Bloom’s Taxonomy stands as a cornerstone in education, providing a framework for educators to define and classify learning objectives. Developed by Benjamin Bloom in 1956, this taxonomy categorizes educational learning objectives into levels of complexity and specificity. Understanding and applying Bloom’s Taxonomy is crucial for designing effective instruction, assessments, and curriculum that fosters meaningful learning experiences. This guide delves into the updated Bloom’s Taxonomy, offering insights into each level and practical advice on how to leverage it to enhance your course design and teaching strategies.
Understanding the Levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy
The revised Bloom’s Taxonomy outlines six cognitive domains, moving from foundational knowledge to more complex cognitive processes. These levels are hierarchical, suggesting that mastery at higher levels builds upon the skills acquired at lower levels. Let’s explore each level in detail:
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Remembering: This foundational level involves the ability to recall, recognize, and retrieve information from memory. It’s about basic recall of facts and concepts. Keywords associated with this level include: define, list, name, recall, recognize, identify, label.
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Understanding: Moving beyond simple recall, understanding involves constructing meaning from instructional messages, including oral, written, and graphic communication. It encompasses interpreting, exemplifying, classifying, summarizing, inferring, comparing, and explaining concepts. Action verbs for this level are: describe, explain, summarize, interpret, classify, compare, discuss, paraphrase.
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Applying: Application is the ability to use learned material in new and concrete situations. This involves carrying out or using a procedure in a given situation. Keywords here are: apply, use, solve, demonstrate, calculate, illustrate, execute, implement.
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Analyzing: Analysis involves breaking down material into its constituent parts and understanding the relationships between these parts and the overall structure or purpose. This level includes differentiating, organizing, and attributing. Verbs for analysis include: analyze, compare, contrast, differentiate, categorize, break down, distinguish, examine.
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Evaluating: Evaluation is concerned with making judgments based on criteria and standards. It involves checking and critiquing, forming opinions, and justifying decisions. Associated verbs are: evaluate, critique, judge, justify, defend, select, assess, argue, recommend.
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Creating: The highest level in Bloom’s Taxonomy, creating, involves putting elements together to form a coherent or functional whole. It includes reorganizing elements into a new pattern or structure through generating, planning, or producing. Keywords for creating are: create, design, develop, formulate, write, construct, generate, plan, produce, invent.
Bloom’s Taxonomy visualized as a cake, emphasizing the hierarchical nature of learning objectives, where each level builds upon the previous one.
Bloom’s Taxonomy in Course Design: A Practical Approach
Bloom’s Taxonomy is not just a theoretical framework; it’s a practical tool that can significantly enhance course design. By understanding the hierarchy of learning, educators can strategically plan their courses to guide students through a progressive learning journey.
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Sequential Learning: Bloom’s Taxonomy underscores the importance of sequential learning. Students typically need to remember and understand concepts before they can effectively apply, analyze, evaluate, and create. Course design should reflect this progression, building from foundational knowledge to more complex skills.
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Level-Appropriate Objectives: Consider your students’ level and the course objectives. Introductory courses might focus more on the lower levels of the taxonomy (remembering, understanding, applying), while advanced courses should challenge students with higher-order thinking skills (analyzing, evaluating, creating). However, even introductory courses can incorporate elements of higher levels to stimulate deeper learning.
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Avoiding Tedium: While sequential learning is important, rigidly adhering to a step-by-step approach through all taxonomy levels for every concept can become monotonous. Instead, strategically choose the levels that align with your learning goals for each topic and vary your teaching methods to keep students engaged.
Aligning Learning Objectives with Bloom’s Taxonomy Verbs
To effectively utilize Bloom’s Taxonomy, it’s crucial to write learning objectives using verbs that correspond to each cognitive level. These verbs act as action words, clearly defining what students should be able to do upon completing a lesson or course.
However, some verbs can be “multi-level,” meaning their Bloom’s level depends on the context. For instance, “explain” can be understanding-level (explaining a concept definition) or analyzing-level (explaining complex relationships). The key is to consider the complexity of the task associated with the verb.
