Professional Development
Bloom's Taxonomy
Bloom’s taxonomy is a framework for categorizing educational goals and objectives. It was developed by Benjamin Bloom in 1956 and revised in 2001 by a group of educators led by Lorin Anderson. The taxonomy identifies six levels of cognitive learning, arranged in a hierarchical order from lower to higher levels of complexity and abstraction:
- Remembering: This level involves recalling or recognizing information, such as definitions, dates, or facts.
- Understanding: This level involves comprehending the meaning of the information, such as explaining or interpreting it.
- Applying: This level involves using the information in a practical context, such as applying a formula or solving a problem.
- Analyzing: This level involves breaking down complex information into smaller parts and examining relationships among them.
- Evaluating: This level involves making judgments about the information, such as assessing the quality or value of an argument.
- Creating: This level involves using the information to generate something new, such as designing a solution or creating a new product.
Bloom’s Taxonomy can be used in the classroom to guide lesson planning and assessment. Teachers can use the taxonomy to create learning objectives that target specific levels of cognitive complexity, and to design assessments that measure student achievement at different levels of the taxonomy. For example, a teacher might create an objective that requires students to analyze a historical document and write an essay about its significance. The teacher could then design an assessment that measures students’ ability to analyze the document and evaluate its historical significance.
By using Bloom’s Taxonomy in this way, teachers can ensure that they are challenging students to think deeply and critically about the content they are learning.
