Bloom’s Taxonomy - Best Tool For Teaching and Learning

Are you trying to teach people without identifying educational objectives? 

If you keep doing that, your learners may waste their time succeeding in things that are of no use to them. To avoid that, clarify your instructional goals using Bloom’s Taxonomy.

This article will help you learn:

What is Bloom’s Taxonomy?
Original Bloom’s Taxonomy
Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy
Bloom’s Taxonomy levels
Why Bloom’s Taxonomy is important?
Bloom’s Taxonomy verbs

What is Bloom’s Taxonomy?

Bloom’s Taxonomy attempts to classify learning stages from remembering facts to creating new ideas based on the acquired knowledge.

The idea of Bloom’s Taxonomy is that learning is a consecutive process. Before applying a concept in real life, we must understand it. Before we understand a concept, we must remember the key facts related to it.

Therefore, although initially described as a framework, it is now often depicted as a pyramid.

The basis of the pyramid is Knowledge, the first level of learning. Above it lies Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation. Each level above builds upon the one below, so you can only move up the pyramid one step at a time.

Original Bloom’s Taxonomy

The original taxonomy was first described in 1956 in the book Taxonomy of Educational Objectives by American educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom and his coauthors Max Englehart, Edward Furst, Walter Hill, and David Krathwohl. Their book classifies learning goals into one of the categories mentioned above (from Knowledge to Evaluation).

Their goal was to provide teachers with a common vocabulary to discuss curricular and evaluation problems with greater precision.

The language teachers had been using to explain what they expected of their students was, according to the authors, no more than “nebulous terms.”

“For example, some teachers believe their students should ‘really understand,’ others desire their students to internalize knowledge, still others want their students to grasp the core or essence or comprehend. Do they all mean the same thing?” asked the authors.

The taxonomy of educational objectives was supposed to help teachers speak the same language and thus “facilitate the exchange of information about their curricular developments and evaluation devices.”

Though it was designed primarily for college professors, it finally became popular among educators, from K-12 teachers to corporate trainers.

Since its publication, the book has been translated into more than twenty languages and is now used for instructional design worldwide. However, it is currently more often applied in its revised version.

Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy

To provide learners with clearer instructional goals, a group of researchers led by Bloom’s colleague David Krathwohl and one of Bloom’s students, Lorin Anderson, revised the taxonomy in 2001.

In the new variant, nouns were replaced by action verbs. Also, the two highest levels of the taxonomy were swapped. The new learning stages are Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate and Create. The authors also defined cognitive processes associated with these instructional goals. For example, the ability to remember requires recognizing and recalling.

Bloom’s Taxonomy levels

Let’s take a closer look at each learning stage, based on the book describing the revised framework A Taxonomy For Learning, Teaching and Assessing by Krahtwohl and Anderson. The authors recommend reading the name of each learning category as though preceded by the phrase “The student is able to…” or “The student learns to…”

1. Remember

This stage of learning is about memorizing basic facts, dates, events, persons, places, concepts and patterns.

At this level, educators might ask learners simple questions like:

What are the most spoken languages of Latin America?
What is the chemical formula of water?
Who was the first president of the United States?

The associated cognitive processes, as already noted, are:

Recognizing means locating knowledge in long-term memory related to presented material 

(e.g., recognizing the dates of important historical events).

Recalling is retrieving knowledge from long-term memory 

(e.g., recalling the dates of important historical events).

2. Understand

At this point, learners might be asked to explain a concept in their own words, describe a mathematical graph or clarify a metaphor.

The processes associated with understanding are:Interpreting implies changing from one form of representation to another. It might be transforming numerical information into verbal.

Exemplifying is finding a specific illustration of a concept or principle. It may be giving several examples of Suprematist paintings.

Classifying is determining a category of something. An example is the classification of mental disorders.

Summarizing means retrieving a general theme of significant points (e.g., writing a short summary of a story).