Here’s a table with Bloom’s Taxonomy levels, key verbs, and example learning objectives:
| Bloom’s Level | Key Verbs (keywords) | Example Learning Objective |
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| Create | design, formulate, build, invent, create, compose, generate, derive, modify, develop. | By the end of this module, students will be able to design a sustainable urban transportation system model. |
| Evaluate | choose, support, relate, determine, defend, judge, grade, compare, contrast, argue, justify, support, convince, select, evaluate. | By the end of this lesson, students will be able to evaluate the effectiveness of different renewable energy sources in reducing carbon emissions. |
| Analyze | classify, break down, categorize, analyze, diagram, illustrate, criticize, simplify, associate. | By the end of this unit, students will be able to analyze the causes and consequences of climate change. |
| Apply | calculate, predict, apply, solve, illustrate, use, demonstrate, determine, model, perform, present. | By the end of this activity, students will be able to apply the principles of supply and demand to predict market equilibrium shifts. |
| Understand | describe, explain, paraphrase, restate, give original examples of, summarize, contrast, interpret, discuss. | By the end of this lecture, students will be able to explain the basic principles of photosynthesis in their own words. |
| Remember | list, recite, outline, define, name, match, quote, recall, identify, label, recognize. | By the end of this reading, students will be able to identify the key components of a cell. |
Learning objective examples adapted and expanded from Nelson Baker at Georgia Tech.
Bloom’s Taxonomy and Quality Matters Standards
Quality Matters (QM) standards emphasize the importance of measurable learning objectives in course design. Bloom’s Taxonomy aligns perfectly with QM by providing a framework for creating objectives that are not only clear but also measurable. Using Bloom’s verbs helps educators move away from vague verbs like “understand” or “learn” towards more actionable and assessable objectives.
Furthermore, QM stresses the alignment between learning objectives, instructional activities, and assessments. Bloom’s Taxonomy ensures this alignment by guiding the selection of appropriate assessment methods. For instance, if a learning objective is at the “application” level, assessments should require students to apply their knowledge, not just recall facts through multiple-choice quizzes.
Course-Level vs. Lesson-Level Objectives within Bloom’s Taxonomy
Distinguishing between course-level and lesson-level objectives is crucial for effective curriculum planning. Course-level objectives are broad, overarching goals for the entire course, while lesson-level objectives are specific, measurable steps that contribute to achieving the course-level objectives.
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Course-Level Objectives (Broad): These are typically few in number (3-5) and represent the major learning outcomes students should achieve by the end of the course. They are often too broad to assess directly but provide direction for the overall course design.
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Lesson-Level Objectives (Specific): These objectives are more granular and directly support the course-level objectives. Multiple lesson-level objectives contribute to the mastery of a single course-level objective. They are designed to be measurable and are assessed through various activities and assignments within each lesson or module.
Bloom’s Taxonomy helps ensure that lesson-level objectives progressively build upon each other, moving students towards higher levels of cognitive skills required to meet the course-level objectives. The verbs chosen for lesson-level objectives should be at or below the cognitive level of the corresponding course-level objective, ensuring a logical progression of learning.
Steps to Writing Effective Learning Objectives Using Bloom’s Taxonomy
Crafting effective learning objectives using Bloom’s Taxonomy involves a structured approach:
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Focus on Measurable Verbs: Each learning objective should contain one measurable verb from Bloom’s Taxonomy. This verb should clearly define the observable action students will perform.
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Single Verb per Objective: Limit each objective to a single verb to maintain clarity and measurability. Objectives with multiple verbs can be difficult to assess.
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Hierarchical Alignment: Ensure that the verbs in course-level objectives are at least as high on Bloom’s Taxonomy as the highest verbs in the supporting lesson-level objectives. This ensures that lessons adequately prepare students for the broader course goals.
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Clarity and Conciseness: Strive for learning objectives that are clear, concise, and easily understood by both instructors and students.
A helpful practice when writing objectives is to indicate the Bloom’s level of the verb in parentheses:
Course level objective 1. (Apply) Apply transportation principles to analyze supply chain efficiency.
1.1. (Understand) Explain the impact of globalization on modern supply chains.
1.2. (Apply) Use transportation models to optimize delivery routes in a global supply network.
This practice facilitates a quick review of the cognitive levels targeted by your objectives and ensures alignment between course and lesson levels.
Resources for Further Exploration
To further enhance your understanding and application of Bloom’s Taxonomy, explore these resources:
- Learning Objectives: Before and After Examples: Provides practical examples of improving learning objectives.
- Bloom’s Taxonomy Verb Chart: Offers an extensive list of verbs categorized by Bloom’s Taxonomy levels.
By mastering Bloom’s Taxonomy and its application in crafting learning objectives, educators can create more effective, engaging, and impactful learning experiences for their students.
