Bloom’s Taxonomy

1. Bloom’s Taxonomy A Focus on Higher-Order Thinking Skills

2. Background In 1956, Benjamin Bloom, a professor at the University of Chicago, shared his famous "Taxonomy of Educational Objectives." Bloom identified six levels of cognitive complexity that have been used over the past four decades to make sure that instruction stimulates and develops students' higher-order thinking skills.

3. Evaluation Synthesis Analysis Application Comprehension Knowledge Higher-Order Thinking Skills

4. list • name • identify • show • define • recognize • recall • match • define • classify • describe • locate • outline • give examples • distinguish opinion from fact Knowledge Recall or recognition of information. An example of a task at a knowledge level is when a teacher asks a student to name the days of the week.

5. paraphrase • differentiate • demonstrate • visualize • restate  • rewrite • give examples • summarize • explain • interpret • describe • compare • convert • distinguish • estimate Comprehension The ability to understand, translate, paraphrase, interpret or extrapolate material. (Predict outcome and effects) An example of a comprehension task is when a teacher asks a student to retell the story of Hare and Tortoise.

6. apply • classify • modify • put into practice • demonstrate • compute • operate • solve • illustrate • calculate • interpret • manipulate • predict • show Application The capacity to use information and transfer knowledge from one setting to another. (Use learned material in a new situation) An example of an application task is when a teacher gives a student written directions and says, "Use these directions to plant a seed using different soils and study the process of germination.

7. analyze • organize • deduce • choose • diagram • discriminate • contrast • compare • distinguish  • categorize • outline • relate Analysis Identifying detail and having the ability to discover and differentiate the component parts of a situation or information. An example of an analysis task is when a teacher asks a student, "What were the causes of division of India and its effects on the lives of peoples of India and Pakistan?”

8. design • hypothesize • support • write • report • combine • comply • develop • discuss • plan • compare • create • construct  • rearrange • compose • organize Synthesis The ability to combine parts to create the big picture. An example of a synthesis task is when a teacher asks a student to make up a poem about a snow flake that includes the scientific process of changing water into ice.

9. evaluate • choose • estimate • judge • defend • appraise • criticize • justify  • debate • support your reason • conclude • assess • rate Evaluation The ability to judge the value or use of information using appropriate criteria. (Support judgment with reason) An example of an evaluation task is when a teacher asks a student why or why not capital punishment should be abolished.