Bloom’s Taxonomy Overview
Bloom’s Taxonomy is a framework for categorizing the various objectives and skills educators set for their students, known as learning outcomes. This taxonomy, introduced in 1956 by educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom from the University of Chicago, organizes these outcomes into six distinct levels. These levels help structure course learning outcomes, lessons, and assessments.
The Six Levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy
- Remembering: Involves retrieving, recognizing, and recalling relevant information from long-term memory.
- Understanding: Entails constructing meaning from various types of messages through activities like interpreting, summarizing, and explaining.
- Applying: Focuses on using procedures to execute or implement tasks.
- Analyzing: Involves breaking down material into parts and understanding the relationship between these parts and the overall structure or purpose.
- Evaluating: Requires making judgments based on criteria and standards through processes such as checking and critiquing.
- Creating: Entails assembling elements to form a cohesive or functional whole, often by generating, planning, or producing new structures or patterns.
Hierarchy and Structure
Bloom’s Taxonomy is hierarchical, meaning that mastery of higher levels depends on the acquisition of skills and knowledge at lower levels. Often visualized as a pyramid, each level builds upon the previous one. A modern “cake-style” graphic is also used to depict this layered structure.
Application in Course Design
Bloom’s Taxonomy is a valuable tool for developing learning outcomes, as it outlines the process of learning:
- Understanding concepts requires remembering them first.
- Applying concepts requires prior understanding.
- Evaluating processes necessitates analysis.
- Creating conclusions relies on thorough evaluation.
However, courses don’t always progress linearly through these levels for every concept. The complexity of learning outcomes should align with the experience level of students. For instance, introductory courses with freshmen might focus on lower-level skills, while courses for advanced students should emphasize higher-order skills.
Bloom’s Taxonomy and Learning Outcomes
To align learning outcomes with Bloom’s levels, educators use verb tables to select appropriate action verbs for each level. Some verbs may appear at multiple levels, depending on the activity. For example, the verb “explain” could indicate either an understanding or analyzing outcome, depending on the context.
Quality Matters and Bloom’s Taxonomy
Quality Matters standards require measurable learning outcomes. Using precise verbs avoids ambiguity. Assessments must align with the level of the learning outcomes; for example, an outcome with an application-level verb should not be assessed solely through a multiple-choice quiz.
Course-Level vs. Lesson-Level Outcomes
Course-level outcomes are broad and overarching, often difficult to measure directly. Lesson-level outcomes, on the other hand, are more specific and directly measurable. These lesson-level outcomes must support the course-level outcomes by building up through Bloom’s Taxonomy. The verbs in lesson-level outcomes should be at or below the level of the course-level outcome verb.
Writing Effective Learning Outcomes
- Each outcome should contain a single, measurable verb.
- Ensure that the verb in a course-level outcome is at least as advanced as the highest verb in the supporting lesson-level outcomes.
- Strive for clarity and conciseness in all learning outcomes.
When writing outcomes, consider noting the Bloom’s level next to the verb for clarity. This practice helps ensure that lesson-level verbs are appropriately aligned with the course-level objectives.