Inferring is drawing a logical conclusion from given information. It may be formulating grammatical principles of a foreign language from the presented examples.

Comparing is finding correspondences between two ideas or objects (e.g., comparing historical events to their contemporary analogues).

Explaining is constructing a cause-and-effect model of a system, for example, explaining the causes of the French Revolution.

3. Apply

Now, it’s time to use learned facts and abstractions in new contexts and particular situations.

For example, students might be asked to discuss phenomena described in one scientific paper using terms and concepts of another paper.

The processes of cognition corresponding to this stage are:

Executing is applying a procedure to a familiar task 

(e.g., calculating the root of a number).

Implementing is about applying a procedure to an unfamiliar task (e.g., using Newton’s Second Law in a new situation).

4. Analyze

At this level, students are supposed to break down concepts and examine their relationships.

For instance, they might be asked to recognize the genre of a painting or describe the leading causes of the Great Depression.

The three particular processes associated with this stage are:

Differentiating means distinguishing important from unimportant parts of presented material 

(e.g., distinguishing between relevant and irrelevant numbers in a mathematical word problem).

Organizing involves identifying how elements fit or function within a structure 

(e.g., finding the hypothesis, method, data and conclusion in a research report).

Attributing means determining a point of view, bias, values, or intent underlying presented material. An example would be to identify the author’s point of view of an essay.

5. Evaluate

In this stage, learners are expected to use their knowledge and skills to appraise a situation, justify their stand or criticize others’ opinions. They should be able to point out logical fallacies in arguments or compare a work to the highest standards in its field.

They might be asked, for example:

In your opinion, is online piracy ethical?
Do you consider jazz music to be high art?
What are the most absurd arguments against vegetarianism?

Evaluating is divided into checking and critiquing.Checking means detecting inconsistencies or fallacies in a process or product.

For example, it’s determining if a scientist’s conclusions follow from observed data.

Critiquing involves finding inconsistencies between a product and external criteria. For instance, it’s judging which of two methods is the best for solving a problem.

6. Create

This is the most complex stage of the learning process and the top of the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy.

At this level, learners combine known patterns, ideas and facts to create original work or formulate their solution to a problem.

They might be asked to compose a song, rewrite a story in another setting or formulate a hypothesis and propose a way of testing it.

The three associated cognitive processes are:Generating involves coming up with alternative hypotheses based on criteria. An example might be devising multiple solutions for a social problem.

Planning is about coming up with a procedure for completing a task (e.g., preparing an outline of an article).

Producing means inventing a product 

(e.g., writing a short story that takes place during the American Revolution).

Why Bloom’s Taxonomy is important

Bloom’s Taxonomy can help educators map learning within a single lesson or even a whole course.

Using the taxonomy as a guide, trainers can identify clear instructional goals corresponding to each taxonomy level and create plans to achieve them.

By setting achievable objectives for learners, instructors make them more active and responsible for their education.

The taxonomy can also be useful for evaluating learners correctly. An essay, for example, is probably not the best form of testing when learners only need to remember basic facts and terminology related to the topic. 

But it will be appropriate at the evaluation stage when they are expected to formulate their opinion on an issue.

Bloom’s taxonomy allows educators to gauge the learners’ progress. It helps teachers determine which level every learner is on and assign them an individual task.

Bloom’s Taxonomy verbs

When talking about Bloom’s taxonomy, action verbs associated with the categories and cognitive processes are often mentioned. Instructors use these verbs to describe activities required for achieving educational objectives corresponding to each level.

For instance, at the analyzing level, the Azusa Pacific University recommends using verbs like “compare”, “distinguish”, and “simplify” when formulating instructional tasks.

There is a list of Bloom’s taxonomy verbs, created by the University of Arkansas. Using these verbs can help learners explicitly navigate what they must do to demonstrate their mastery of the objective.

