you are... What would happen if....Why/Why not? Add a new twist to the story. Tell (write) a different ending
Evaluation	Judging knowledge based on criteria	Would you recommend this book to your friend? Why/Why not? Select the best...Why is it the best? What do you think will happen to... Why do you think that? Could this story really have happened? Which person in the story would you most like to meet? Why/Why not? Was...good or bad? Why? Do you like this story? Why?

Name__________________________

Bloom’s Taxonomy Worksheet for Elementary Grades

Permission to include this elementary version of Bloom's taxonomy was given by Nancy Legath, 2003.

In 2001, Anderson and Krathwohl¹¹  slightly revised Bloom's work into  these six taxonomic levels: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating. The chart on the following pages provides a definition, a set of related learning verbs,  a list of student and teachers behaviors, and a column on assessments.

Expanded Taxonomy of Learning by Anderson and Krathwohl

Taxonomy	Definition	Related Learning Verbs	What the Student Does	What the Teacher Does	Assessments
Remember	Recall  specific bits of information	Tell, list, describe, name, repeat, remember, recall, select, match, know, locate, report, recognize, observe, choose, who, what, where, when, cite, define, indicate, label, memorize, outline, record, relate, reproduce, underline identify, state,	Absorbs Remembers Recognizes Responds	Directs Tells Shows Examines	Students recognize, recall or find information.
Understand	Construct meaning from information	Explain, restate, find, describe, review, relate, define, clarify, illustrate, diagram, outline, summarize, interpret,  paraphrase, transform, compare similarities and differences, derive main idea, arrange, convert, defend, discuss, estimate, extend, generalize, give examples, locate, report, translate	Explains Translates Demon-strates Interprets Summarizes	Demon-strates Listens Questions Compares Examines	Students organize previously learned material, rephrase it, describe it in their own words, use it for making comparisons, change from one form of representa-tion to another.

Taxonomy	Definition	Related Learning Verbs	What the Student Does	What the Teacher Does	Assessments
Apply	Use methods, concepts, principles, and theories in new situations	Apply, practice, employ, solve, use, demonstrate, illustrate, show, report, paint, draw, collect, dramatize, classify, put in order, change, compute, construct, interpret, investigate, manipulate, modify, operate, organize, predict, prepare, produce, schedule, sketch, translate	Solves novel problems Demon-strates Uses know-ledge con-structs	Shows Facilitates Observes Criticizes	Students use previously learned information in order to solve a problem or to complete familiar or unfamiliar tasks.
Analyze	Identify how parts relate to one another or to a larger structure/ purpose	Analyze, dissect, detect, test, deconstruct, discriminate, distinguish, examine, focus, find coherence, survey, compare, contrast, classify, investigate, outline, separate, structure, categorize, solve, diagram, determine evidence and conclusions, appraise, break down, calculate, criticize, debate, experiment, identify, illustrate, infer, inspect, inventory, question, relate, select	Discusses Uncovers Lists Dissects Compares and contrasts	Probes Guides Ob-serves Acts as a resource	Students will 1) identify reasons, causes, & motives; 2) consider available evidence to reach a conclusion, inference or generaliza-tion; 3) analyze a conclusion, inference or generalization to find supporting evidence.

Taxonomy	Definition	Related Learning Verbs	What the Student Does	What the Teacher Does		Assessments
Evaluate	Judge the value of something based on criteria, processes, or standards	Coordinate, judge, select/choose, decide, debate, evaluate, justify, recommend, verify, monitor, measure, the best way, what worked, what could have been different, what is your opinion, test, appraise, assess, compare, conclude, contrast, criticize, discriminate, estimate, explain, grade, interpret, rate, relate, revise, score, summarize, support, value	Judges Disputes Forms opinions	Accepts Lays bare the criteria Har-monizes	Students judge the merit and value of an idea, a solution to a problem, an aesthetic work, etc.
Create	Generate a coherent functional whole; recognize new patterns	Create, hypothesize, design, construct, invent, imagine, discover,  present, deduce, induce, bring together,  compose, pretend, predict, organize, plan, modify, improve, suppose, produce, set up, what if, propose, formulate, solve (more than one answer), arrange, assemble, categorize, collect, combine, devise, explain, generate, manage, perform, prepare, rearrange, reconstruct, relate, reorganize, revise, and argue for	Generates Hypothe-sizes Plans Designs Produces Constructs Argues	Reflects Extends Analyzes Evaluates	Students will 1) produce original work or communica-tion; 2) make predictions; 3) solve problems; 4) invent, hypothesize, devise a procedure; argue for a position; present a work of art or music to be juried

In 2007 Marzano and Kendall published  a New Taxonomy of Educational Objectives which is even more complex and sophisticated than the previous taxonomies. Their new taxonomy includes six levels of cognitive processing (i.e. retrieval, comprehension, analysis, knowledge utilization, metacognitive, and the self-system) and three domains of knowledge (i.e. information, mental procedures and psychomotor procedures). A diagram of their new taxonomy of educational objectives appears below.

Diagram of the New Taxonomy of Educational Objectives of

Marzano and Kendall

In the next post we will share additional resources on Benjamin Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives.