REVISED BLOOMS TAXONOMY

A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (Anderson, Krathwohl, et al., 2001)

Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing

In 1956, Benjamin Bloom headed a group of educational psychologists who developed a classification of levels of intellectual behavior important in learning. During the 1990's a new group of cognitive psychologist, lead by Lorin Anderson (a former student of Bloom's), updated the taxonomy reflecting relevance to 21st century work.

Change in Terms

·         The names of six major categories were changed from noun to verb forms.

·         As the taxonomy reflects different forms of thinking and thinking is an active process verbs were used rather than nouns.

·         The subcategories of the six major categories were also replaced by verbs and some subcategories were reorganized.

·         The knowledge category was renamed. Knowledge is an outcome or product of thinking not a form of thinking. Consequently, the word knowledge was inappropriate to describe a category of thinking and was replaced with the word remembering instead.

·         Comprehension and synthesis were retitled to understanding and creating respectively, in order to better reflect the nature of the thinking defined in each category.

·        From One Dimension to Two Dimensions (1. The Knowledge dimension -kind of knowledge to be learned (factual, conceptual, procedural, meta-cognitive. 2. Cognitive process dimension – process used to learn (remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, create)

The Cognitive Dimension Process

Level 1

Categories & Cognitive Processes	Alternative Names	Definition
Remember		Retrieve knowledge from long-term memory
Recognizing	Identifying	Locating knowledge in long-term memory that is consistent with presented material
Recalling	Retrieving	Retrieving relevant knowledge from long-term memory

Level 2

Categories & Cognitive Processes	Alternative Names	Definition
Understand		Construct meaning from instructional messages, including oral, written, and graphic communication
Interpreting	Clarifying Paraphrasing Representing Translating	Changing from one form of representation to another
Exemplifying	Illustrating Instantiating	Finding a specific example or illustration of a concept or principle
Classifying	Categorizing Subsuming	Determining that something belongs to a category
Summarizing	Abstracting Generalizing	Abstracting a general theme or major point(s)
Inferring	Concluding Extrapolating Interpolating Predicting	Drawing a logical conclusion from presented information
Comparing	Contrasting Mapping Matching	Detecting correspondences between two ideas, objects, and the like
Explaining	Constructing models	Constructing a cause and effect model of a system

Level 3

Categories & Cognitive Processes	Alternative Names	Definition
Apply		Applying a procedure to a familiar task
Executing	Carrying out	Applying a procedure to a familiar task
Implementing	Using	Applying a procedure to an unfamiliar task

Level 4

Categories & Cognitive Processes	Alternative Names	Definition
Analyze		Break material into its constituent parts and determine how the parts relate to one another and to an overall structure or purpose
Differentiating	Discriminating Distinguishing Focusing Selecting	Distinguishing relevant from irrelevant parts or important from unimportant parts of presented material
Organizing	Finding coherence Integrating Outlining Parsing Structuring	Determining how elements fit or function within a structure
Attributing	Deconstructing	Determine a point of view, bias, values, or intent underlying presented material

Level 5

Categories & Cognitive Processes	Alternative Names	Definition
Evaluate		Make judgments based on criteria and standards
Checking	Coordinating Detecting Monitoring Testing	Detecting inconsistencies or fallacies within a process or product; determining whether a process or product has internal consistency; detecting the effectiveness of a procedure as it is being implemented
Critiquing	Judging	Detecting inconsistencies between a product and external criteria; determining whether a product has external consistency; detecting the appropriateness of a procedure for a given problem

Level 6

Categories & Cognitive Processes	Alternative Names	Definition
Create		Put elements together to form a coherent or functional whole; reorganize elements into a new pattern or structure
Generating	Hypothesizing	Coming up with alternative hypotheses based on criteria
Planning	Designing	Devising a procedure for accomplishing some task
Producing	Constructing	Inventing a product

Structure of the Knowledge Dimension of the Revised Taxonomy

Dimension	Definition
A.    Factual Knowledge Aa. Knowledge of terminology Ab. Knowledge of specific details and elements	The basic elements students must know to be acquainted with a discipline or solve problems in it
B.     Conceptual Knowledge Ba. Knowledge of classifications and categories Bb. Knowledge of principles and generalizations Bc. Knowledge of theories, models, and structures	The interrelationships among the basic elements within a larger structure that enable them to function together
C.    Procedural Knowledge Ca. Knowledge of subject-specific skills and algorithms Cb. Knowledge of subject-specific techniques and methods Cc. Knowledge of criteria for determining when to use appropriate procedures	How to do something, methods of inquiry, and criteria for using skills, algorithms, techniques, and methods
D.    Metacognitive Knowledge Da. Strategic knowledge Db. Knowledge about cognitive tasks, including appropriate contextual and conditional knowledge Dc. Self-knowledge	Knowledge of cognition in general as well as awareness and knowledge of one’s own cognition

The Taxonomy Table

In the revised Taxonomy, the fact that any objective would be represented in two dimensions immediately suggested the possibility of constructing a two-dimensional table, which we termed the Taxonomy Table. The Knowledge dimension would form the vertical axis of the table, whereas the Cognitive Process dimension would form the horizontal axis. The intersections of the knowledge and cognitive process categories would form the cells. Consequently, any objective could be classified in the Taxonomy Table in one or more cells that correspond with the intersection of the column(s) appropriate for categorizing the verb(s) and the row(s) appropriate for categorizing the noun(s) or noun phrase(s).

Using the Table to classify objectives, activities, and assessments provides a clear, concise, visual representation of a particular course or unit. Once completed, the entries in the Taxonomy Table can be used to examine relative emphasis, curriculum alignment, and missed educational opportunities. Based on this examination, teachers can decide where and how to improve the planning of curriculum and the delivery of instruction.

The Cognitive Process Dimension

The knowledge dimension	Remember	Understand	Apply	Analyze	Evaluate	Create
Factual knowledge
Conceptual Knowledge
Procedural knowledge
Metacognitive Knowledge