However, neither Bloom’s original book nor his followers’ book contains a list of such verbs. The authors of a study of 47 verb lists collected from 35 universities and textbooks note: “There was very little agreement between these lists, most of which were not supported by evidence explaining where the verbs came from.”

Nevertheless, given that such lists of verbs are being created anyway, the authors identified verbs that appeared in more than 50% of the listings. Then they identified verbs for which 50% of their appearances were in one specific tier. Using these verbs, the authors constructed “A Master List of Action Verbs for Learning Outcomes.”

Bloom's Taxonomy

The Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, known as Bloom's Taxonomy (Bloom, Engelhart, Furst, & Krathwohl, 1956) is one of the most recognized learning theories in the field of education. Educators often use Bloom's Taxonomy to create learning outcomes that target not only subject matter but also the depth of learning they want students to achieve, and to then create assessments that accurately report on students’ progress towards these outcomes (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001). 

An introduction to Bloom's Taxonomy

Bloom's Taxonomy comprises three learning domains: the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor, and assigns to each of these domains a hierarchy that corresponds to different levels of learning. 

It's important to note that the different levels of thinking defined within each domain of the Taxonomy are hierarchical. In other words, each level subsumes the levels that come before it. So, if we look at the cognitive domain for example (which is represented in Figure 1), we can infer that before a student can conduct an analysis, they first might need to know the methods of analysis, understand the different elements to review, and consider which method to apply. It is only then that they will be ready to conduct the analysis itself.

Figure 1: The hierarchy of the cognitive domain of Bloom's Taxonomy (1956).

Bloom's Taxonomy revised

In 2001, David Krathwohl (one of Bloom’s original collaborators) and co-editor Lorin Anderson published a revision to the 1956 hierarchy with contributions from cognitive psychologists, curriculum theorists, instructional researchers, and testing and assessment specialists. This new revised version introduced a key change to the cognitive domain of Bloom's Taxonomy: it shifted the language used from nouns to verbs (see Figure 2) and thereby focused the attention away from acquisition and toward active performance of the types of learning involved in each stage of the hierarchy. "Synthesis" was also dropped and "create" was moved to the highest level of the domain.

Figure 2. Anderson and Krathwol's (2001) revision to Bloom's cognitive hierarchy.

Bloom's Taxonomy in practice

To provide a deeper look at how Bloom's Taxonomy works in practice, we break down each domain — the cognitive, affective, and pyschomotor — in the following sections of this Teaching Tip. Here, we present examples of learning outcomes and assessments mapped to each level of the domain hierarchies.

Cognitive domain

The cognitive domain is focused on intellectual skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, and creating a knowledge base. It was the first domain created by the original group of Bloom’s researchers. The cognitive hierarchy extends from simple memorization designed to build the knowledge of learners, to creating something new based on previously-learned information. In this domain, learners are expected to progress in a linear manner, beginning at "remember" and ending at "create." 

When writing your own learning outcomes, we encourage you to choose verbs that best describe what is expected (e.g., for remember, you might consider define, identify, list, recall, recognize, match, etc.). To this end, you might consult a list of Bloom's verbs.

Cognitive hierarchy

• Remember

  • Sample learning outcome: Remember the names and relationships of a cast of characters in a play.
  • Sample assessment/activity: A multiple-choice test designed to test the memory of learners.
  • Rationale: A multiple-choice test will allow educators to see whether students have effectively memorized the given material.

• Understand

  • Sample learning outcome: Understand and explain the main ideas of a play or piece of literature.
  • Sample assessment/activity: Write a short (1 page) paper summarizing the plot and most important events in the play.
  • Rationale: Writing a summary encourages learners to think about what the most important parts of a piece of literature are, and to decide which aspects of the plot to disregard in favor of a concise summary. It allows educators to evaluate whether or not they have understood the main idea of the play. 

• Apply

  • Sample learning outcome: Apply the main ideas/themes in the play to another context.
  • Sample assessment/activity: Write an advice column responding to one of the characters.
  • Rationale:  In doing this assignment, learners will consider the implications of a character’s actions outside of the consequences shown in the play.

• Analyze

  • Sample learning outcome: Be able to analyze the relative roles of each character in the play and their relationships to each other.
  • Sample assessment/activity: Write an analytical paper comparing the antagonists and protagonists of the play.
  • Rationale: Through this assignment, as learners consider what makes each character an antagonist or a protagonist, they need to use both their knowledge of the play and critical thinking skills.

• Evaluate

  • Sample learning outcome: Evaluate the decisions of characters in the play, and support your evaluation with textual evidence.
  • Sample assessment/activity: Write a response to one of the events in the play, either supporting or rejecting their actions on the basis of evidence from the play as well as personal opinion and projected/actual consequences of action.
  • Rationale: Through this assignment, learners will consider the rationale and consequences for actions in the play, leading them to understand and make judgements about the validity of a character’s decision making.

• Create

  • Sample learning outcome: Create a new and unique piece of writing using similar plot devices.
  • Sample assessment/activity: Create a short story using similar plot devices in a new time or setting.
  • Rationale: Through this activity, learners must integrate the plot devices and writing techniques into a new setting, allowing them to practice their creative writing skills and showing their full understanding of the writer's techniques.

Affective domain

The affective domain focuses on the attitudes, values, interests, and appreciation of learners. The hierarchy associated with it begins with receiving and listening to information, and extends to characterization or internalizing values and acting upon them. It focuses on helping learners understand what their own values are and how they have developed.

Affective hierarchy

• Receiving

  • Sample learning outcome: Listen to other students with respect.
  • Sample assessment/activity: Be an audience member to another student’s presentation, and then write a summary.
  • Rationale: Through this assignment, learners will learn how to listen effectively to others as well as remember key details about their presentation (used in writing the summary).

• Responding

  • Sample learning outcome: Speak effectively in front of an audience and actively respond to others.
  • Sample assessment/activity: Present on a subject in front of the class, and answer questions from peers about their presentation.
  • Rationale: Through this, learners will become more comfortable with public speaking as well as more comfortable with contributing to a discussion in the form of answering questions.

• Valuing

  • Sample learning outcome: Demonstrate and explain own values regarding various topics.
  • Sample assessment/activity: Write an opinion piece on any issue, explaining one’s own stance and reasons supporting that stance.
  • Rationale: Through this, learners will explore not only their own values but why they support their values, giving them a chance to understand more fully their own value system.

• Organization

  • Sample learning outcome: Compare value systems and understand evidence behind values.
  • Sample assessment/activity: Organize and compare different cultural value systems, evaluating the differences between them and why these differences may have arisen.
  • Rationale: In doing this activity, learners will consider how value systems are put into place and organized, as well as the evidence that supports different value systems across the world.

• Characterization

  • Sample learning outcome: Work well in a team of peers.
  • Sample assessment/activity: A group project, including group work on any assignment.
  • Rationale: By working in a group, learners must balance their own values with the values of the team, as well as prioritize tasks and practice teamwork.

Psychomotor domain

The psychomotor domain encompasses the ability of learners to physically accomplish tasks and perform movement and skills. There are several different versions including different hierarchies – the examples here fall into Harrow’s (1972) theory of the psychomotor domain. This hierarchy ranges from reflexes and basic movement to non-discursive communication and meaningfully expressive activity.

Psychomotor Hierarchy

• Reflex

  • Sample learning outcome: Instinctively respond to a physical stimulus.
  • Sample assessment/activity: A game of dodgeball.
  • Rationale: Learners must react (dodge) the balls that are being thrown at them, allowing them to develop their reflexive skills.

• Basic fundamental movements

  • Sample learning outcome: Perform a simple action (including running and throwing).
  • Sample assessment/activity: A game of dodgeball.
  • Rationale: Learners must run and throw to actively engage the opposing team, allowing them to develop these skills.

• Perceptual abilities

  • Sample learning outcome: Use more than one ability to integrate different sensory perceptions.
  • Sample assessment/activity: A game of catch or soccer (or other game involving movement and passing).
  • Rationale: Learners must integrate running, visual information about the position of the ball, and predictive information about the future position of the ball.

• Physical abilities

  • Sample learning outcome: Sustain an activity for a set period of time.
  • Sample assessment/activity: Run for 25 minutes steadily.
  • Rationale: This activity is a measure of the learner’s stamina and physical fitness.

• Skilled movements

  • Sample learning outcome: Adapt one’s behaviour and movement to better achieve goals.
  • Sample assessment/activity: A soccer or other strategic game (football, hockey).
  • Rationale: This activity allows teams to change their strategy and individuals to change their physical behaviour depending on the response of the other team.

• Non-discursive communication

  • Sample learning outcome: Express oneself through purposeful movement and activity.
  • Sample assessment/activity: A soccer or other strategic game (football, hockey)
  • Rationale: These games all involve teamwork, strategy, and integrative and purposeful movement. Successful teams must integrate all of their senses, communicate through movement, and use a variety of adaptive strategies.

Support

If you would like support applying these tips to your own teaching, CTE staff members are here to help.  View the CTE Support page to find the most relevant staff member to contact. 

References

• Anderson, L., & Krathwohl, D. A. (2001). Taxonomy for learning, teaching and assessing: A revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. New York: Longman. 
• Armstrong, P. (n.d.). Bloom’s Taxonomy. Center for Teaching, Vanderbilt University. 
• Bloom, B. S.; Engelhart, M. D.; Furst, E. J.; Hill, W. H.; Krathwohl, D. R. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals. Handbook I: Cognitive domain. New York: David McKay Company.
• Harrow, A.J. (1972). A taxonomy of the psychomotor domain. New York: David McKay Co

Best Books for Heat Transfer

Heat Transfer is one of the core subjects for Mechanical Engineering which is linked to Thermal Science. The main topics of Heat Transfer are quite familiar such as Conduction, Convection etc. From the exam perspective, Heat Transfer carries a Moderate weightage of marks.

Heat Transfer is one of the core subjects for Mechanical Engineering which is linked to Thermal Science. The main topics of Heat Transfer are quite familiar such as Conduction, Convection etc. From the exam perspective, Heat Transfer carries a Moderate weightage of marks.

Here are the Best Books for Heat Transfer for various exams

1. Heat and Mass Transfer by P.K.Nag

• The book discusses many of the important concepts of energy studies and mass transfer and explains various topics in easy-to-understand language.
• The book makes liberal usage of case studies, solved examples, and other exercises to explain various topics.
• It covers important topics extensively and can be used by students as a guidebook to understand various concepts better which will be extremely beneficial for competitive examination.

2. Heat Transfer (10th Edition)  by J.P.Holman

•  The book comes with tables, exact solutions of laminar-boundary-layer equations, analytical relations for the Heisler Charts and how to use analytical relations for the Heisler charts so as to have a better understanding of the subject.
• The book, emphasises is placed on physical understanding while, at the same time, relying on meaningful experimental data in those situations that do not permit a simple analytical solution.

3. Fundamentals of Engineering Heat and Mass Transfer by R.C. Sachdeva

•  The subject matter has been developed from scratch to a sufficiently advanced stage in a logical and coherent manner with neat illustrations along with an adequate number of solved examples.
• A fairly large number of problems (with answers) at the end of each chapter will be exciting for both the teacher and the taught to have a brainstorming discussion in the class.
• The book has been appended with a set of selected MCQs along with its key which provides an excellent understanding and ample practice for competitive examination..

4. R c Sachdeva 

This Book is best for both Concepts and Practice For all Examinations.